When Is The Best Time To Make an Estate Plan?

At Sjoberg & Tebelius, P.A., we help people throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin establish and maintain their estate plans. To schedule a consultation with one of our respected attorneys, please call 651-315-8856.

Most people start thinking about planning the distribution of their estates after they have reached retirement age.

After all, the “normal” progression of life is to graduate from school, start a career, marry, raise a family, retire, become grandparents, enjoy all that the golden years have to offer for decades before slipping peacefully into the grave.

Unfortunately, we all know that real life can rarely be scripted. People have children without getting married; people get divorced and marry more than once; or they may never marry or have a family. Real-life is full of options, choices, and twists of fate.

On top of that, we rarely get a heads up on our date of death.

So what happens if you don’t make it to the end of the “normal” road of life? What would happen to your loved ones if you died today? Will there be enough money to provide for them? Will they even be able to get to the assets you leave behind, or will your assets be tied up in courts, held ransom by the legal system?

Or, let’s say you do live until a ripe old age and make a death-bed estate plan. Will those hasty decisions consider all that needs to be considered? And will it stand up to disputes from omitted family members who claim you were too far gone and not competent to make a will?

Planning your estate now doesn’t mean you will die tomorrow, just as buying homeowner’s insurance today doesn’t mean your house will burn down tomorrow. But if you act now, you won’t have to worry about what could happen to your family if your life doesn’t follow the “normal” progression…or about making bad decisions when you’ve run out of time.

It’s called peace of mind, and you can have it. So, when’s the best time to plan your estate? Right now.