Life today is more complicated than ever before in history. Simply stated, how we used to plan, 10, 20 or 30 years ago will not be good enough today. Our increased longevity has increased the need for medical treatment and long-term care. The cost of medical and long-term care rise faster than the national inflation each year. Government programs will help … if you qualify. If you do not, you will then have to spend your life savings to maintain yourself, while others get the benefit of these government programs. Proper planning helps to level the playing field in this area.
LIABILITY AND LAWSUITS
We hear about them all the time and we worry if it will happen to us. Some of us have higher risks for this problem than others. With proper asset protection planning, clients do not have to just worry about the financial drain if it happens to them. Rather they can plan now to insulate some family wealth from an unfriendly potential creditor and rest with the comfort of knowing they have done something good for themselves…and their loved ones.
INTENDED VS. UNINTENDED BENEFICIARIES
This is a bigger problem than people think. Most people’s wealth is made up of a variety of investment vehicles, not just savings accounts as in the days of old. With these new investment tools comes further complications to guarantee that this wealth is passed onto “intended” beneficiaries and not “unintended beneficiaries.” We at Brooks & Brooks work hard to insure that our clients’ wealth passes to the persons and charities that the client chooses, instead of by default rules in documents and laws elsewhere.
Proper planning does not just involve what happens to us when we are gone, but rather, what happens while we are still alive and well.. or not so well. Powers of Attorney, Health Care Proxies and Living Will Declarations are all planning tools that are widely recognized and much needed in today’s society. However, there are differences between “basic” documents and (what we like to refer to as) “supercharged” documents. As these advanced directives are used more and more, we see the need to insure that our clients have the appropriate level of powers and authorizations in their documents to address the ever growing number of concerns third parties have when dealing with agents or individuals. An “off the rack” form simply will not get the job done, “with certainty”.
