Provided by the Law Offices of
RICHARD MAYBERRY
MAYBERRY LAW FIRM
2010 Corporate Ridge
McLean, VA 22102
(703)714-1554
Committed to providing the highest quality estate planning legal
services for individuals, families and businesses |
Every
woman plays a variety of roles in her lifetime.
For example, depending on her unique
circumstances, a woman may be a daughter, an aunt, a wife, a friend, a
mother, a grandmother or even a great-grandmother. Traditionally,
especially in her family relationships, a woman is likely the nurturer or
caregiver. While she is busy meeting the needs of others, a woman may
forget to take care of her own needs…even needs as fundamental as her
own Life & Estate Planning.
Who will take care of her, the important people
in her life and her property if she is unable to do so? Who will be the
caregiver for the caregiver? What plans have you made?
Life
Planning
Would
your loved ones be prepared to take care of your legal and financial
responsibilities if you were incapacitated? The law says every adult
American must make their own personal, health care and financial
decisions. Certainly the daily news and our own personal experiences tell
us that a serious injury or illness can strike anyone at any time.
Without proper Life & Estate Planning
your loved ones may be unable to automatically step in and handle routine
legal and financial matters for you. For example, regardless of their
relationship status to you (e.g. this includes a spouse), no one can sign
your name to a tax return, a real estate deed or the back of a check
unless you have given them authority to act on your behalf through
appropriate legal documents.
In addition to legal and financial matters, your loved ones may be
barred from access to your medical information, verbal or written, without
your prior authorization because of the legally-protected confidential
relationship between patients and their physicians.
Note: Access to such medical information is
crucial for your loved ones to advocate on your behalf regarding important
life and death treatment decisions, to include obtaining second opinions
or transferring you to a new hospital.
In the absence of proper planning, your loved ones may be forced
into court to obtain the legal authority required to care for your
personal, health care and financial needs. This likely will be an
expensive and inconvenient experience for them.
Estate
Planning
If given the
choice of planning for their own death and anything else, most normal
people would choose anything else. It is just human nature.
Nevertheless, no one wants to be remembered for leaving a legal and
financial mess for their loved ones to sort out. What, if any, legal
arrangements have you made? How would you provide for your loved ones,
charities, or pets if you are no longer around to provide for them?
As a rule of thumb, surviving spouses are
particularly vulnerable during the first year they are widowed. Many grief
counselors advise against making any major life decisions during that
first year. Feelings of grief can be expressed in many forms, to include
feelings of loneliness and abandonment. As a result, many surviving
spouses remarry before they probably should. If your spouse were to
remarry, will your Estate Plan protect your assets for them in the event
of a subsequent divorce or for your children should your spouse
predeceases his next spouse?
Regardless of whether you are married or single,
if you have minor children, what legal arrangements have you made for
their care in the event they become orphans? Who will provide a safe and
secure home for them, as well as help develop their moral character? Who
will manage their inheritance and protect it for them and from them? The
failure to address these issues may negatively affect your children well
into adulthood.
Even if you have no children, you likely have
definite ideas about who should inherit and who should not inherit your
assets. Whether these objects of your bounty are humans, animals, birds,
fish or reptiles, only proper Estate Planning can fulfill your objectives.
In the absence of an Estate Plan containing your instructions, state law
will control. In most instances, these laws would distribute the estate
assets to your surviving next-of-kin, which may differ greatly from your
wishes.
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