Cleaning up your Parents’ Mess

The dead have it easy. It is those who are left behind who will need to clean up the proverbial mess. To make that a little easier, the person’s estate plan needs to be in place and up-to-date. Personalized Trust planning gives you the tools to get through it easier.

Have you talked to your parents about their estate plan? Do they have a trust? Do they have a will? Who is in charge? Most people will say that they have not. The reason I hear most of the time is that my parents don’t like talking about that kind of thing because its “none of my business.”

I understand that, however it is simply not true. Any estate plan, in fact all estate plans are for the people left behind. They are not for the person writing the Trust, but for that person’s family.

Simply put, a person writes their Will or Trust to leave powers to a particular person to deal with their stuff when they die. Without writing those things down in a legal manner, the process to deal with the stuff is a lot more burdensome and clunky, which ultimately means more time and more money (and headaches… don’t forget about the headaches). The clean up is difficult when there is no plan.

Getting your parents to sit with an estate planning attorney is critical for you. You are going to be processing the emotions of losing a parent, so having a well written estate plan will reduce those other problems. You will know your role. You will know who to call. You will know what to do. Having a plan makes the clean up much easier.

But it starts with making sure your parents have their “affairs in order.” As a New Albany estate planning attorney, I can sit with them to understand their goals. I then can help them develop a personalized plan that makes it easier on the people they care about the most – you.

The first step is the conversation with your parents. The second step is to call me to schedule their free consultation.