Elder Law Report
Elder Law Report
Estate Planning During the Holidays: Ensuring Peace of Mind for Your Family's Future
Thinking about estate planning during the holiday season might seem unconventional, but it's a discussion that holds immense significance. Join attorneys Jordan McIntyre and Samantha Gordon as they navigate through the complexities of estate planning and why it's crucial to address these matters sooner rather than later. Discover how clear communication about your wishes for asset distribution can spare your family from future turmoil. Whether you're considering a power of attorney or planning for business succession, this episode offers invaluable insights to guide you through these delicate conversations during one of the most family-oriented times of the year.
Tune in to learn how to transform estate planning into a meaningful New Year's resolution that promises peace of mind. Jordan and Samantha illuminate the importance of having these conversations with your loved ones, ensuring that they are aware of roles like executor or trustee, and why knowing these responsibilities ahead of time can prevent added stress during difficult times. Whether you're a parent, a business owner, or just someone who wants to make things easier for your family, this episode provides the knowledge you need to make informed, thoughtful decisions. Secure your future and ease potential family burdens by taking the next step with McIntyre Elder Law.
Hey everyone, I'm attorney Jordan McIntyre with McIntyre Elder Law and I have the wonderful Samantha Gordon, who's also an attorney at McIntyre Law and a great trainer, and today we're going to talk about estate planning with family over the holidays.
Samantha Gordon:Hey everybody, attorney Samantha Gordon here. So today, on the Elder Law Report, we're going to talk about maybe a little bit of a discussion that isn't a hot topic at the dinner table during the holidays. Talking about estate planning, you think about someone passing away and thinking about what's going to happen when this person passes away. Where's this table going to go that we're sitting at right now when grandma passes away or mom passes away, something like that, and so those discussions aren't really a big topic at the table, but they do come up. And how do you navigate that discussion in a meaningful way? But also, if you set up your estate plan this year, how do you do that with your family in such a way where they understand what your wishes are? So, jordan, if you were sitting at the dinner table and you were having a discussion with your parents about their estate plan, how would you want them to approach that with you, to make you and help you understand you know what their idea is and what their goals are?
Jordan McIntyre:attorney, but I want them to think very clearly about how they want all of the assets to be distributed after their death. I want to make sure that they are protecting any of my siblings. We're really going over everything within their estate and I know that's going to be a difficult discussion because no one wants to think about end-of-life scenarios. But if my parents have a business, I'm going to make sure that they're aware that if there's no succession plan in place, that business is going to come to a halt if we don't have a business plan for so. I really want them to think about everything that could go wrong and to address that to make everything easier for me and my siblings.
Samantha Gordon:Definitely, and also knowing who's named in those documents, like who did your parents name as their power of attorney, their agent under their power of attorney, who did they name as the executor of their will, their trustee of the will?
Samantha Gordon:You know, the child if a child was chosen needs to know that they are the person that is appointed in these documents and they're gonna have to manage mom and dad's affairs and having a lot of siblings sometimes that can be a lot.
Samantha Gordon:So, definitely, having that discussion.
Samantha Gordon:In addition to that, when you're having a discussion about estate planning, if maybe you're sitting around the table and you know that your parents have put off putting together an estate plan, or your grandparents, or if it's you and your spouse, or if it's just you as a single individual, just knowing that you're having this great time with your family around the table, whether that's friends, whoever, whoever your family is and you want to make sure that, if something were to happen to me or something were to happen to my loved one, that I know that there's a plan in place that is going to make the situation so much easier for them, because they're going to have to go through a grieving process.
Samantha Gordon:And if they have to go through the super transactional time and circumstances because there isn't a plan in place. It's going to make that process so much harder. So, even though it's a tough topic to talk about during the holidays, it is so, so, so, so important and there's no better time to think about and get your estate plan as a New Year's resolution in the beginning of the year.
Jordan McIntyre:It's the best New Year's resolution you can have.
Samantha Gordon:Agreed.
Jordan McIntyre:And you're going to save a lot of grief down the road.
Samantha Gordon:Definitely Agreed. Well, jordan, this was great. If anyone listening to this podcast or watching our podcast would like to schedule a free consultation, whether it's now before the holidays, after the holidays, as part of your New Year's resolution, you can give us a phone call at 888-999-6600. Or you can visit our website at mcelderlawcom. Slash scheduling Bye Jordan.
Jordan McIntyre:See you.