Here at Bennett Guthrie PLLC, we know that it’s often difficult to contemplate what will happen after you are gone, but it is necessary to do so if you want to take care of your loved ones after you pass. Our team of legal experts has helped many clients over the years through the process of making these arrangements, and we know what essentials to cover. In this article, we’ll go over three important questions to ask yourself during the estate planning process in order to make the best arrangements for your family.
- What are your account names, passwords, and security questions? The process of estate planning is usually done alongside the person you are naming as your executor, and one area which that person needs to have relevant information about in today’s age is your digital life. Your executor needs to be able to get into all your online accounts following your passing in order to cancel services and otherwise square things away. Most people’s digital footprint is quite extensive, so you can turn to our team at Bennett Guthrie PLLC for advice about which accounts need to be formally cancelled and which can simply be left to lapse.
- What are your wishes when it comes to medical resuscitation? Another key question to ask yourself when planning your estate is what steps, if any, you want medical staff to take to revive you in the event that you become incapacitated. Many people refer to this issue as “when to pull the plug,” but it can be less crudely put as “at what point do you want to be removed from life support?” Having a document stipulating your wishes for this kind of emergency care will allow you to retain control over decisions made even if you become too injured or ill to communicate, and it will spare your loved ones from a lot of painful guesswork and hard decisions.
- Who will raise your children if both parents die? If you have dependent children, then this is a crucial question to ask during estate planning. Even though it’s excruciating to contemplate, we at Bennett Guthrie PLLC always ask this question, as you need to have a plan in place to care for your children if the worst should happen. Whether you entrust your children to a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or a trusted family friend, you need to make that decision or the court will end up deciding for you after your passing.
We at Bennett Guthrie PLLC hope that these questions help get you thinking about the estate-planning process. Of course, there are more decisions to make than we could feasibly cover here, so we encourage you to give us a call when you’re ready to tackle this essential step.