Some of the biggest estate planning mistakes that people make are not technically estate planning, but they can have a big effect on an estate.
When people are planning for their estates, they want to make sure they do not make any mistakes.
It is important that the plans can be carried so assets are distributed in the way they wanted and so taxes, court costs and attorneys’ fees do not eat up a large portion of the estate.
Avoiding those types of mistakes is important in estate planning.
However, a potentially bigger mistake is not planning for end-of-life care while planning for an estate, as Forbes points out in “The Biggest Estate Planning Mistake People Make.”
Some end-of-life documents you should get from your estate planning attorney include:
• A Durable Power of Attorney — With this document you can appoint someone else to handle your financial responsibilities, if you are ever unable to do so due to incapacitation. This is important if you want to make sure that your bills get paid on time, for example.
• A Health Care Power of Attorney — This document lets you appoint someone else to make medical decisions for you, if you are unable to do so. When doctors need to know what decision to make about your care, this is the person they will ask.
• A Living Will — This document allows you to give advanced directives to medical professionals about what procedures to give you or to withhold in the event you are incapacitated, terminally ill and unable to communicate your wishes.
Reference: Forbes (August 16, 2017) “The Biggest Estate Planning Mistake People Make.”
