Dynamic Estate Planning: Three Stages
The one constant in life is that it will always change. Although everyone knows this truth, it can be difficult to integrate it into your daily life. This is a very important aspect of your legacy. In this post, we will discuss dynamic estate planning. Many people learn about estate planning indirectly when they start their careers. When you ask about your benefits, the conversation always revolves around life insurance and 401(k). A comprehensive estate plan should also address the possibility of incapacity. Incapacity plans include a living-will that states life-support preferences. In a durable power for healthcare, you can designate someone who will make medical decisions for you that are not directly related to life support.
A durable property power of attorney can be added if you want to name someone responsible for managing your property. This is a basic outline, but it is wise to put a plan in place early on and build on it over time.
Family Responsibilities
The next stage is extremely important and unfortunately, it is often overlooked. Even if you choose to gamble when no one depends on you, the situation changes when you have a spouse. In order to ensure that your wishes are carried out, you must name a guardian in your will. Even if you don’t have much money saved up at a young age, life coverage can provide income replacement. Term life insurance can be affordable for young adults. You could create a living trust and be the trustee as long as you live. The trust can be named as the beneficiary of an insurance policy. A testamentary trust is another option. This is a trust that is embedded in a will. You may find yourself in a different financial situation than you did 20 or 30 years earlier. Relationships can change, and you may start to think about the specifics of your legacy.
Long-term care is another consideration during this stage of life. About one-third of seniors will live in nursing homes. Most seniors will have to pay for long-term care. Medicare does not pay for the custodial care that most seniors will need at some point in time.
Medicaid will cover long-term care costs. Although it is a need-based benefit, with the assistance of an elder law attorney, you can potentially take steps to gain eligibility.
Medicaid planning will often center around the utilization of an income-only Medicaid trust. This would be an irrevocable, so you would have to give up control of the principal. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that it would not count if you apply for Medicaid.
Until and unless you receive Medicaid benefits, you can receive income from the trust’s earnings. Since a lot of retirees rely on income they receive from invested assets, they have no intention of using the principal anyway, so this is a win-win solution.
Schedule a Consultation Today!
Our doors are open if you would like to work with an Oklahoma City estate planning lawyer to put a plan in place. We can help you update an existing plan if circumstances have changed. Contact us by phone at 405-843-6100. We also have a location in Tulsa, and if that one is more convenient, the number there is 918-615-2700.
After helping his own family deal with a lengthy probate and the IRS following his father’s untimely death in a farm accident, Larry Parman made a decision to help families create effective estate plans designed to reduce taxes, minimize legal interference with the transfer of assets to one’s heirs, and protect his clients’ assets from predators and creditors Read More! Larry Parman, Attorney At Law, Latest Posts
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