Doesn't Count

 

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials from a company called “Trust & Wills.” A couple are talking about who will be guardian for their children, or a man tells his wife that he wants part of his money to go to a wildlife charity, and suddenly a man pops up and says, “Doesn’t count.” The point of the commercial is that the only way to guarantee that your wishes will be carried out is to have a will.

That’s true, but it’s also over-simplified. Roland and I have had wills for years and paid for our funerals and our final resting place a long time ago. (The photo at the head of this post shows the columbarium where our ashes will go.) We had also put together written funeral instructions and slide shows for our visitations.

But that isn’t enough. A complete estate plan doesn’t just cover the period after death—it also comes into play before then. What neither of us had were a living will, an advance health care directive, and (most importantly from my point of view) a durable power of attorney. We’ve been talking about completing those documents for a long time but just never got around to it.

Until now. I won’t go into the circumstances that prompted us to get it done, but we contacted an attorney and completed our estate plan, updating our wills at the same time. I’m particularly relieved to have the durable power of attorney, which authorizes somebody else (initially each other, and then our children) to make financial decisions while we are still alive. That way, if either of us gets Alzheimer's disease or is otherwise unable to make sound decisions, we won’t have to ask a judge to appoint a guardian.

An online service such as “Trust & Wills” may be adequate if you want something simple, and it is certainly better than not having a will at all. But my wishes are more complicated, and it takes a live human being licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction where I live to understand them. Even the lawyer we hired had a little trouble following my requirements, especially since I rethought some of them during our initial conversation.

The bottom line, though, is that waiting to put an estate plan together is a bad idea. You may think you have all the time in the world, and then you have an unexpected stroke or are killed in a car accident. Too many things in life are unpredictable.

I’m feeling much better now, and you will too if you get your estate plan in order.