Assisting Senior Parents With Their Estate Plan
The rate of older people with at least a basic will has traditionally been low in recent years, and New Jersey estate planning lawyers warn that the trend is continuing for a variety of reasons. That has left many adult children with even greater challenges to face when helping their senior parents plan for the future.
Emphasize Your Parents’ Preferences
This process can be a difficult one for you as the adult child because it involves dealing with the realities that your parents will pass away. There are counseling groups available for people that need emotional support. These resources can put you in the frame of mind you need to be in to support and assist your parents.
Experts advise that your top focus must always be your parents’ wishes. Those are the important things, and you should focus on them before diving into their estate and other aspects of their finances. Make sure everyone is on the same page and that your parents’ desires haven’t changed over the years. Once you know their goals, you’ll know their wishes and be better positioned to deal with them. This includes not only where they want to live but also their end-of-life wishes, such as burial or cremation.
Gain a Detailed Picture of Your Parents’ Finances
It is important to have a complete picture of your parents’ finances. Experts warn that adult children who think they know about such matters will find a significant amount that they did not. Avoid presuming, and begin this research process as if you do not know anything about the finances at all.
If you are not alone in this and have one or more siblings helping, you should all go through this process together. That transparency can help to maintain healthier relationships. It also helps to have multiple pairs of fresh eyes on the data. You all probably bring different areas of expertise and experience to the table as well. The important thing to determine is whether your parents will outlive their money, as that will shape your approach. You should also take into account the life insurance, long-term care insurance and other policies they have.
Establish or Review the Estate Plan
The next step is to determine whether your parents have the proper estate planning documents. If they do not, then you and your parents should meet with a New Jersey estate planning lawyer right away to start preparing them. If they do, all the siblings involved should have copies of those documents. These include wills, trusts, financial powers of attorney and health care proxies.
There should also be documentation that outlines the roles they want you and your family to play moving forward. That includes executors and attorneys-in-fact. The documentation should clearly define how they want assets distributed, such as to family, other beneficiaries and charities, as well.
Meet With Your Parents’ Advisers
It is also important to begin building a relationship with your parents’ trusted advisers. This includes the attorney, insurance agent, financial adviser and accountant. Ensure that each is aware of your parents’ plan within their domain of expertise.
Meeting with the estate attorney is particularly important if your parents have not updated their estate plan recently. There have been recent changes, such as the SECURE Act, that may call for modifications to the plan. Experts also recommend accompanying them to doctor appointments when possible to build a relationship with them. That can make it much easier when it comes time to make decisions about their health care.
Do You Need Legal Assistance With Your Aging Parents’ Estate?
At the Knee Law Firm, we have more than 60 years of combined experience helping seniors and their adult children manage their estates. We deliver the personal service of a small law office but all the legal services you may require, including business and real estate. If you are managing finances for aging parents, we encourage you to meet with a New Jersey estate planning lawyer as soon as possible. To schedule that appointment with us, call our Hackensack office at 201-996-1200.