Unlike those running and hiding games we play in our youth, illness, capacity declines and death are real. Rather than avoiding them, estate planning is best–for the good of our own selves and everyone we care about. Once thought of as a task only for the wealthy, estate planning is now possible and essential for all of us.
Clarifying Intentions and Designating Assets
Attorney Meg DeLanders of Bowditch & Dewey notes that while it is true that estate planning can be leveraged to reduce taxes, it is important to know that diligent estate planning can accomplish so much more, including: ensuring a family can avoid the time consuming and public process of probate while grieving; designating guardians for minor children; setting aside assets for a spouse and other beneficiaries; preventing conflicts or oversights in blended families; ensuring loved ones with special needs or capacity declines have care; looking out for cherished pets; making a succession plan for family owned businesses; and, even putting care plans in place for ourselves. In light of the importance of accomplishing all this while the opportunity to do so exists, creating, and periodically updating an estate plan turns out to be something we actually can’t afford not to do, right?
Ready to get started? These estate planning basics will help you move into action. Of course when you do start working with an estate planning attorney, you will need a handle on your assets, be they few or many, and these tips may come in handy too. Importantly, when you make an estate plan, you will designate a loved one, friend or professional to serve as your fiduciary. This person is generally referred to as an executor, trustee, or personal representative, depending on your circumstances and region. If you have minor children, it is also important to designate a guardian.
It’s helpful to know that regardless of the specifics of your estate plan, the fiduciaries you designate to see it through have a legal responsibility to carry out your affairs, in accordance with the intentions set forth in your estate planning documents, like a will and or trust, and the law. When representatives are designated, fiduciary bonds, alternatively referred to as estate bonds, can be required as a safeguard for the interests of the estate and beneficiaries. Learn more about estate bonds right here. As you develop your estate plan, remember, Colonial, a leading national provider of all types of fiduciary bonds, makes bonding easy and speedy. At Colonial, the steps to obtaining estate bonds and all other types of fiduciary bonds are simply: get a quote online, fill out the information, and enter a payment method. Print or e-file the bond from anywhere—even the law office.
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Special Considerations
Although estate planning is most typically associated with designating assets for others, planning for our own care needs as we age has gained tremendous importance as more of us are living our own lives. In many ways, the best way we can help those we care about is to make sure they are not left alone with the stress of wrangling our financial and health decisions. DeLanders reminds us: “Through documents like a durable power of attorney, health care proxy, living will and trust, you can designate individuals to manage your assets and make decisions on your behalf if you become disabled or incapacitated.” While estate planning is important for all of us, experts point out that it is especially important when minor children, blended families and special needs individuals are involved:
Nominating a guardian in the will ensures that any minor children will be cared for by the people you have chosen if both parents die before the children turn 18. Without a will in place that nominates a guardian, the Probate Court will decide who looks after your minor children without any guidance from you.
Estate planning can help ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes, especially in the instance of a blended family. For example, a parent may desire to leave a different inheritance to biological or adopted children than to stepchildren, or to protect their biological or adopted children’s inheritance in the event that a spouse remarries.
If you have a beneficiary with special needs, a “special needs trust” or “supplemental needs trust” can be created as part of your estate plan to ensure that the beneficiary continues to qualify for public assistance such as MassHealth or Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Depending on your circumstances and the specifics of your plan, the fiduciaries you appoint may include a guardian for minor children, an executor for your will, and a trustee for assets placed in a trust. Given the importance of these responsibilities, fiiduciary bonds, like guardian bonds, executor bonds, and trustee bonds are often recommended or even required. Colonial Surety makes it convenient and quick to obtain guardian, executor, trustee and all other types of estate and fiduciary bonds online, right here.
Estate Planning Attorney?
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Our fiduciary bond portfolio includes: administrator, estate, executor, guardian, personal representative, probate, surrogate, trustee, conservator and the list goes on. See for yourself, right here. Court bonds are right here too, including: appeal, supersedeas, injunction, replevin, receiver and more.
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