Had “make estate plan” on your New Year’s resolutions for years now and never quite made it happen? Here’s the good news- you can break estate planning down into seven simple steps and work on one at a time. Work through these and meet with a Pasadena law firm for estate planning and you’ll have your estate plan structured well before summer.
If you’re stumped on any of these steps, do the research and preparation work that you can and then pass it over to a Pasadena lawyer:
- Create and sign your will
- Name your beneficiaries in your will and for retirement and life insurance accounts
- Evaluate your estate’s total value for tax purposes
- Leave a letter explaining things in your will or things that go beyond the will
- Create a durable power of attorney
- Generate an advanced healthcare directive
- Organize your paper and digital files and accounts
As you look over this list, it might be tempting to think that you can you DIY most of these steps. Although that initially might seem like the faster or the easier route, it’s also the route that exposes you to the biggest problems.
We know that estate planning is a hard subject. No one wants to discuss the details of their own mortality. But the truth is that these questions and details will come up, either for you or for your loved ones. Having a plan in place helps to allow your loved ones the space and time to act and even grieve without additional stress. Contact our Pasadena estate planning law office today to get started.
