Protect what’s precious to you with an estate plan–yes you need one!
Thanks to your friends and family, gone are the days of mismatched thrift store plates and hand-me-down furniture–with designer china sets, crystal vases, and treasured family heirlooms, you’re ushering in the gilded age of adulting. And while the rumors are true, adulting has very few perks, but watching the wedding gifts pile up on your front porch and getting to invest in designing your own space to call home is probably the very best part–so it’s definitely worth celebrating! Another part of growing up is realizing that you are now responsible for things. Like not just for making sure they get put back in the proper space, but like these treasures-your new home, your honeymoon savings account-they belong to you. So, growing up means thinking those hard thoughts like, what happens to these beautiful things if (God forbid) something happens to you? We know it’s morbid…but that’s why you have us. We did the heavy lifting and talked to our friends at LegalZoom to find out everything you need to know. And it’s actually surprisingly simple to protect your assets and make sure that everything you love ends up exactly where it should in the event of a worst-case scenario.
What it boils down to is–you’re going to need an estate plan. And before you laugh about the thought of leaving your Pottery Barn tableware to your favorite sibling, an estate plan is about so much more than stuff, and it’s not just for the couples who are drowning in Le Creuset. It’s for everyone–EVERYONE should have an estate plan.
what is an estate plan?
Babes, that was our first question too 😂! Don’t let the name intimidate you, an estate plan is just a written plan documenting what happens to your assets and dependants upon your death or incapacitation. We’re going to get dark for just a moment, but imagine your new husband or wife having to decide who gets your grandmother’s pearl necklace or fighting with your parents about your childhood pet that was living with you–devastating. Having an estate plan is a way to spare your family the drama of having to make those hard decisions, giving them peace of mind knowing they’re doing what you would have wanted.
Speaking of hard decisions, in your estate plan you can also create a living will which outlines who you want to be in charge of making your medical decisions in the event that you cannot and you can even pre-specify what you would like those decisions to be. You can also express your final wishes for funeral arrangements to take that off of their plate. An estate plan also outlines who will function as the guardian of your dependants. Without an estate plan, the decision falls to the state.
There are two types of estate plans–wills and trusts. We did a deep dive on that a while back, make sure to check it out to see which one is best for you. Once you decide which plan is right for your family, LegalZoom makes it super easy and affordable to draft it and make it official! Check out their different estate plan packages here, and after a few clicks and some deep thoughts, you can sleep well (on your brand new 500-thread count Egyptian cotton bedsheets) knowing that you’re family (and cool new things) are protected.
Follow @legalzoom on IG for more adulting tips.
We partnered with LegalZoom to help you protect your precious new heirlooms. As always, thanks for supporting our sponsors!
- Estate Plans: LegalZoom