Common Estate Planning Questions

What is an estate plan?

Everyone has an estate, and it is comprised of everything you own – car, home, bank accounts, investments, life insurance and personal possessions. No matter how large or small, we all have something in common – you can’t take your possessions with you when you die. Most people think of an estate plan as how and to whom your estate will be distributed after your death, but an estate plan also includes documents that are used during life.

What documents are included in an estate plan?

Other documents may be used in an estate plan as needed, but these are the most common:

• Last Will and Testament:This document states how you want your estate to be distributed after your death. If you have minor age children, this is where you will name who you want to raise your children as well.
• General Durable Power of Attorney: This document names who you want to act as your legal agent, also called the attorney-in-fact, in financial and legal matters. You are giving your attorney-in-fact the authority to act on your behalf.
• Health Care Power of Attorney: With this you select who will make medical decisions if you cannot.
• Living Will: States your wishes for artificial life prolongation in the event of terminal illness.  
   

How do I get an estate plan?

The easiest way to set up an estate plan is to visit with an estate planning attorney. The attorney will draft documents based on your situation and will make sure they coordinate with state law. Be sure to note special situations, such as blended families or special needs children acquire the services of an experienced estate planning attorney to avoid unintended consequences.

Content Prepared by Elizabeth Braden, CFP® from Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors

Digital Assets Are Property Too!

If you’re reading our blog about financial planning, you probably own financial assets. But the fact you are reading this blog post means you own digital assets as well. In fact, nowadays people of all ages tend to own digital assets, and most of us own quite an array of them. 

First, there’s all that hardware we collect: 

•          Computers
•          External hard drives
•          Tablets
•          Smart phones
•          E-readers
•          Digital cameras

Then, think about all those accounts we use: 

•          Social media accounts such as Facebook™, 
           Twitter™, Pinterest™, on and on.
•          Online banking accounts
•          Transaction accounts (Amazon, eBay, PayPal)
•          Email accounts
•          Photo sharing accounts
•          Domain names

Digital assets management, or DAM, consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the cataloguing, storage, retrieval, and distribution of digital assets.

“The digitization of business assets has created a new challenge for the development of succession plans for small business owners,” writes Jamie P. Hopkins, J.D. in the Journal of Financial Planning.

But even if you don’t own a business or ever plan to, smart financial and estate planning need to  include how you want your digital assets handled, cautions Dennis Kennedy in Law Practice Today. 

Facebook™ has gotten into the game of planning for digital assets.  You’re now allowed to appoint a legacy contact for your account after you die. Or, you can set your Facebook account so that it’s permanently deleted when you die.

Here at Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors, where our focus has always been on the accumulation and management of financial assets, we know how important it is to focus on managing all types of assets. 

It’s getting late. Do you know where all of your passwords and user names are? Let’s talk about that.

Content was prepared by a freelance journalist on behalf of Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors