I have represented many first-time home buyers. These clients are typically very enthusiastic about purchasing their first home. I have also helped many clients (as young as 18 years old and as old as 99 years old) with estate planning. As you can imagine, these clients are polar opposites from my first-time home buyer clients. I have never had a client say to me, “I’m so excited to sit down and talk about what happens to my property or my kids if I unexpectedly die or become incapacitated!” It takes some clients months, if not years, to gather the courage to sit down and talk about estate planning.

I fully understand the hesitancy to talk about the subject. When I meet with a young couple, I make it a point to them that there is a strong likelihood they will live to see their children and grandchildren grow up. Estate planning for young people is usually about planning for worst case scenarios.

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting blogs entries about various topics related to estate planning. However, estate planning is an ugly term. From now on, I will be referring to it as life planning. Why life planning? In addition to determining what happens to your assets when you die, you also need to execute documents such as a durable power of attorney and healthcare proxy in the event you are incapacitated. If a parent dies, life must go on for his or her children. Who will become guardian? Who will manage the inherited property? Your “estate planning” is really a roadmap for the rest of your children’s lives.

There are two ways to follow my upcoming blog entries on estate planning. First, you can click here to sign up to receive blog updates by email or you can visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/delaneylawoffice. If you click “like” on our page, our blog entries will be included in your news feed.

If you have any topic you want us to discuss, please email me at bdelaney@delaneylawoffice.com.