Most clients I work with on their Estate Planning are shocked to learn that everyone has an Estate Plan, even when they have done nothing. There really are no exceptions to this. In Idaho, like most every other state, written statutes create a default Estate Plan for anyone who has not created one for themselves.
While this may seem intrusive, the reason the government has a default Estate Plan for you is because the law recognizes that when a person passes away, many people may make a claim to the decedent’s property. To avoid the potential chaos that could result from this problem, and to stop those that are unscrupulous, the law has created a systematic default Estate Plan for the distribution of a person’s belongings when they die. This is called the Law of Intestacy.
Essentially, if you die without a written Will, or Estate Plan, you die “Intestate.” If you don’t have a written Will as part of your Estate Plan then Idaho’s “intestacy” statutes and laws will automatically create an Estate Plan for you that determines who will receive your property when you die. In other words, if you don’t create an Estate Plan for yourself, the government has a default plan for you.
Most people would rather not have the government control who gets their property when they die. For this reason, many people take the steps to have a written Estate Plan so that they can control who receives their property, when they receive it and what portions of the property they receive.
The time for you to take control of your Estate Plan, and to eliminate the government from creating a default estate plan for you, is now. You can create your own Estate Plan and can control who gets your property when you die.
Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Estate Planning attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Estate Planning questions and will help you determine how to meet your personal estate planning needs.