Why Do People Put Off Estate Planning?

Despite the importance of estate planning for everything from passing down assets to arranging end-of-life care, there’s a significant number of Americans who put off their estate planning as long as possible.

Why do so many people avoid estate planning, even if they know how important it is? The following are a few of the most common reasons:

• Lack of time: Everyone is busy with work, children and other distractions. Eventually, you just need to make estate planning a priority. Take some time out of your week, set up a meeting with your attorney and get it done. You’ll be glad you did.
• Unwillingness to think about death: This is one of the most common reasons people avoid estate planning — they don’t want to confront their own mortality. It is an undeniably difficult subject. There’s no way around the fact that certain topics related to estate planning can be uncomfortable. However, it’s necessary if you wish to have control over who would get custody of your children, who would get your property and where you will be buried.
• Lack of understanding: Many people, for example, are under the mistaken impression that they do not have an estate that is valuable enough to bother with estate planning. The truth is that people with estates of all sizes can benefit from this process. Even without taking asset distribution into account, you almost certainly want to have control over your end-of-life care or emergency situations.
• Plenty of time to delay: This is a common mindset among younger people, especially those who do not have children. However, even those who have children, but are far from retirement, often feel as though they have plenty of time to put together an estate plan. The unfortunate reality is that we can never fully predict when we will pass, and so we should establish an estate plan as early as possible.

If you are ready to move ahead with the estate planning process, meet with a skilled Tampa will and trust attorney at BaumannKangas Estate Law.