National Lego Day
When a child decides to play with their Legos, they start in pieces scattered across the floor without care. It’s a big pile of possibilities. Over time, those individual pieces are placed together in an order that fits the child’s imagination. They can pick a variety of colors, choose how many pieces to use, or even add and change pieces later if they want. This may end up with the child building a castle, a spaceship, or whatever they dream up.
Just like the child building their castle, you can build your estate plan, custom to the needs of you and your family. You can choose how many “pieces” to use depending on your personal circumstances. A last will and testament and powers of attorney are good starting points. And for young adults they may be enough to cover your needs. For instance, if you are heading off to college on your own for the first time you would want to have powers of attorney in place. That way, your parents, siblings, or other trusted individuals could be named to handle your financial or medical decisions if you were in an accident and couldn’t make those decisions for yourself.
Then, adding more pieces may be necessary as you age. Older adults with minor children, for example, may want to include a living trust to have more protections in place. These protections could be to help your children learn more financial responsibility, against future creditors and outlaws. Or, they can be included to keep a cottage in the family and well maintained. Additionally, adults should consider adding things like advanced directives to their plans. Having pre-set decisions in place if something were to happen to you can help take burdens off your family members so they know what kind of care or treatments you would want. Or if you’re a new parent, adding in guardianship decisions to your plan can be crucial so your children are taken care of and raised in the ways you want.
Having the ability to adapt your plan while you age shows the importance of working with an estate planning professional that has an established maintenance program. That way, when you go from building a castle to switching to a spaceship all the pieces you need are there. The updates in your life are properly addressed and covered. To learn more about our estate planning options and maintenance program, we offer complimentary initial consultations. Contact our office, (248) 409-0256 to schedule an appointment today.