Many people assume that estate planning is just another phrase for making a will, but the truth is that there’s more to it than that. While the process does involve making a will to direct how your property and assets are to be distributed following your passing, it also involves things like detailing your wishes concerning medical treatment in the event that you are incapacitated, as well as appointing someone to take care of your affairs should you become unable to do so. Here at GPS Law Group, one question that we get a lot is, “When is the right time to start estate planning?” We’ll be going over our answer in this article.
While you may not think you need to start the estate planning process until you are at or nearing retirement age, the unfortunate reality is that there are no guarantees in life. You naturally hope that you will live a long life and have plenty of time to set your affairs in order, but accidents happen all the time, and there’s no way to definitively ensure that this will happen. Because of this inherent uncertainty, we at GPS Law Group recommend making an estate plan at any point when you have the capacity to enter into a contract, and preferably sooner than you think you’ll have to. Even if you have no children or little in the way of assets, making an estate plan allows you to legally ensure you’ll get the medical treatment you want in the event of an emergency rather than have that decision made for you. If you do have children, your estate plan allows you to take steps to provide for them even if you won’t be able to do so in person anymore.
If you have further questions about the estate planning process or aren’t sure where to start, simply call us at GPS Law Group to consult with one of our team members.