Is "Life" Happening to You?

Life has a way of happening when we're all making other plans.  It is easy to get wrapped up in day-to-day affairs like taking care of the kids, or just trying to stay afloat.  Your legal affairs rarely yell the loudest for your attention, so they quickly get overlooked and disappear into the noise.  The problem is that legal documents are like insurance, you don’t need them until you need them.  It is of particular importance that you review your legal directives if any of the following 4 scenarios apply to you:

     1)  You don't have a Will or estate plan. You have a job, a spouse, children, a car and a house, but you don’t have a Will or estate plan. Without a Will, you are placing your estate (and maybe your children) in the hands of the Court to make determinations on who will inherit your assets. An estate plan will go a long way in keeping your family out of Court and out of conflict. At the very least, hire an attorney to draft a Will that distributes your assets and appoints a guardian for your children to better protect from a costly probate process taking away assets from your loved ones.

    2)  It's been at least 3 years since you updated your Will or estate plan.  You have a Will, but it has been more than 3 years since it has been reviewed by an attorney. Since then your life may have changed (e.g., you started or expanded your family, purchased a home or acquired another form of real estate, moved to Texas from another state, changed your marital status, etc.) or the law has changed. Those changes in circumstances and/or the law need to be reflected in your Will and other legal directives. 

To that point, my husband and I recently updated our estate plans to include our 7-month old son, Foster.  After confirming with our chosen guardians that they would have the means and capacity to care for both of our children (to which they thankfully confirmed without hesitation), we updated our Wills to include Foster and also replace some outdated information.

     3)  You were single and/or not a parent when you created your Will or estate plan.  You are now married with children and need to make provisions for your spouse, designate guardians, and establish trusts for your children should something happen to you and/or your spouse. If the Will that you have now leaves assets to someone other than your spouse or children, that could be devastating for your immediate family unless the beneficiary finds it in their heart to give their inheritance to your immediate family.

  4)  You have not recorded your end of life directives.  Consider the Terri Schiavo situation and the ensuing 15-year court battle that pitted her husband against her parents over what they thought her wishes would be.  Estate planning allows you the opportunity to ease the burden on your loved ones by declaring your end of life wishes, including funeral arrangements.  As too many of us know, it is hard enough to say goodbye to a loved one, the burden grows exponentially harder when having to predict another’s wishes at such a definitive moment of their life because they did not have their legal affairs in order.

Still unsure if you need to do anything differently?  Give us a call at (512) 870-8187 or email Jennifer at jencochranlaw@gmail.com for a free evaluation and/or document review.