Estate planning is often thought of simply as an item to check off a to-do list. However, after receiving your newly-created estate planning documents, there are several important follow-up steps you can take to fortify your documents, and ensure that your loved ones are best prepared to carry out your wishes. One of those steps is to consider having a conversation with certain key individuals about their roles as it pertains to your estate plan.
How you choose to talk about your estate plan and wishes with someone will vary depending on the nature of your relationship and their role in your plan. Depending on the dynamics, you may decide that a conversation would do more harm than good. However, in many cases, a brief, candid, and direct conversation with key individuals can bring you both a deeper sense of peace and security.
Above all, approach a conversation with your loved one with intention. Come prepared with the information you want to convey. Be careful when you prepare not to add instructions that are not noted in your formal estate planning documents. The goal is not necessarily to give them a detailed checklist of exactly what you want to do (that is already accounted for in your estate planning documents), but rather to give them the basic outline of that plan and provide an opportunity to answer any high-level questions they may have.
Depending on who you are speaking to, and the role(s) they hold, you will likely emphasize different aspects of your estate plan.
Financial Decision Makers
Your financial decision makers include the agent you have listed in your Durable General Power of Attorney, your Executor/Personal Representative, and if you have a Revocable Living Trust, your Successor Trustee. As the financial decision makers, they should know where you keep your original estate planning documents, as well as how to access them if you are incapacitated.
Your original estate planning documents should be stored in a secure location that is also accessible for your decision makers. You may choose to keep them inside a file cabinet (bonus points if it’s in a fire-resistant folder), fireproof lockbox, or a home safe. We generally discourage storing originals in a safe deposit box at a bank. While the originals will be secure, they could be difficult to access as the documents that prove your decision maker’s authority would be inside the safe deposit box.
Beyond making sure your financial decision makers can access your original estate planning documents, show them where to locate your financial information such as a budget, asset information, passwords, etc. An easy and simple way to organize and communicate such information is an asset organizer form, which can be completed at different levels of detail. Even having a simple listing of your major assets, the account numbers, and the institutions they are held at can significantly reduce the amount of time your financial decision makers have to spend sorting through your papers upon your incapacity or death.
Healthcare Decision Makers
In your Advance Medical Directive (AMD), you have named one or more people to serve as your agent in the event that you are incapacitated and are unable to make medical decisions for yourself. In your AMD, you can give your agents discretion to make certain decisions, as well as express your wishes for the types of treatments you would not like, as well as burial or cremation instructions.
Even though you have laid out these details in your AMD, your agent may find it extremely helpful to talk through your wishes with you directly. This can give your agent peace and clarity knowing that they understand your intentions.
Speaking with Your Beneficiaries
In many circumstances, the beneficiaries of an estate plan may also serve in at least one decision making role. However, that is not always the case. The specific path of your conversation will change depending on your unique situation and plan.
If you would like to have such a conversation with a beneficiary, decide in advance what information you would like to share. Remember that you have created your estate plan intentionally and thought through every decision. Keep the conversation focused on your big picture decisions. This can include talking about who you have named as your decision makers, and potentially your high-level decisions about where you would like your wealth to go.
A conversation about your estate plan touches on both the emotional reality that you will not always be physically present in your loved ones’ lives, and also the practical reality that there will be someone taking all of your worldly possessions and distributing them accordingly. You know your loved ones best. Conversations like those described here may be incredibly helpful, depending on the specific circumstances. Even though it is difficult, your loved ones can be blessed when you take the time and consideration to prepare with them specifically in mind.