Cruise ship
It’s no surprise that Americans spend more time planning their summer vacations than they do planning their estate. After all, a vacation is a trip you want to go on, while the eternal “trip” is not.
However, wouldn’t you travel with more peace of mind if you knew you had taken the necessary steps to protect your family if something unthinkable should happen to you?
We all want go on that much-deserved and anticipated summer vacation, and we should! But before you leave, you need to tackle these important steps:
Guardians for minor children -- if you have children under the age of 18, you must name a guardian or guardians to ensure that they will never be left in the hands of strangers or people you wouldn’t want raising them. You can name short-term guardians in case of emergency, and then plan for long-term guardianship.
And if you are planning a romantic getaway without your children, we recommend preparing a minor’s power of attorney and health care surrogate for their caregivers. Or maybe one of your kids has been invited by a friend to go on vacation with their family. If your child will be away without you, you definitely want to give their friend’s parents these documents as well.
Beneficiary review -- if it’s been awhile since you updated your beneficiary forms for retirement accounts, life insurance or other assets, it’s time for a review -- especially if there has been a major change in your life. Make sure insurance and retirement accounts are never passed on to your minor children, outside of a Trust.
Estate plan review -- if you have experienced a birth, death, marriage, divorce or other life-changing event since you last updated your estate plan, you need to be sure those changes are reflected by updating your plan.
Create power of attorney documentsOutside of death, unforseen illness and injury can leave you incapacitated and unable to make critical decisions about your own well-being. Given this, you must grant someone the legal authority to make those decisions on your behalf through power of attorney. You need two such documents: medical power of attorney and financial durable power of attorney. Medical power of attorney gives the person of your choice the authority to make your healthcare decisions for you, while durable financial power of attorney gives someone the authority to manage your finances. As with beneficiary designations, these decision makers can change over time, so before you leave for vacation, be sure both documents are up to date.
Insurance update -- is your life insurance still sufficient to meet the needs of your family? If not, then you should revise your policy before you go.
If you haven’t done any of these things, it’s time to take care of business. And if it’s too late to get it all done in time for this vacation, then take the time now to get it done before the next one.
NORELL ALBANIS is an estate planning attorney, and can be reached at 239-314-2353 or by visiting albanislaw.com.