Thank you for taking the time to complete this self-assessment! We hope that it was helpful to you in understanding the critical legal and financial readiness issues for which you can -- and should -- plan for now to provide peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones.
If you have determined that you have an up to date legal readiness plan -- Congratulations! Your mission from this point forward is to ensure that you keep your plan up to date and accurate and that you account for any changes in your life such as divorce, marriage, death, birth, adoption, etc. An estate/peace of mind plan is not static, as life is not static. Your plan requires periodic review and updating. One suggestion to accomplish this is to link your plan review with your income tax preparation. Much of the information needed to prepare your tax return is also part of your peace of mind plan.
If your assessment revealed that you need to take action to achieve peace of mind, you are strongly encouraged to take action as soon as possible.
At Reilly Law, PLC, we call our process "My Peace of Mind Plan™" because the plan is unique to each person. While the core elements of a Peace of Mind Plan are similar for everyone, the specifics of your plan are personal to you. A Peace of Mind Plan contains many elements of what most people call an estate plan. But it goes beyond estate planning by asking you to examine your personal finances, your insurance and retirement account beneficiary designations, and other important matters that will be extremely important to your family should something unexpected happen to you. As you have seen from the Self-Assessment, the core elements of a Peace of Mind Plan are:
- A Durable General Power of Attorney;
- An Advance Medical Directive/Health Care Power of Attorney (also known as a Living Will or a Health Care Proxy);
- A Will, either by itself of as part of a comprehensive estate plan together with a Revocable Living Trust (also known as an Intervivos Trust);
- A review and update, as needed, of all beneficiary designations for life insurance policies, individual and company retirement plans, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc.; and
- A Peace of Mind plan "roadmap" for your family that gives them all the information they may need so they can confidently answer the questions that the late night phone call from the hospital will generate.
Would you like more information on creating your own Peace of Mind Plan?
While there are many resources available to assist you with your Peace of Mind Plan development, including self-help books, internet information, etc., we strongly recommend that you consult with an experienced attorney in your local area as well as a financial planning professional. Before you head down the path of preparing your legal readiness documents yourself, please read this cautionary tale.
For those of you who live in Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, or the near-by suburbs of Maryland, a complimentary, no strings attached information package is available by submitting the following form. Again, "no salesman will call" as we are not selling any products. Instead we offer you an opportunity to get more information about creating or updating your own Peace of Mind Plan.
If you are interested in professional assistance with this process, you can contact the law firm of Reilly Law, PLC by clicking HERE.
If you live elsewhere, please click HERE for the American Bar Association's links to various State legal
referral agencies.
If you are active duty military or retired military, you may be able to have your plan prepared with the help of military legal assistance attorneys. The link to help you locate the nearest legal assistance office is http://legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/locator.php
For financial planning advice we recommend that you consult with a planner who has earned the Certified Financial Planner™ designation and is compensated on a fee-only basis. For more information on financial planners you can go to www.cfp.net or the fee-only financial planner web site, www.napfa.org. Reilly Law, PLC has an affiliated fee-only financial planning firm, Safe Harbor Financial Advisors, LLC. Learn more about Safe Harbor here.
For those of you with young children who are just starting your careers, you may think that you don't need an estate plan, that those are only for the wealthy or for folks with complicated situations. You may in fact NOT need a traditional estate plan but, as you can see from this page, your loved ones would benefit from you having a Peace of Mind plan in place in the event of an unforeseen situation. Do it for them!
Best wishes on achieving your own personal peace of mind plan!