The kids are grown and flown, the house is quieter, and you have a little more time on your hands. Now it’s time to focus on your future and update your will and estate plan.
Before you head off to travel the world, here are five important items to consider changing or eliminating now that your children are adults:
- Medical Power of Attorney:
Should you or your spouse become medically incapacitated or unable to make your own medical decisions, your now-adult child can step in to help. Listing them as the medical power of attorney provides the necessary legal access to your medical records as well as the ability to make important life decisions on your behalf if your spouse is incapable of doing so. - Financial Executor:
Adult children 25 or older have likely reached the maturity level to be good candidates for financial executors after your spouse (who is most commonly the financial executor if you should die, but not in all cases). Depending on state laws, a financial executor can be as young as 18 or 21, but adults this age often aren’t prepared for the complexities of handling large sums of money and assets. - Guardianship:
If you have an extensive short-term or permanent guardianship section outlined in your will, you can most likely omit this section altogether or make adjustments if you have a child with special needs or physical disabilities that will continue to require a caregiver. Wills & Wellness can help you find the right special needs trust to fit your situation. - Redirect Inheritance Funds:
If your estate plan includes directives specific to college funding in the chance that you died before your child reached college-age, you can now redirect those funds elsewhere. Now that it’s just you and possibly your spouse, your expenses will dramatically decrease, leaving more money for you to save and invest, accruing more inheritance funds for your beneficiaries in the long run. - Choosing How and When to Allocate Assets and Inheritance:
Ultimately, you know your children best. With this new life phase, you may have a new perspective on what would best benefit them and how that will affect your legacy and distribution of assets. An experienced estate planner can help you craft your will and estate plan that will not only include your grown children but future grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well.
No matter what you choose to update in your will and estate plan now that your children are out of the nest, it’s a good idea to have an honest and practical conversation with them about your will and estate plan. Making sure your end-of-life wishes and decisions come to fruition depends on clear communication with your heirs and beneficiaries. It also eliminates confusion, so that things go more smoothly during an already difficult time.
Wills & Wellness can help you update your estate plan and ensure it fits your current and future needs.
Contact us today for a consultation.
READ MORE: “Does my 18-year old Need a Last Will in Testament?”