By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney
I’ve been an attorney now for several decades and have heard many of my clients who are young ask this very question. Many of us, myself included when I was young, believed that since we were young and healthy, that it really wasn’t necessary for us to complete our estate planning. However, the truth is just the opposite. Estate planning is much more than deciding who to give your property away to after you die. In fact, estate planning has much more to do with your life while you are alive, than it does with what happens to your property after you die.
Taking capacity and disability as an example. According to current morbidity tables, the chances of a young and healthy person becoming incapacitated or disabled in the next year is significantly greater than the chance of them dying. So even the young and healthy need to have an estate plan in place where they determine what’s going to happen to them if they suddenly become disabled or incapacitated.
If a young and healthy person suddenly does become disabled or incapacitated and they do not have an estate plan, then it will become legally necessary for a Guardianship and Conservatorship proceeding to be filed in the courts. This will require the hiring of at least two attorneys, as well as testimony being provided by medical care providers. more importantly, this opens up the potential for a disagreement to arise among your family as to who should be appointed as your guardian. This could lead to a fight that is carried over into the court system, and results in a long and expensive legal battle before that decision is made by the court. Even when there is no fight, the cost of doing a legal guardianship are much much higher than the costs of completing an estate plan.
So even the young and healthy need an estate plan that includes at the very least, a valid Durable Power of Attorney for Finances, and a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. Having these two essential documents completed can easily avoid the costs of legal guardianship proceedings and/or lengthy litigation. More importantly, having these documents will help avoid any disagreements or fights among your family.
So if you are young and healthy, and would like to know more about completing your estate plan, we can help. 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 solve your Idaho Estate Planning problems.
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