Estate planning is not the norm. In fact, the majority of people in the United States don’t have an estate plan yet. Many of them do acknowledge that they want to draft one eventually, but they still don’t have one on file.
But why is this? Isn’t it clear that everyone’s family may eventually need some sort of an estate plan after they pass away? Why do so many people skip this important step?
The role of procrastination
First off, many people are just procrastinating. They will make an estate plan in the future, but they haven’t gotten started. Many people assume that they still have decades to make that plan, even if there’s no way for them to know if that’s actually true.
Not knowing how to start
Another common reason that people give is that they just don’t know how to make an estate plan. They want to write a will, but how do they get started? What documents do they need to use? How do they file them? People in this situation could benefit tremendously from learning about the legal steps that they need to take.
Not believing it’s necessary
Some people just don’t think that an estate plan is necessary, perhaps for financial reasons. They think that they need to be exceedingly wealthy for an estate plan to make sense. But an estate plan can be beneficial for everyone, and it’s not just about money. For instance, even someone without any assets may want to make an advanced medical directive or use a power of attorney.
Have you been procrastinating your estate planning or putting it off for one of these other reasons? If you’d like to get a plan in place, take the time to look into all of your legal options.