There is a famous saying that when people plan, God laughs. One type of plan that you do need to make, however, is a plan for end of life issues and for what your legacy will be when you are gone.
Everyone passes away, and many people experience a serious illness or injury before the end of their life. No matter what your age or how healthy you are, anything could happen in a split second and leave you vulnerable to an uncertain future.
You need to plan for this inevitability. Kinghorn Law can help. Our Tucson incapacity and legacy planning lawyers provide compassionate assistance so you are prepared for some of the darkest days that you and your loved ones could face.
Why is it So Important to Plan for End-of-Life and Your Legacy?
No one likes to think about getting sick or dying, but it happens to everyone. When your day comes, it is up to you what your family will have to cope with.
If you act while you are healthy and of sound mind, you can spare the people you love from difficult and sometimes costly situations, such as going to court and having a guardian appointed or having to make the choice to withhold medical care from you.
If you want to provide the very best for the people in your life, start today to plan for your future and theirs. From sparing your family grief at the end of your life to avoiding family fighting by making legacy plans, there are simple steps you can take now to care for the people who matter.
Making your plans is also important for your own quality of life. You deserve a say in whether you want medical interventions or to die with dignity, and you deserve to choose who will manage your lifetime’s wealth if you cannot. If you don’t make your plans, you will lose the chance to maintain control over your destiny, even once you are no longer in control of your daily life.
What Must be a Part of Your Planning Process?
The key components of a plan that will protect you and your family at the end of your life and beyond could include:
- Wills: Wills are one of the simplest tools in an estate plan. They allow you to offer basic instructions on who should inherit so default intestacy laws do not determine your legacy. Wills can also help to head off family fighting and ensure heirlooms are passed on to the next generation who will appreciate them most.
- Living trusts: Living trusts are a versatile legal tool that can allow you to designate a person to manage trust assets in case of incapacity. A living trust can also make the timely transfer of trust assets possible through trust administration. If you want your family to inherit faster because probate is avoided, or if you want trust assets to be managed by a chosen trustee in case of incapacity, a living trust may be right for you.
- Powers of attorney: A durable power of attorney is the cornerstone of most incapacity plans. If you want to determine who gets to make your decisions on your behalf when illness or injury stops you from being able to manage your own affairs, you need to create a power of attorney.
- Beneficiary designations: Beneficiaries must be designated on life insurance, on certain pay-on-death accounts, and in certain other circumstances where you want to select a person to inherit. Sometimes, naming a beneficiary can be more complicated than it seems, especially if you hope to have a minor inherit. Kinghorn Law assists you in understanding when and how to name beneficiaries so you can take care of the people you love.
Kinghorn Law will provide assistance with these tools and with other plans that you may need to make, from arranging how to give money to charity to ensuring that your business you built can survive after you pass away.
Getting Help Making Your Plans for the Future
Planning ahead for a tragic outcome is not anyone’s idea of fun, but it allows you to protect your family and ensure you can maintain autonomy and dignity for as long as possible. You need an incapacity and legacy planning lawyer who has not only legal knowledge of the tools you can use to plan, but who also has the compassion and understanding to assist with tackling life’s most personal and pressing questions.
Kinghorn Law is here to help. Give us a call today at (520) 529-4000 or contact us online to speak with a Tucson end-of-life and legacy planning lawyer to find out more about how we can represent you.
