Estate Planning
We often think about estate planning as dealing with all of our “stuff.” But just as when we learned that the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything was “42,” thinking only about the “stuff” is focusing on the wrong question.
I learned that myself when I began estate planning as a reformed litigator. While waiting on an Ohio bar admission back in 2017, I decided to use my free time to put together an estate plan for my family to take care of our “stuff”. After spending a few months reading about wills and trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies, and taxes; reading public filings on the Probate Court’s website; and interviewing estate planners and probate attorneys, I learned that estate planning is not really about the “stuff” at all.
Instead of the being about “stuff,” estate planning is about making sure that our kids will be raised by a guardian who shares our religious, philosophical, and educational approach to life. It’s about making sure our relative with a drug problem is provided for, but can’t use the assets we’re leaving behind to hurt himself or others. It’s about leaving clear instructions so that if – god forbid – someone has to make healthcare decisions for us, they will know our desires and can make a decision that they can live with. And, perhaps, it’s also a little bit about who gets the stuff as well.
Maybe surprisingly, it’s also about lifting that low-level anxiety (whether acknowledged or not) that comes from not knowing what would happen to our loved ones after we’re gone. With planning estates — and I’ve now seen this time and again with clients – there are always smiles after a will signing because we’ve done the best we can to plan for the future.
If you’re worried about what will happen after you’re gone, or about what will happen if you’re unable to make decisions for yourself and your family. We can help.