The 3 Essential Estate Planning Documents Every Adult Needs
Everyone knows that they should have a will. This is correct, but incomplete. What everyone truly needs is a proper estate plan to cover three scenarios adults commonly encounter: 1) you become unable to care for your finance, 2) you become unable to make medical decisions, and 3) you die. Although there are many ways to protect your interests and assets under these scenarios, at a minimum, a proper estate plan should include the following 3 documents to cover these possible scenarios: 1) Power of Attorney, 2) Living Will, and 3) Last Will and Testament.
- Power of Attorney
The power of attorney authorizes a person to manage your business affairs while you are unable to do so. You may design it to cease at particular times, and you can revoke at any time that you are capable of making legal decisions, but the authority must cease at death.
- Living Will
The living will contains end of life instructions and should appoint someone (healthcare surrogate) to enforce those instructions.
- Last Will and Testament
The last will and testament is an instruction sheet for the probate court, plain and simple, in that it tells the court what you (the testator) want to happen to your estate.
Beware! Any attorney that would do the will without the other documents without informing you of the need of all three is more than likely not experienced in estate planning and is thus not serving your interests. These 3 documents have very distinct functions which work together to begin to form a coherent estate plan.
