When you die – whether expected or not – the reality is that your final wishes may not be carried out if the proper steps haven’t been taken. You need to both legally and logistically prepare for the possibility. If an unexpected tragedy were to strike, and you hadn’t followed the correct procedure, there’s no guaranteeing what could happen.
Assign Someone You Trust
There are two sides to ensuring that your final wishes do, in fact, get carried out: the legal and the logistical. Or in other words, you need to communicate with your loved ones before you die to make sure they know what to expect. Most importantly, you need to have somebody you trust on board to make sure that the right things go to the right people. If that person happens to just be your lawyer, you can kill two birds with one stone. But you’re probably going to want to make sure that you have someone else ensuring that people do with your assets what you would like them to do.
Put it in Writing
Then comes the legal side. Having a written will can be immensely helpful – it will be physical proof for your loved ones that you did make those exact decisions. However, writing alone is not enough to guarantee that your estate plan is fulfilled. Writing the will with a lawyer specifically to make sure that you check all of the correct legal boxes will make sure that the right people receive the right items. You can do the same for your own funeral services as well, so make sure to plan ahead and know the details of what you want. Unlike a funeral service, your casket will not be present at a memorial service.
Communicate What You Can
In some cases, your choices may not be controversial. In others – especially in cases where your assets happen to be extremely valuable – it may be important to create legal boundaries to stop the people in your life from disrespecting your wishes to get some more money. It also can help tremendously if you communicate as much as you can beforehand. If your decisions cause consternation, you don’t have to tell your loved ones everything – but try to manage expectations.
Death is an emotionally complicated event. It also will happen to everybody at some point. You need to take action now to prepare for a worst-case scenario that could happen to anybody at any time. You will be grateful that you did.
Check out this article on types of insurance that can benefit you in retirement!
