Is there a Right Time to Estate Plan?
Absolutely. When it comes to estate planning, there is no time like the present. Illness, death, and taxes are some of the few certainties about life and are also good reasons to think about estate planning. The problem is that there is usually no known timeline for these events. Thus, if you intend on planning for these events, it’s best not to wait.
Nobody sees an untimely death coming, but we are now living during unusual circumstances. COVID-19, a novel illness, with no vaccine and no known cure, is forcing all of us to face our mortality. Although the disease, like many other flu-like illnesses, is most lethal in our elderly and immune-compromised populations, it is also inexplicably striking down young, and seemingly, healthy individuals.
How to Make Life Planning Decisions
With the knowledge of an indiscriminate virus on the loose, why wouldn’t you choose to estate plan? To make important life decisions? Yet, what I am hearing repeatedly from colleagues, friends, news, and Internet chatter is that people are struggling with making good life decisions. I call it “analysis paralysis” or “reactive” living, and it’s an unstable state of being.
If you are having difficulty making life decisions, the best way to start is to seek out good counsel. This can be friends and family, but when dealing with any financial or legal decision, it’s best to consult the professionals. As an estate planning attorney and legal counselor, I am called upon regularly to assist with making important life decisions. Not only do estate planning attorneys have knowledge about probate and estate administration laws, but many of them, like myself, have knowledge of the negative consequences of inaction. This information can be very instructive in decision-making and life planning.
As for when to make important life decisions, the time is now. And not just because a novel coronavirus is threatening our way of life, but because planning and making well-counseled decisions leads to a more positive life experience. When we are proactive in life, we can generally handle a financial or emotional setback.
So, go, make that important life decision–whether it’s getting back to something you enjoyed about life (albeit in a socially responsible manner), or to start creating a stable future.
If you would like to receive counsel and advice on life planning and estate planning during COVID-19 here in the Dallas, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Allen, & Prosper area, contact me to discuss further. In addition to in-person consultations, I am also available by teleconference and videoconference.
