Most people think of “doing estate planning” as the act of creating and signing a will. While in some cases, a will is the best instrument, you can’t get to that answer without engaging in a comprehensive process where the lawyer gets to learn about you and your family, your goals and desires, your values and expectations. Only then can an effective estate planning attorney recommend the best document or set of documents to create an estate plan that “works” for you.
While it is a near certainty that some day you will die (notice how a good attorney never lets himself get painted into a corner), the truth is that you will more likely experience a long-term disability than a catastrophic death. If all you have is a will, you’ve done nothing to plan for that disability. A comprehensive approach will include planning for your disability as well as your passing.
In the end, estate planning should be about giving you the control and flexibility to live your life with peace of mind, knowing that there are safeguards in place that will help you provide for your loved ones if you are disabled. An effective estate plan will let you give what you want, to whom you want, when you want them to have it, and in the way you want them to have it. All the while providing a way to allow you to pass along your wisdom with you wealth.
Posted by Victor Medina
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC
That is useful advice. I tell my estate planning clients in Japan that a typical plan involves first, careful analysis and only then, several documents, only one of which is the will. There are several objectives, including asset disposition, cost savings, provision for minor and special needs children, generation skipping, health care and financial authority when one is incapacitated, etc. — and a will alone will not cover these. There are clients who only need a simple will, but the person with a family is unlikely to be in that category. In Japan, so many companies (even giant ones) are family businesses, so business succession planning is also needed.