Planning a vacation can be so exciting. You are ready to race out there, wherever there is, and enjoy the adventure that awaits you. However, you should pause for just a second and check your estate plan. This may sound like a weird bit of advice, but it is in fact a very smart thing to do.
Think about it for a second. Planes and trains crash. Cars and trucks crash. Even RVs run into dangerous situations that may present with life-altering situations. You may have your estate plan all set, but has anything happened recently that may change part of your plan? Multiple life events are the reasons behind changing one’s estate plan, and if you simply haven’t made those changes yet, you are leaving things up to fate. Is it likely you will pass away in an accident while you are on vacation? Maybe, maybe not, but are you prepared to roll the dice and find out?
Any changes you may need to make to your estate plan only take a few minutes. A call to your lawyer, an arranged meeting over lunch, etc., and the changes are made. Sign on the line, and your estate plan is effectively altered. In the grand scheme of things, checking your estate plan should just be another part of your vacation pre-planning activities.
Think about it. If something actually did happen to you while you were on vacation, your current estate plan stands. No changes can be made after the fact because you didn’t authorize changes. You aren’t around to authorize changes, so anything you wanted to be different can’t be. It’s the same as changing your will. If you meant to include a new grandchild or exclude an heir by disownment, you can only do that while you are above ground. Take steps to ensure that your estate plan is in perfect order now just in case something happens to you.
People often think they have all the time in the world to plan their wills and estates. Many people are caught off-guard when their lives are cut short. If you don’t have an estate plan, contact The Pacella Law Group to set up a meeting before you go on vacation.
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