Business Week Provides Overview of Estate Planning for Laypersons
From the AP:
Families have a lot of misconceptions about estate planning. Some think it’s something only old people need to do. Others think it’s all about avoiding taxes, or that it’s only about money. But proper estate planning — while it can involve all those things — is much more. It’s about who gets your possessions when you die. It’s about who raises your children if they’re still minors. It’s about who makes critical medical decisions if you’re incapacitated.
“Estate planning is important to anybody who cares about what happens after they die, irrespective of wealth or age,” said David Ness, president of the Raymond James Trust Co., which is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla.
But many Americans apparently can’t get over the emotions associated with death, and that stops them from putting their estates in order.
A recent Gallup Poll found that half of American adults do not have a will, the legal document in which you name the people who are to receive your property after you die. And nearly 60 percent of Americans haven’t prepared a living will, which spells out the medical care you do or don’t want to receive if you become incapacitated by an accident or terminal illness.