It is Never too Soon or too Late for Estate Planning
Although gender roles are evolving, it is still the case in many American households that the husband takes responsible for handling the couple’s finances and, by extension, their estate planning. For many couples, this arrangement works out just fine. But when a couple divorces or the wife suddenly finds herself widowed, she can feel lost as she tries to understand her financial standing. This can also happen when a husband becomes incapacitated due to a mental or physical illness. Even when a couple is healthy and happily married, it is in both partners’ best interests to take an active role in estate planning and to know about their financial standing.
Long Term Care and Naming a Healthcare Surrogate
Women often outlive men. This fact, coupled with many women’s tendency to marry men older than them, often means that wives outlive their husbands. There is a strong chance that you will spend your later years as a widow, so plan for these years financially.
Now is the time to determine your plans regarding long term care and how your medical needs will be handled later in life. Now is the time to appoint a healthcare surrogate, the individual who will make healthcare decisions on your behalf when you are unable to do so for yourself. Many people choose their adult children to act as their healthcare surrogates, but you can choose anybody you trust to act in your best interest.
Protect Your Assets with Trusts
After you pass away, your assets are subject to the probate process. This is a lengthy, often complex court process that can delay your assets’ passing to your loved ones and create rifts between them. To bypass the probate process, you can move assets into trusts. There are a few different types of trusts you can use to do this.
Make Sure You Have Enough Money to Support Yourself
Keeping liquid cash is an important, and often overlooked, part of estate planning. Build liquidity into your estate plans by establishing a savings account and contributing to it regularly. This liquid cash will be there when you need to pay taxes, cover co-pays, and cover the gaps left by a forced sale of assets, if one occurs.
Work with an Experienced Fort Lauderdale Estate Planning Lawyer
The same principles that apply to male estate planning apply to female estate planning. Due to gender roles and expectations in our culture, many women have far less experience handling money and planning for their financial futures than men have. When you need to make critical estate decisions with the aid of a compassionate, nondiscriminatory estate planning lawyer, contact The Law Offices of Gregory W. Kabel, P.A. Contact our firm today to set up your legal consultation with us.