Estate Planning When You’re Young

We all know the importance of estate planning—it’s a necessary step for ensuring that your life’s wishes are carried out and followed by those you love. However, planning your estate while young may seem like a difficult task. With limited assets and, in many cases, no family or dependents, knowing what to plan for and how to do it isn’t always clear.

However, while your estate plan might not be extensive yet, it’s still worth putting some time and thought into. In today’s blog, we will be looking at a few factors to consider as a young person drafting his or her estate plan for the first time.

Finances

Even at a young age, your finances matter—and how they are managed can have an effect on yourself and the people you love. You can grant someone you trust financial power of attorney, which means that he or she can work on your behalf in business and financial dealings. If you grant the person a durable financial power of attorney, however, that granting of power will be extended even if you become incapacitated.

If you own any property, run a small business or have another potential need for financial representation, granting someone you trust financial power of attorney is something to consider.

Healthcare

Health matters to everyone, no matter your specific age or situation. You want to know that your healthcare wishes are carried out by someone you trust to have your best interests at heart. This is why you might decide to appoint a healthcare surrogate—someone who you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf—or a preneed guardian, someone who you appoint to serve as your guardian should you ever need one.

With healthcare surrogates and preneed guardians, there’s no need to wait—in fact, you can be a perfectly healthy, young person and still appoint these roles. They simply serve to make unexpected events a little easier on your loved ones—all while giving you the chance to have a say in important healthcare and life decisions.

End of life wishes

Everyone deserves the chance to decide how they want to spend the end of their life, if need be. Creating a living will allows the person in question to make decisions about the use of life-prolonging procedures in the event of a terminal condition or vegetative state, among other scenarios.

The news is rife with stories about people in unexpected circumstances, whose families do not know how to proceed. Save your loved ones the emotional stress and confusion by making your decisions ahead of time as clear as possible.

While you can count on your estate plan changing over the years, having a basic foundation set up early is always a good idea. Call our office today so we can help you get started on this important process.