Planning for the future can seem difficult to many people because no one knows what the future will bring. But, that is exactly the purpose of estate planning. You don’t know what will happen in the future, but when you have an estate plan in place you can leave a detailed set of instructions for how your affairs should be handled.
Although estate planning can be beneficial for anyone in California or throughout the country, the fact is that when mistakes are made in the estate planning process you may make things worse, not better. A recent news article covered a few examples of mistakes to avoid in the estate planning process.
Avoid these mistakes
For starters, the article mentioned that you should not overlook the importance of communicating your estate plan details to those who will be directly impacted. Your chosen executor of the estate, for example, should know about and agree to that assignment, ideally. And, those who will be inheriting from you should probably be informed about what to expect as well, so that no one gets an unwelcome surprise.
The article also mentioned that it would be a mistake to make an estate plan and then never review it for potential updates. Changes happen in life and, when they do, your estate plan needs to be updated. You may need to change or update beneficiary information, for example, among many other possibilities. Getting an estate plan in place is crucial, but so is getting it right.