Planning for Your Estate: The Snapshot Test

Take the estate planning snapshot test.  You need to look ahead to the time when you are sitting up in Heaven and looking down on your family while they prepare for your funeral and the settlement of your estate.  We all want everything to go as smoothly as possible for our funeral, our family, and our estate settlement process.  Look at a snapshot of your family and how the funeral and estate settlement process would go right now if you were to die.

Snapshot of the Estate Settlement Process

Would it be a clear snapshot?  Would there be confusion and chaos because the family doesn’t know what to do now that you are gone?  Would the family know how to settle your estate affairs?  Would the family know the attorney who helped you prepare your estate plan?  With many traditional estate plans the people left in charge of a person’s estate don’t have any idea where to go to start the estate settlement process.  The snapshot is not clear because the family simply has no idea what to do to settle your estate.   The Three Step Strategy for Estate Planning created by the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys can help you be certain that your “Snapshot” will be a clear picture and all will proceed smoothly for your funeral and estate settlement process.

Steps to Proper Estate Planning

The first step is to make a plan that you and your family can understand and be assured will work.  The second step is to make sure that your plan is maintained, updated and that your family is educated about your plan.  During the third step the attorney is there to help during times of disability for Mom & Dad and when Mom & Dad die so the family can make the settlement process a smooth transition.

Charles E. Dorwart, Estate Planning Attorney

Member of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys

3828 Dodge Street

Keenan Building

Omaha, Nebraska 68131

(402) 558-1404

cdorwartjd@aol.com

• The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only. If you need advice regarding estate planning, click here to talk to Charles E. Dorwart or an Estate Planning Attorney near you