There are a lot of myths about estate planning. For instance, some people believe that they can give an oral will and have it hold up in court, but these are not recognized in Colorado. Another common myth is that whatever you write in your will trumps everything else; in reality, beneficiary designations often trump wills.
But was is the biggest myth about estate planning? It’s simple: believing that you can do it later.
Why do we put it off?
If you do not have an estate plan yet, you may be procrastinating it, as many people do. It’s not that you don’t think you need one. You know you do. You’re just going to do it in the future.
People do this for a lot of reasons. Some people do not like to think about it. Others find the paperwork and the legal process rather intimidating. Still others just think that they are too busy to do it right now. Many people simply believe that they have a lot of time or that they don’t need an estate plan until a certain age — such as 65, when they plan to retire.
Procrastinating your estate planning is a major risk. What if something unexpected happens? Will your family have the guidance that they need? Or are you inadvertently creating a lot of problems for them? Are you increasing the odds that they’re going to have some type of dispute over the estate?
These are important questions to ask. Procrastinating estate planning is very common, and it’s the reason that most people don’t have a plan, but answering these questions quickly shows you that you’re better off doing it in advance. You want to put your family first.
Getting started
Estate planning doesn’t have to be intimidating or overly complicated. You just want to work with an experienced legal team that can guide you through the process.