Too often it’s not until after a serious life-event that we realize that we were woefully unprepared. We go to the hospital without our advance care directive or a list of our prescription drugs. A fire burns down a portion of the house, but we never recorded the contents for insurance reasons. A relative passes away, but their accounts and subscriptions are locked behind passwords that were never written down. Designated beneficiary forms were never updated after a divorce or perhaps the will was never notarized, so assets end up in the wrong hands.
Even the very rich and famous are guilty. Pablo Picasso never created a will, nor Prince, Aretha Franklin, or President Abraham Lincoln. JP Morgan and JD Rockefeller never created an estate plan, nor did Elvis, Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, or Chief Justice Warren Burger! Did you catch that – Chief Justice Warren Burger NEVER COMPLETED AN ESTATE PLAN for his $1.8 million estate leaving his family to pay $450,000 in estate taxes, something that could have been easily avoided.
How recently were your wills, health care directives, POAs (Power of Attorney), beneficiary designations and related documents updated, IF you even have them at all? Does your executor/executrix know where to find them?
Would you like help creating these documents? While not an attorney I have access to templates you may find helpful.