Assuming you’ve created a plan that contains your unique goals and wishes for your family, the next step is to ensure that your plan is carried out. The first tip is to not hide your estate plan. It’s easy to hang on to “important” paperwork for years, burying the legal “treasure” (your estate plan, and other helpful information) in a mountain of irrelevant papers. Let’s create an effective map by following these steps:
Fully Fund for Future Feats of Family Fealty
Sorry, just like Jack Sparrow can’t resist Spanish gold, I can’t resist an alliteration.
When you leave assets out of your trust, the plan you carefully crafted with your attorney could go by the wayside. Create your plan, then transfer your assets into it. But beware – assets like life insurance and retirement plans have special rules; don’t transfer those assets into your trust without careful instructions from your attorney.
Communicate Clearly
There are two key things I think every parent should communicate to their family, no matter how private they wish to keep the other details of their estate plan.
The first is, tell people who will be in charge, especially the one who will be in charge. The successor trustee needs to be ready to step in at the right time. If they don’t know that they’re “it” they won’t know to act. And everyone else needs to know who to talk to in order to get things moving.
The second thing is that the person who will be in charge next needs to know where the documents are. And have the ability to get those documents. If you use a bank safety deposit box, make sure their name is on the account for the box. Bank safety deposit boxes often present a problem, because the legal documents granting you the authority to access the bank safety deposit box are locked securely in the safety deposit box. A fire safe box at your home keeps the documents accessible while keeping them safe.
What You Don’t Have to Say
You don’t have to spill the beans on how much money you have or the details of all your assets. How much, and where are details for another day. But they are important details for that other day, as I discuss in the last point.
You don’t necessarily have to go into the details of who is getting what. I do think generally the more you communicate on this point, the more problems you’ll avoid for your beneficiaries down the road. If the conversation is going to be too awkward, work with your attorney to communicate some of the “why” behind what you’re doing, either in the estate plan or in a separate letter. Confused kids cause chaos, and chaos leads to expensive litigation.
Create a Map for Later
Stop and think for a minute. The person you’ve chosen to be the successor trustee has a big job. At some point in the future, they’re going to be all alone, handling your affairs, using the information you’ve left behind. Every year the state spends a lot of your money that sits unclaimed, mostly because the people who would have benefited from it had no idea that money was there. We all have buried treasure; the question is what clues will we leave behind for those who follow.