Estate Planning Spoilers: You Probably (Definitely) Need One
Our financial planning clients are largely working on building wealth and planning for the future… and one of the best ways to plan for the future is to make sure you have a solid estate plan in place.
The word “estate plan” sounds overly formal and seems to suggest that you have to be extremely wealthy to need one. However, having an estate plan in place is the best way to protect your loved ones after you pass away.
What the heck is an estate plan?
Do you have a bank, retirement, or investment account? Own a car or home? Shoot, do you even own *any* physical possessions? Well, that’s your estate, comrade (*pinkies all the way up*). Sure, some estates are bigger than others, but I firmly believe that EVERYONE should have the right to determine where their money and stuff goes after they pass, regardless of how much there is to pass on.
The phrase “estate plan” also makes it sound like one mega-document, but a good estate plan should actually include a *few* key documents, each of which might be short or long depending on how detailed your preferences are. These include:
📝 Last will and testament – lays out who gets your possessions when you pass.
🩺 Advanced medical directive – shares your wishes for medical care should you become incapacitated. It also names someone who can help enact those wishes on your behalf.
💼 Financial power of attorney – names somebody to help manage your money and assets while you’re alive, but incapacitated.
🏠 A trust – a legal entity that holds all of your assets and allows people to privately pass on money and property, without being subject to probate in your state. Trusts are more common in states like New York and California, where the probate process tends to be more drawn out and/or expensive. Trusts also tend to be a good fit if you have kiddos or beneficiaries under the age of 18 who can’t yet inherit anything directly. (Note: estate planning trusts typically DO NOT let you save money on taxes! In this case, a trust is definitely more about passing on assets and privacy.)
🐶 Guardianship provision – names somebody to take care of your kids and/or pets after you pass. It also lays out any specific wishes you have around their care.
To be perfectly transparent: If you die without a will, the probate process becomes much more expensive, complicated, and drawn out, and the courts functionally decide who gets your possessions. In this case, the most common order of inheritance is that your spouse gets first dibs, then your legal children, then your parents, and then finally other family members with a plausible claim.
If you do not have clear instructions in place, it also opens up the possibility that unsupportive family members or folks you would not want inheriting your assets could, in fact, gain access to them. (No one wants your racist old Aunt Mildred claiming the family jewels if you didn’t want her to.) In the year 2025, when it feels like the world is a dumpster fire and the government is falling apart, do you want your local judicial system to make the call on what to do with your property if you pass? Yeah, me neither.
Resources for making your estate plan
There are a lot of great ways to get these documents handled, though the route you choose will depend on how much complexity you have in your financial situation, how detailed you want your end of life instructions to be, and your budget for completing the process.
If you don't have a lot of complexity in your situation, an online service can be a great starting point.
This generally means that:
You have straightforward instructions about who you want to leave money to
You don’t have any beneficiaries under 18, or any beneficiaries with special needs or addiction challenges that might need more guardrails around an inheritance
You’re comfortable with more of a DIY process instead of requiring lots of handholding.
If that applies to you, our go-to resource these days for estate planning is the website trustandwill.com. It’s easy to use and has helped many Young & Scrappy clients make their basic documents. (Sidebar: we don’t get any kickbacks or referrals for recommending them; this is just the one we’ve found to be pretty affordable and easy to use!)
For more complicated situations, it’s often best to work directly with a lawyer in your state.
For example, if you…
Have folks that you explicitly do NOT want to inherit your money and want to make sure your instructions are airtight
Have children under 18 or beneficiaries who might benefit from clear and detailed inheritance stipulations
Have a blended family with more particular state planning needs
Or that you simply feel more peace of mind knowing that an attorney has directly reviewed to make sure that the documents do what you need them to do
We have a number of great folks in our Rolodex in the Georgia area, so if you need a couple names, reach out! However, if you want to do your own digging or need a referral to an estate planning attorney near you, we love the following directories for finding values-aligned estate planners near you:
The national LGBTQ+ bar association isn’t allowed to give recommendations, but they have a ton of great state and local affiliate chapters, many of whom offer a “Find a Professional” type directory. Check out the affiliate map here.
I’ve been digging the Everywhere is Queer directory for all manner of professional services, including legal services!
If you have a non-traditional or polyamorous family structure, you might also want some specialized expertise. PolyFriendly.org has a whole directory page just for legal professionals.
Not to be basic, but I’ve also found that the best referrals come from within YOUR community! Ask around to all those kickass proactive friends that share similar values, and you’re bound to find a few names that come with a more trusted review.
Don’t forget about your beneficiary accounts!
Good news: making your will can be easier and cheaper than you think! Bad news… making your will is not the only thing you have to do to stay organized.
In fact, there are a couple of key types of accounts that do not pass through the probate process at all. Instead, these types of accounts have named beneficiaries, who directly inherit the account when you pass. This mostly includes retirement accounts and life insurance policies.
Because of the nature of this process, when you have a named beneficiary on file, that person can get a payout in relatively short order. As long as they have a death certificate and their name is listed as a beneficiary, there is very little other due diligence involved.
What does this mean for you?
If you have beneficiaries listed on your account like siblings, ex-partners, or other folks who are no longer relevant to your financial journey, they could very much receive assets after you pass away.
As such, it’s a best practice to review your beneficiaries every year and make sure they’re still up-to-date.
It’s also a best practice to have both a primary beneficiary listed, as well as a secondary beneficiary.
Primary beneficiary – First person to receive your assets if something happens to you.
Secondary beneficiary – Your backup plan for who inherits your money if something happens to you and your primary beneficiary before you have a chance to update your wishes.
In general, you’re allowed to name more than one person or entity as a beneficiary.
As long as you specify who you want to receive specific percentages of your assets, you can name several.
Example: I’ve seen clients with multiple siblings leave an account to four people, each receiving 25% of the account value.
Naming your beneficiaries can also be a great way to leave a legacy, because you may also name organizations or nonprofits as your beneficiary.
Example: I have some clients who are married but do not have children or other family members they wish to name as secondary beneficiaries. In those cases, they may choose a charity that resonates with them in the event that their spouse is deceased when they pass.
Unfortunately, your beneficiaries must be updated with every single account you hold. This is great news in that it gives you a ton of control over who exactly inherits what… but it also means that if you have lots of accounts scattered about, you might have a little extra legwork to do to get organized.
Other ways to ensure a smooth transition after you pass
I hate to be that guy who keeps moving the goalpost, but I want to draw your attention to one last important detail: just because you have made your estate plan, doesn’t mean your work is done. In fact, an estate plan that lies dusty in a drawer that nobody can find is the same thing as having no plan at all!
For that reason, we recommend following other best practices to help make sure your loved ones have a smooth transition after you pass away:
Notify your executor(s) - If you’ve named a person or people to serve as the executor to your will or who would make important medical and financial decisions for you, make sure they know their role! Give them a chance to review the documents and ask any questions they have about your wishes. The last thing you want is for that person to have to guess at any details when you’re not able or around to answer.
Keep your important docs in a secure, accessible place - Make sure all parties involved know where those documents live, so that if an emergency happens, there’s no guesswork about the next steps.
Review and update your estate plan on an annual basis - As your life situation changes (think: marriage, family changes, having kids, death of a previous beneficiary or executor, changes to any property and accounts mentioned in previous drafts), be sure that you update your documents each year. Some years may not require any changes, but if you DO make changes, make sure everyone has the most recent and up-to-date version of the documents!
Codify your other end of life wishes - This stuff is more of the icing on the cake, but if you want to go the extra mile, you might also consider the following: Do you want to draft your own obituary? Do you want to leave behind a letter of intent? Do you have any preferences for funeral arrangements or burial / cremation? What do you want to happen to your social media profiles after you pass? The more of these questions you can answer in advance, the easier things will be once you’re not around.
Summary and Key Takeaways
Okay, I know this blog post maybe got a little dense in terms of action items, so in the interest of not getting lost in the sauce, here’s your rundown of estate planning next steps
Decide if you want to use an online service or find a lawyer to make your estate plan
Do the damn thing! Make sure you create all parts of the estate plan: your last will and testament, advanced medical directive, financial power of attorney, and guardianship / trust if relevant
Log into all your investment provider websites, look for any retirement accounts, and add primary and secondary beneficiaries
Review all your life insurance policies and make sure those also have up-to-date primary and secondary beneficiaries listed
Make sure everyone has an up-to-date copy of your estate planning documents, and that you update over time as needed
It sounds like a lot, but take it from a money nerd who has Truly Seen Things: this isn’t a process to delay, and you’re going to feel immense peace of mind once you give it the attention it deserves.
