Notes – August 2020
Personal Notes
What a busy month for the DeWitts…
We bought a new house and moved. Here at the end of July we are just getting settled in.
Aaron is busy at boot camp. We are getting several letters a week from him. It’s good that he is learning to write a letter. Just a few weeks of boot camp left, then he starts AIT. We don’t know if they’ll allow us to go to graduation or not yet.
Madeline is getting ready to start at the University of Arkansas. Some of her classes have gone “online.” She is not happy about that. Neither am I. Part of what you pay for is the experience. Now that is being taken away.
And we are busy taking care of people during this “new normal.”
I did spend a weekend at the family farm visiting…
Why You Should do Your Estate Planning…Now!
If you have a car, you probably have car insurance against accidents so you don’t have to worry.
If you have a house, you probably have house insurance against accidents and the forces of nature so you don’t have to worry.
Why insurance? So you don’t have to worry if something happens.
You do estate planning for the same reason, so you don’t have to worry if something happens.
Do you worry about probate? Worry about who will manage your finances if you can’t? Think about who will take care of you? Worry about who would make healthcare and nursing home decisions for you?
Even if you have made up your mind about these things, do you have a written, legally binding plan in place to make sure your wishes are carried out?
Without a written, legally binding plan, your wishes are just that, wishes. They don’t have any authority.
An estate plan is a written, legally binding plan to make sure your wishes are carried out so you don’t have to worry. The plan gives who you want the authority to carry out your wishes.
But, most people don’t have a plan in place to protect their legal, financial, and healthcare choices and affairs against the courts and State.
Most people just live with the worry.
Without a plan when something happens, the State steps in and tells your family how your affairs will be managed and who will be in charge, not you.
- Estate planning reduces risk.
- Estate planning protects you.
- Estate planning protects your children.
But most people are walking around without the insurance and worrying about who will take care of them, how their affairs will be managed, or how their property will be handed out later. They don’t have an estate plan.
Estate planning is your way of managing the risk of loss of capacity and more.
Once you turn 18 nobody else can make financial, legal, or healthcare decisions for you. If you don’t have a plan in place, it will be difficult on your family to make those decisions because of the hurdles the legal system puts in place.
If anything unexpected happens, you and your family could find yourselves facing consequences you didn’t want.
First, if you are incapacitated because of an accident, medical incident, infection, heart attack stroke, or dementia your family faces trips to court to get permission to take care of you and make financial, legal, and healthcare decisions. Planning makes sure that the people you want will be in charge.
Second, if you should pass away without a plan, then your family faces probate. You won’t have a say in who gets what. You won’t get a say in when they get it or protecting their inheritance. The State’s laws will make those decisions. The Judge will enforce the State law. Planning is the way to avoid probate and give what you own to who you want when you want with the rules you want.
- Estate planning reduces risk.
- Estate planning protects you.
- Estate planning protects your children.
Estate planning helps keeps assets in the family. Planning ensures your children’s inheritance is protected. Planning protects your children from losing half of their inheritance to a divorce. Planning protects your children in case they become incapacitated.
You do estate planning so you don’t have to worry about your wishes being carried out.
August Quotes
Every year, August lashes out in volcanic fury, rising with the din of morning traffic, its great metallic wings smashing against the ground, heating the air with ever-increasing intensity. – Henry Rollins
The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled. – Sue Monk Kidd
I don’t have to get up in the morning and go beat up my body like I used to. I don’t have to be out there in August in 108 degree weather down in Texas. – Emmitt Smith
Recipe – Chicken Picatta
Floral, lemony, tangy. The best word that describes this dish is delicious.
PS:
Imagine for a minute you didn’t have insurance. I imagine you would feel vulnerable and exposed. I know I would. Just one accident, medical incident, or house fire would wipe a person out. The worry would be constant. I used to feel like that because I didn’t have an estate plan. I didn’t have protection against the risk of probate and more. Now I don’t worry about the risks because I have a plan. Helping people avoid the risks is what I do.
I know that protecting what you have against risk (i.e. insurance) is important to you. I’m sure at time, you feel insecure. I’m sure that you want to take all the steps you can to protect what you’ve worked so hard or. When you work with me, that’s just what we’ll do. You’ll know you’ve done all you can to protect you, your family, and your money.
I’ve been helping people for years by putting plans together, so naturally I have a wealth of knowledge. Obviously, as you know, every person is different and every situation is different as are goals, outcomes, and desires they want to achieve and fulfill. I pride myself on getting you the information you need to make good decisions. Clearly I don’t want to make any suggestions about a plan of action before finding out more about you, your situation, and what your goals are. I’m sure you would agree that is a good way to start.
Please use this link to schedule a free consultation and estate planning needs analysis. Thank you again, Gary.