As North Korea declares a state of war on the United States and South Korea, and a leading news story shows by security camera a couple being kidnapped in broad daylight in Manhattan Sunday, we think about the “Worse Case Scenario”. We want to make sure that we have planned in advance in case we become sick, injured, mentally incapacitated or pass on. We never know when any of these events might happen. The couple that was kidnapped off the street in broad daylight in Manhattan on Sunday likely did not know that that was about to happen. Their whereabouts and the outcome of the kidnapping are still unknown.
In Estate Planning we can provide Healthcare Directives so that if we are unable to agree to medical treatment that the people we have authorized can approve medical treatment. This could authorize your Healthcare Agent to move you to a better hospital and make decisions regarding required surgeries and treatment if you are unconscious or mentally incapacitated. One can also plan for mental disability in the event you are unconscious or not competent due to a closed head injury or some other physical event that precludes you from being able to handle your own affairs. Normally we do this inside the design of a Customized Protective Estate Plan™ inside of the client’s Living Trust.
We also plan for what happens to what you own when you pass on. The state in which you live has an existing Estate Plan. Your assets will move by State law, normally to people you are related to, and that may be people you do not know or like. You have an affirmative duty to create your own Estate Plan to offset that State’s Estate Plan that they have established for you that was in effect when you were born under State Statutes.
We never plan on bad things happening. They just do, whether it’s part of a nuclear war from a crazy man in charge of an “inherited country”, being kidnapped off the street, being in a car wreck, having a stroke or just passing on due to natural causes. Things happen that we would hope they wouldn’t, but they do. One of the Zig Ziglar lines is if you “If You Fail to Plan, then You Plan to Fail”. You want to be in control under your Estate Plan, have people that you want in control helping you, not someone that will not act in your best interest, or those of your loved ones.
At the Law Firm of Steven Andrew Jackson, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, we have helped hundreds of families protect themselves and their loved ones, avoid Estate Taxes and Probate Costs, and keep their Estate Plans current with the law through The Customized Protective Estate Planning Solution™.