Elder Law Report
Elder Law Report
Crafting a Personalized Estate Plan for 2025: Insights from Attorney Samantha Gordon
Unlock the secrets to creating an estate plan that truly reflects your life's aspirations and ensures your family's future with guidance from attorney Samantha Gordon of McIntyre Elder Law. Samantha takes us on a journey through the essentials of estate planning, likening it to setting New Year’s resolutions—both require setting clear goals and regularly reviewing them to adapt to life's changes. Whether you're a young adult just starting out, a parent planning for your children, or someone caring for elderly family members, Samantha provides insights into crafting a personalized estate plan that meets your unique needs and circumstances. Learn why starting early can be a game-changer and how regular updates to your plan can offer peace of mind in an ever-changing world.
Samantha sheds light on the critical documents you need, such as powers of attorney, and discusses the often-overlooked aspect of estate planning for young adults heading to college. With her expert advice, you can take charge of your financial and healthcare decisions, rather than leaving them to the courts. She emphasizes that estate planning isn't a one-size-fits-all approach and encourages listeners to put it at the top of their New Year’s resolution list for 2025. Don’t miss the chance to gain valuable tips and ensure that your estate plan truly reflects your wishes. For those eager to get started or update an existing plan, Samantha invites you to reach out to McIntyre Elder Law for a consultation and explore how they can assist with your legal needs.
Hi, I'm attorney Samantha Gordon with McIntyre Elder Law. Welcome to the Elder Law Report. Today we're going to talk about New Year, new Plan. It's a new year, 2025, can't believe we're here. And usually when someone is looking into the new year, they're going to set resolutions. So whether that's exercising, that is eating healthier, that is setting up a bucket list, maybe going on more vacations, focusing on your finances, spending more time with your family and friends, whatever it may be, you want to ensure that you have those goals in place in the beginning of the year, but you also follow through with them. So that's where that plan comes in and that's really similar to what an estate plan is. You sit down with an attorney, you set what your goals are for your assets If you were to pass away. You develop a plan, you put that plan in place and then you ensure, maybe every year, you're inventorying that plan and making sure that it's really going to effectuate what your goals are. So an estate plan and going through that process is very similar to when someone sets their resolutions for a new year. And so a new year, new plan. If you don't have an estate plan in place, that should be on the top of your resolution list.
Samantha Gordon:What kind of documents do I need to make sure that I'm taken care of, but also my family is taken care of? If you have minor children, how are they going to be taken care of if something happens to you? If you're taking care of an elderly parent, how is that parent going to be taken care of if something happens to you? If you have assets that maybe are spread out among the United States or internationally, how are those assets going to pass to your family? If you become incapacitated and you cannot make your own decisions, whether that's financial, healthcare decisions or both who's going to make those decisions for you? Are you going to let the court decide who's going to make those decisions, or are you going to have a document in place that's going to ensure that you've decided who can make those decisions for you? So it's really sitting down and deciding. This is what I have. This is what I want. How do I actually effectuate that? How do I get that down in writing to make sure that this happens, because a lot of people think about an estate plan or they think they're maybe too young to even start an estate plan.
Samantha Gordon:In North Carolina, you can sign a will. You can sign a power of attorney starting at the age of 18 years old. If you have a child that's going to college, it's super important that they have powers of attorney in place, because if something were to happen to them now that they're 18, you do not have legal authority over them anymore, so you want to make sure that they have these documents when they're going off to college. If something were to happen, that you can make decisions for them, or they've chosen who's going to be able to make decisions for them.
Samantha Gordon:There's so many different aspects that go with estate planning and it's not a one size fits all type of thing. It's very specific to what your goals are, your assets are, your family and what your needs are, and so I encourage you in 2025, moving forward that if you haven't added, either update your estate plan, get an estate plan or look at your estate plan that maybe you did 30 years ago. That may be somewhere tucked away. Have that on your new year's resolution list to make sure that you are updating, inventorying and even starting an estate plan. I would love to sit down with you and discuss your estate plan and other matters that our law firm handles. Our telephone number is 888-999-6600. You can also visit our website at mcelderlawcom scheduling to schedulea consultation. We have three offices a Hendersonville office, a Shelby office and Charlotte. I'm located in Charlotte and love to see you. If you have any questions, leave a comment below.