Estate Plan Awareness Week: Are Your Loved Ones Protected?

Marin Mommies presents a guest article from Michael Seville, a Marin-based estate attorney serving Marin and Sonoma counties.

You might think that only the uber wealthy need to worry about estate planning. But the truth is that everyone, especially those who have children, need have a plan in place to ensure your family is properly prepared and your children are cared for the way you would want them to be.

In honor of Estate Planning Awareness Week (October 17–23), here are three steps you can take before the end of this year to get on track:

Create an Estate Plan — Achieve Peace of Mind

There is one certainty in life—death. It’s coming for all of us, and given this fact, your eventual death or incapacity is the biggest risk to your family’s long-term stability and protection.

Without proper planning, your assets and children will get stuck in the court system, which could result in assets passing to family members you would never want to inherit them, or your children being raised by someone you would not choose for this crucial role.

You work way too hard to leave your family at risk. If you’ve been putting off creating your estate plan—or if you haven’t updated your existing plan recently—now is the time.

Develop a Kids Protection Plan™ — Name short- and long-term guardians

In the event of your death or incapacity, what will happen to your children? It is a scary concept to wrap your head around but is necessary as a parent to understand and plan for.

Ensuring that your Trust and other legal documents identify long term guardians is the first step. However, one thing that most estate planning attorneys don’t address is short term guardianship.

What happens if you are incapacitated, and your will and trust are not operative? Or what happens if your named guardian lives in New York? What will happen to your children in the first hours or days after an emergency? Without proper planning, they could be placed into Child Protective Services with a foster family. With a Kids Protection Plan™, you can be assured that they will be cared for by people you know and trust.

Create a Financial Wealth Inventory — Help your family navigate your assets

One of the biggest challenges for your loved ones after you pass away is finding all your assets. With digital banking, multiple retirement accounts, cryptocurrency and the other tools we use to diversify our assets, locating a loved one’s assets to pass through probate is daunting. In California alone, over $10 billion sits in unclaimed property and assets. Why?

Because most people do not catalogue all their assets. With a Financial Wealth Inventory attached to your trust, your estate will be centralized and ready for administration in an orderly manner.

At Seville Law, we aren’t like most estate planning firms — we see estate planning as much more than simply planning for your death and passing on your “estate” to your loved ones — it’s about planning for a life you love and a legacy worth leaving through the choices you make today. Contact us today to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to ensure that your loved ones are protected and cared for.  

www.sevillelaw.com
email: michael@sevillelaw.com
(415) 450-8991

Michael Seville is a Marin based estate attorney serving Marin and Sonoma counties. He specializes in working with families with young children to ensure that their assets and families are protected from conflict and courts by creating solid estate plans and protection plans for their children. As the only Personal Family Lawyer® in Marin County, Michael had dedicated his practice to creating lifelong relationships with his clients to ensure that as their lives change and mature, so too does their plans. Michael is married and has two young children and knows how difficult finding time to make grown up decisions can be. That is why he offers virtual meetings, home visits, as well as in office meetings to accommodate the busy lives of his clients. When not working, Michael enjoys hiking with his wife, watching his kids play soccer and dance, and gardening.