Estate Planning - Write It Down Now / Overland Park, KS

It can be hard to appreciate the kind of frustration a family can go through when the final affairs of a loved one are not in order ... and the time comes. On the other hand, if you have been there and done that, or have seen it second hand, then you know what I mean.

When it comes to estate planning, there are simply a lot of plans that need to be made, because there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

For an impassioned voice on the matter and some advice you should heed, be sure to read a recent commentary published in The Washington Post titled “Put your estate plan on paper before it’s too late.”

The author recounts her own experience with her mother, who was not even suffering from old age. Her mother was moved to critical condition after an accident. Unfortunately, the author was left on the other side of a legal wall caused by the lack of a financial durable power of attorney and advance healthcare directive that might have allowed her to come to aid.

Worse still, the mother had actively put-off or refused committing her wishes to paper and that is why there was no legal recourse.

If you or a loved one have not committed your financial durable power of attorney and healthcare directive wishes to paper, then consider this story one more to remind you why proper estate planning is so important.

We plan because there is a reason for certain privacy, whether over our healthcare, our finances or both.

It is our own personal responsibility.

If nothing else, we plan because when the time comes there are more important things to think about, like the comfort of an ailing loved one or the memory of one recently passed.

The original article spells out the basics and brings the need to complete your own plan clearly into focus, whether you are in Overland Park or elsewhere.

Remember: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When making your financial, tax and estate plans, do not go it alone. Be sure to engage competent professional counsel.

For more information about estate planning in Overland Park, KS (and throughout the rest of Kansas and Missouri) and to download free tools to help you organize your estate, visit my estate planning website.

Reference: The Washington Post (March 20, 2014) “Put your estate plan on paper before it’s too late”