50+ Lifestyles

How to Use Estate Planning to Reduce Your Family’s Burden

Duffy Law Office is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

By Ryan Denman
Duffy Law Office

There is much you can do in the estate planning process to prepare your finances, daily business affairs as well as your medical and final arrangement wishes.  The more you have in place when tragedy strikes, the less your loved ones will have to guess what you would have wanted.

Estate Planning

Meet with a qualified estate planning attorney and get a comprehensive estate plan in place.  This will authorize your loved ones to step into your shoes when you can no longer take care of financial and medical decisions.

Be sure to communicate with your loved ones.  Ask their permission before naming them as trusted helpers in your estate planning documents.  Then, let them know where you keep your important papers and how to get in contact with your estate planning attorney.

Final Arrangements

Think about what kind of memorial service, funeral, or life celebration that you would like.  Jot down your wishes, chat with loved ones, and keep your instructions with your estate planning documents and other important documents.

Living Will

If you don’t want to be hooked up to machines or be subjected to other medical heroics if you are at the very end of life, sign a living will.  Be sure your loved ones know you have a living will and keep it with your other estate planning documents.  You can also use a virtual service such as Docubank to store your documents, thereby ensuring they are available 24/7/365.

When you use estate planning to make decisions ahead of time, you relieve a great burden from your loved ones.  Consult with a qualified estate planning attorney to get good advice about your individual situation.

Ryan Denman is an attorney at Duffy Law Office. He can be reached at (563) 445-7400 or at info@duffylawoffice.com.