Regardless of your degree of wealth, you might want to look into an estate plan. After all, these do much more than simply determine where your assets will go after your death.
A complex or extensive estate is not necessary in order to have an estate plan, and an estate plan itself is not complicated.
A will
Bankrate discusses the three biggest components of a simple estate plan. They are a will, a power of attorney and an advance health care directive.
Your will lets you decide who will get what from your assets once you have died. This ensures you will not die “intestate”, which will leave the distribution of your remaining assets up to a court official. In other words, if you do not have a will, you do not have any say in who gets your assets.
A power of attorney
A power of attorney is crucial, especially in financial aspects. They will pay the outstanding debts that you may have left behind upon your death. If you are unable to handle your financial matters in life, you can also leave them up to your power of attorney.
An advance health care directive
Finally, your advance health care directive will act as a way for you to communicate your health care wishes to your doctors and loved ones in the event that you are unable to do so on your own. For example, if an injury or illness causes you to become incapacitated, doctors can reference your advance health care directive to determine how to act next.
As you can see, these components all serve a clear purpose and anyone can find them useful.
