What is an Estate Plan?

"What is an Estate Plan?" is a common question among new clients.  This brief video blog is an introduction of what is an estate plan.

What is an Estate Plan?

Your “Estate Plan” is the legal strategy for managing your Estate that you design while you have the cognitive ability to make such decisions that may only be implemented far into the future.

Many people envision an estate plan as a set of instructions - detailed in a will or trust - that lists out where your property goes when you die.

To the contrary, as a Legal Strategy, your estate plan directs the decision making for and management of your assets, businesses, liabilities, tax exposures and risks, health care, and care for dependents –first while you are healthy; then when you become incapacitated by a Disability, or Dementia, or some other form of Dependency that inhibits you from making such decisions in the future; and finally, the estate plan continues as your legal strategy for these affairs after you die.

Note your estate plan isn’t any one document or life insurance policy or investment account. It’s a coordinated legal strategy, typically designed with the assistance of an attorney who specializes in estate planning law, that is unique to your concerns, resources, and family structure.