Emotions of Estate Planning

Why do many people resist estate planning? I think that there are several reasons:

1.  Estate planning forces us to confront our own mortality.

2.  Some people are uncomfortable talking about their private lives with attorneys.

3.  Indecision and overwhelm.

4.  Expense and reluctance to deal with attorneys.

However, if you let these emotional hurdles stop you from creating an estate plan, you may miss out on the emotional benefits of estate planning.

Protecting Your Same-Sex Marriage with Estate Planning

With the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last week, many people are concerned that other fundamental privacy rights are in jeopardy. If you are in a same-sex marriage and you are worried about the Supreme Court overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, or if your spouse is a different color than you and you are concerned about the Supreme Court overturning Loving v. Virginia, you may not be able to protect all of your marital rights through the use of estate planning documents, but you can protect some of them.

Inclusive Language

We at California Trusts Online believe that you are who you are and you love whom you love. We serve underserved communities—those who do not need complex estate planning, those who do not have the resources for a traditional attorney-client relationship, and those who may not fit the traditional ideas of gender and relationships. We welcome the LGBTQ+ communities. We strive to include all forms of relationships and concepts of family.

Tough Discussions about Death and Dying

At some point in your life someone else may have to make decisions for you about your health care. If you have named an Agent in your Advance Health Care Directive, the person you have chosen will have the first priority for making health care decisions for you when you can no longer make those decisions for yourself. Does your Agent know your values well enough to make good decisions about your health care?

How Documents Work Together

For the vast majority of clients, a complete estate plan includes four documents: a Revocable Living Trust, a Pourover Will, a Financial Power of Attorney and an Advance Health Care Directive. Each document covers a different set of concerns, different assets, and different effective time periods. The two basic set of concerns are financial and health care. The two basic time periods they cover is either before or after death, and the two basic types of assets are Trust and non-Trust assets.