Yes, it’s time. Millennials have been busy growing up, working, getting married, buying homes, and having kids. Estate planning is an important way to ensure assets and affairs are organized. Though life will keep changing, and hopefully for the better, estate plans can be updated—but being organized, “just in case” is the right thing to do.
The Great Wealth Transfer
With Millennials pushing further into adulthood, they are not the only ones aging. So too of course are Baby Boomers, and their assets are likely to give Millennials even further incentive to organize for their futures. LifeGen Law Group offers this perspective as Millennials think into estate planning:
The Millennial generation is the largest generation in the U.S., with a population of about 73 million. The generation encompasses individuals born between the years of 1981 and 1996, which now puts the oldest Millennials well into their 40s. No longer the youngest generation, a sizable cohort of Millennials have now gotten married, had children, bought houses, started businesses, and obtained inheritances. Economists are also planning for a so-called “Great Wealth Transfer,” through which Baby Boomers — the wealthiest generation — will pass an estimated $84 trillion to younger generations by 2045. Given that Millennials are in the process of building significant wealth and are poised to continue doing so, now is the time for them to start making plans for their estates….
First Steps: Children?
When children are in the picture, naming a guardian for them, which is done through a will, is an important first step in forming an estate plan. Ideally, assets should also be designated for their care, and this can be done through either a will or trust:
If you have children, your children will play a central role in your estate plan. At the most basic level, ensure that your estate plan makes adequate provisions for your children by naming them beneficiaries in your trusts and/or will. If your children are minors — as most children of Millennials currently are — you should also name a guardian for them in your will. A guardian is a person or persons you designate to care for your children in the event that you and the children’s other parent die or become incapacitated at the same time and are no longer able to care for them.
In addition to planning for the future of children, it’s also wise for Millennial parents–and really all adults–to consider their own care and financial needs, should they experience a capacity decline. For starters, estate planning experts advise a durable power of attorney:
This is a document that allows you (the principal) to delegate certain powers to another individual (the attorney-in-fact) to make decisions for you if you are unable to do so. Powers of attorney can encompass financial matters and healthcare matters. These instruments are referred to as “durable” because they continue in force even if you become incapacitated. Regardless of your age, you might also want to consider executing a living will (also known as a “physician’s directive” and “advance directive”). This document allows you to specify what type of medical care you do and do not want to receive in the event that you become terminally ill or incapacitated. For example, it can encompass issues such as whether you want to be placed on a mechanical ventilator, feeding tube, or other forms of artificial life support.
Asset Plans: Consider A Trust
With a guardian designated for children, and a power of attorney for ourselves, estate planning can progress to asset considerations. Whether our resources are modest, or many, the careful and thoughtful designation of beneficiaries can make a big difference in the lives of others. Assets can be designated through a will, though trusts have a number of possible advantages as anchors of estate plans:
Trusts are one of the most common and versatile estate planning instruments available. With a trust, the person who creates the trust (the grantor) transfers money, property, and other assets to another person (the trustee) to be held and managed for the benefit of one or more third persons (the beneficiaries). Through the trust instrument, the grantor leaves specific instructions on how the trust is to be managed. Trustees, in turn, are legally obligated to follow the grantor’s instructions and to act in the best interests of the trust’s beneficiaries. Trusts offer a number of benefits, including:
- Avoidance of probate — a potentially costly and time-consuming process required for the administration of wills
- Distribution of assets to beneficiaries in installments rather than in a lump sum
- Protection from creditors
- Customization of how your wealth is distributed
- Minimization of certain taxes
- Preservation of eligibility for needs-based government benefits
When planning for the future of assets, don’t forget to consider digital assets—and perhaps even appoint a digital executor to be trusted with account and password information.
Helpful To Know: Estate Bonds?
Regardless of the details of estate plans, the fiduciaries appointed to ultimately fulfill them, such as guardians, trustees or executors, have a legal obligation to honor the arrangements reflected in wills and trusts. Accordingly, when representatives are designated, fiduciary bonds, often referred to as estate bonds, may be required. Learn more about estate bonds right here. At Colonial Surety Company, a leading national provider of all types of fiduciary bonds, the steps to obtaining estate bonds are easy: get a quote online, fill out the information, and enter a payment method. Print or e-file the bond from anywhere—even before leaving the law office.
Estate Law Practice?
Colonial Surety is here to help speed things up whenever and wherever a bond is needed. With a few clicks, you’ll arm your clients with exactly the bond specified.
Just log in to The Partnership Account® for Attorneys, choose a bond, send it to your client for payment, then download, e-file or print the bond. Specific obligee requirements? Trust us: Colonial’s a direct bond writer, so our experts ensure the requirements of obligees across the country are properly met.
Our fiduciary bond portfolio includes: administrator, estate, executor, guardian, personal representative, probate, surrogate, trustee, conservator and the list goes on. Our court bond portfolio includes appeal, supersedeas, injunction, replevin, receiver and more.
Speedy, easy bonds court and fiduciary
Millenials and Estate Planning?
Yes, it’s time. Millenials have been busy growing up, working, getting married, buying homes, and having kids. Estate planning is an important way to ensure assets and affairs are organized. Though life will keep changing, and hopefully for the better, estate plans can be updated—but being organized, “just in case” is the right thing to do.
The Great Wealth Transfer
With Millennials pushing further into adulthood, they are not the only ones aging. So too of course are Baby Boomers, and their assets are likely to give Millennials even further incentive to organize for their futures. LifeGen Law Group offers this perspective as Millennials think into estate planning:
The Millennial generation is the largest generation in the U.S., with a population of about 73 million. The generation encompasses individuals born between the years of 1981 and 1996, which now puts the oldest Millennials well into their 40s. No longer the youngest generation, a sizable cohort of Millennials have now gotten married, had children, bought houses, started businesses, and obtained inheritances. Economists are also planning for a so-called “Great Wealth Transfer,” through which Baby Boomers — the wealthiest generation — will pass an estimated $84 trillion to younger generations by 2045. Given that Millennials are in the process of building significant wealth and are poised to continue doing so, now is the time for them to start making plans for their estates….
First Steps: Children?
When children are in the picture, naming a guardian for them, which is done through a will, is an important first step in forming an estate plan. Ideally, assets should also be designated for their care, and this can be done through either a will or trust:
If you have children, your children will play a central role in your estate plan. At the most basic level, ensure that your estate plan makes adequate provisions for your children by naming them beneficiaries in your trusts and/or will. If your children are minors — as most children of Millennials currently are — you should also name a guardian for them in your will. A guardian is a person or persons you designate to care for your children in the event that you and the children’s other parent die or become incapacitated at the same time and are no longer able to care for them.
In addition to planning for the future of children, it’s also wise for Millennial parents–and really all adults–to consider their own care and financial needs, should they experience a capacity decline. For starters, estate planning experts advise a durable power of attorney:
This is a document that allows you (the principal) to delegate certain powers to another individual (the attorney-in-fact) to make decisions for you if you are unable to do so. Powers of attorney can encompass financial matters and healthcare matters. These instruments are referred to as “durable” because they continue in force even if you become incapacitated. Regardless of your age, you might also want to consider executing a living will (also known as a “physician’s directive” and “advance directive”). This document allows you to specify what type of medical care you do and do not want to receive in the event that you become terminally ill or incapacitated. For example, it can encompass issues such as whether you want to be placed on a mechanical ventilator, feeding tube, or other forms of artificial life support.
Asset Plans: Consider A Trust
With a guardian designated for children, and a power of attorney for ourselves, estate planning can progress to asset considerations. Whether our resources are modest, or many, the careful and thoughtful designation of beneficiaries can make a big difference in the lives of others. Assets can be designated through a will, though trusts have a number of possible advantages as anchors of estate plans:
Trusts are one of the most common and versatile estate planning instruments available. With a trust, the person who creates the trust (the grantor) transfers money, property, and other assets to another person (the trustee) to be held and managed for the benefit of one or more third persons (the beneficiaries). Through the trust instrument, the grantor leaves specific instructions on how the trust is to be managed. Trustees, in turn, are legally obligated to follow the grantor’s instructions and to act in the best interests of the trust’s beneficiaries. Trusts offer a number of benefits, including:
- Avoidance of probate — a potentially costly and time-consuming process required for the administration of wills
- Distribution of assets to beneficiaries in installments rather than in a lump sum
- Protection from creditors
- Customization of how your wealth is distributed
- Minimization of certain taxes
- Preservation of eligibility for needs-based government benefits
When planning for the future of assets, don’t forget to consider digital assets—and perhaps even appoint a digital executor to be trusted with account and password information.
Helpful To Know: Estate Bonds?
Regardless of the details of estate plans, the fiduciaries appointed to ultimately fulfill them, such as guardians, trustees or executors, have a legal obligation to honor the arrangements reflected in wills and trusts. Accordingly, when representatives are designated, fiduciary bonds, often referred to as estate bonds, may be required. Learn more about estate bonds right here. At Colonial Surety Company, a leading national provider of all types of fiduciary bonds, the steps to obtaining estate bonds are easy: get a quote online, fill out the information, and enter a payment method. Print or e-file the bond from anywhere—even before leaving the law office.
Estate Law Practice?
Colonial Surety is here to help speed things up whenever and wherever a bond is needed. With a few clicks, you’ll arm your clients with exactly the bond specified.
Just log in to The Partnership Account® for Attorneys, choose a bond, send it to your client for payment, then download, e-file or print the bond. Specific obligee requirements? Trust us: Colonial’s a direct bond writer, so our experts ensure the requirements of obligees across the country are properly met.
Our fiduciary bond portfolio includes: administrator, estate, executor, guardian, personal representative, probate, surrogate, trustee, conservator and the list goes on. Our court bond portfolio includes appeal, supersedeas, injunction, replevin, receiver and more.
Speedy, easy bonds court and fiduciary bonds, right here:
The Partnership Account® for Attorneys.
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