Estate Planning Thoughts

When it comes to Estate Planning, many of us think to ourselves “ I’ll get to it tomorrow”, and a year later we tell ourselves the same thing! Sound familiar? The reason I’m sharing this thought is because of a recent experience that opened my eyes to what can happen when things “aren’t in order”…

My husband and I recently had to go to Pennsylvania because of a death in his family. Not only was this a very sad time for us because we loved who we had just lost, but things were made SO MUCH more difficult because of the way he had left his estate. By not signing his “newest” will, his actual wishes were not able to be carried out . A much older will had to be enforced which was sad . Years and years of paperwork had to be sorted through, and literally a commercial size dumpster had to be rented to carry away pure junk. He also had very valuable collections that needed to be inventoried, and we didn’t know where to begin. It will probably take a few years to get everything figured out.

On the flip side is my mother….. She has hardback ledgers of every check she has ever written, and a file cabinet full of very clear instructions of what to do after she is gone ( MANY) years from now. She has provided everything that my brother and I will need to know. Since I am her executor, I am beyond grateful to her for being so organized.

This whole thing sparked my husband and I to get our will updated, and start purging our house . We want to prevent the people we leave behind from the nightmare we are in the middle of now. By doing what we can now, we can lift a lot of the burden for those having to deal with our estate. This is not meant to be a morbid thought , but a responsible one, from this 60 year old Boomer with a garage full of stuff!