This past week my first child, a son, was born. I can’t tell you how happy I am. In his face I see posterity. In my wife’s face, I see the pure joy of being a mother for the first time. (Our dog who’s use to getting a lot of attention … Well, let’s just say he’s not so happy, but he’ll get over it.)
When I look at my boy I think about his life. I want him to have a good life. Not the perfect life, but a happy and healthy life. I think about him getting older and about my wife and me getting older. I think about Christmases, college, careers, and the family that I hope someday he’ll have.
And, yes, being a lawyer who drafts Wills and trusts for a living, I think about the need for proper estate planning documents. I know that many people think about having their first Will drafted at this time in their life.
I’ve always found that people have Wills drafted at very specific times in their life – until they reach age sixty-five or so, at which time they’ll have a new Will drafted periodically. For most people, their first Will is drafted when they have very young children. People tend to have their Wills updated when they are about to travel, typically on a plane.
It’s not until people become “seniors” that they’ll have a new Will drafted for no specific reason, other than the “I-thought-I should-get-my-affairs-in-order” reason. That’s why we “elder law” attorneys market our services the way we do. Oftentimes, a child will accompany a parent to my office and after I finish speaking with the parent, the child will ask, “Do you draft Wills for younger people, too?”
If an estate planning attorney marketed himself to younger clients – unless he worked for a big firm that could feed him rich clients who happen to also need an estate plan – he’d starve. Younger people don’t see the need for a Will. But they should.
A Will is a terrifically powerful document. Often no more than ten pages in length, a Will can specify to whom and in what manner every asset that you own will pass after your death.
A Will can name a person to handle the affairs of your estate after your death, that is, the executor. It can name someone to manage and invest your money for the benefit of your family members, that is, a trustee. And, it can name a surrogate parent for your minor or disabled children, that is, a guardian.
A Will is such an important document and such an inexpensive document, the fact that people don’t have one is amazing. In what other $200 document can you direct the person who will receive your assets, name a trustee to manage those assets perhaps for twenty years or more, and name a surrogate parent for your children?
Choosing the correct people to fill those roles are difficult decisions to make. Yet, the fact of the matter is, if we don’t make these decisions during our lives, the mess that we leave behind for our families will have to be sorted out by someone else.
No one knows you the way you do. No one knows exactly how you feel. In a way, a Will allows us to reach beyond death and touch our family for years to come. It is, quite literally, our legacy.
For my son I want all the best. I hope to be there for the better part of his life, as I know that he will be the best part of mine, but I have to plan for the chance that I may not be there. Part of that plan is having proper estate planning documents in place. Such documents are inexpensive and take about an hour of your time to have drafted, if done by an experienced attorney.