Seasonal Solutions

     Life is lived in stages. The rhythm of our lives mirrors the rhythm of the natural seasons. Whether you are in the spring, summer, autumn or winter of life, your Life & Estate Planning objectives will inevitably change. This article is relevant regardless of whether you currently have a Life & Estate Plan. If you do not have a Life & Estate Plan, it will help you appreciate the need for proper planning. If you already have a Life & Estate Plan, it will reinforce the need to keep your Plan up-to-date as you move between seasons.

Spring

     In the context of Life & Estate Planning, spring begins on your 18th birthday. On that magical day you become responsible for your own personal, health care and financial decisions. The adults in your life suddenly become your peers in a legal sense.
     Unless you give your parents proper legal authority in advance, they cannot make your personal, health care or financial decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated due to an injury or an illness. For example, they would not be able to select a rehabilitation setting for you, have access to your medical records, represent your interests regarding the course of your treatment or even file your income tax return. The failure to make proper legal plans in advance could force you and your parents into the Incapacity Probate process by default, because these decisions must be made even if you are unable to make them yourself. Making proper legal plans now could avoid creating potential problems for your parents later.

Summer

     As you grow older, you may get married. It has been said that a marriage may be made in Heaven, but the maintenance must be done on earth. As part of your marital maintenance, you should review and update your Life & Estate Plan. For instance, you may want to update your legal plans to appoint your spouse as the primary decision-maker for personal, health care and financial decisions. In addition, make sure that your separate and mutual assets would be distributed as desired should either spouse predecease, or in the event of your simultaneous deaths.
     First comes love, then comes marriage, often followed by a baby carriage. If you have children, make sure your legal plans are updated to appoint back-up parents should your minor children be left without parents.

Autumn

     When your children become adults, you may wish to update your legal plans again, appointing your children as secondary decision-makers should your spouse be unable to serve. You also may consider creating Long-Term Discretionary Trusts for your children to protect their inheritance both from them and for them. Otherwise, your financial legacy could be lost to squandering, divorces, lawsuits and bankruptcies.
     While you are at it, consider including remarriage protection provisions in your legal plans. What would happen to your childrens' inheritance in the event that you predecease your spouse, they remarry, and their next spouse inherits proceeds from your estate? You can protect your own children's inheritance with provisions to disinherit your surviving spouse's next spouse in the event you predecease, and your surviving spouse remarries.
     Is a family business a major asset in your estate? If so, proper business succession planning is a must to preserve both the business and your family relationships.

Winter

     You may consider exploring two advanced, and often overlooked, legal planning options. By maximizing a tax exemption known as the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Exemption, you may be able to leave more wealth to your descendants
     You also may want to consider making proper legal plans for the distribution of your charitable legacy to your favorite causes and institutions. In fact, many of the charitable legal plans available can help increase your current income and offer valuable tax deductions!