How old will you be then? How old will your children and grandchildren be?
Where do you expect to be living? Same familiar home, or somewhere the care is provided?
Will you still be driving your car, or will you have a driver? What other expectations do you have about this later time of life?
Whatever your expectations, estate planning is about setting down your preferences, not predicting the future. Many well-written estate plans are over 50 pages long, because NOW is when you have the opportunity to set down your answers to lots of “What If” questions, like:
What if your family is not the right fit for caring for you?
Who do you trust to manage your tax, legal, financial and medical decisions? What if the ones you picked can’t or won’t do this important job?
What if you experience a change in your cognition, leaving you very much alive, but unable to manage life for yourself? What are the routines (foods, ambience, activities, etc.) which are most important to you, which you want continued, if you can’t ask for them anymore?
Your estate plan is about your life, the way you created it, and the way you want it to go. Please get your plan in writing, so those you most care for you know what you want, when the time comes.
Marguerite Lorenz, CTFA, CLPF is a Master Trustee and a Managing Partner at Lorenz Private Trustees (MyTrustee.net) and has served as a Trustee and Executor since 2003.