Young, single people are the least likely demographic to have an estate plan.

Estate planning is primarily thought of as a means to distribute personal and real property upon death. Often, young people haven’t yet acquired a great deal of property, and they figure anything they do have will go to their living parents or siblings. Or, they may be holding off on planning their estate because of the eventual hope of getting married and expanding their family.

But estate planning deals with a lot more than just distribution of assets, and the most responsible thing to do is to prepare for the unexpected circumstances that can occur while working towards the life you want.

A strong estate plan also includes a durable power of attorney and an advance directive for health care. These documents are important because they dictate who will make decisions for you in the event you are incapacitated.

If you end up in the hospital because of a sudden illness or traumatic accident, bills will still come due, taxes must be filed, and financial decisions must be made. A durable power of attorney gives decision-making power to a trusted friend or family member during your incapacitation.

And, while you’re in the hospital, an advance directive for health care gives your designated agent the power to carry out your personal wishes for medical and life-saving treatment and end-of-life care.

In that same vein, singles should consider purchasing a disability insurance plan because they don’t have the second income of a spouse to fall back on in the event of an accident or disability.

Nothing incapacitates a person like a car accident or sudden illness – and no age group is immune to either – but responsible estate planning can prepare your life for your worst-case scenarios.

James D. Perry

With wills and trusts, people tend to “set it and forget it.” But it’s important to revisit your will and trust documents at least every five years, or whenever there is a major life event – new children, new son or daughter in law, new grandchildren, divorce, remarriage, new property, etc.

Guardianship appointments should be current if you have minor children so that you can designate who will care for them if you die.

Your beneficiary designation forms determines who will get your insurance and retirement accounts. This too, should be updated periodically. If you named a sibling or your parents as your beneficiary when you were younger on these forms, you might now want to make sure they go to your spouse or children instead. Many people aren’t aware that these forms override stated wishes in your will so you should consider these documents in tandem to prevent confusion.

Keep all these documents in a safe place – a fire-proof safe, a clearly marked file in your file cabinet, a shared folder on your home computer, or ask your lawyer to hold on to them – and make sure your loved ones know where they can find them if and when they need them.

In a medical emergency, or in moments of mourning, you will not want your family and friends to be in a frenzy when all they want is to honor your wishes and your memory.

If you haven’t started any of these documents, you should immediately create a balance sheet that lists the basic information about your assets and schedule an appointment with your estate-planning attorney as soon as possible.

James D. Perry

A living will – called an advance directive for health care here in California – is an important part of your estate-planning arsenal. In the event of an accident or life-threatening incapacitation, an advance directive dictates your medical care and treatment preferences. This is especially helpful to family members and care providers because where there is uncertainty and disagreement, the court may have to step in.

An advance directive for heath care can fail its essential purpose, though, if it is ambiguous about treatment options and does not provide enough detailed guidance.

A recent MSNBC article highlighted this problem in the story of Bunny Olenick, an 87-year-old from Boston who became incapacitated by a severe stroke. She had a living will and a medical power of attorney, but her sons were left with questions about assisted breathing devices and feeding tubes and the quality of life she would sustain because of them.

She had stated that she didn’t want to be intubated or hooked up to a respirator, but did that preclude temporary nasogastric tubes for nutrition or a short-term oxygen mask?

Bunny’s sons were able to take advantage of palliative care counseling, which helped them navigate her legal documents and the preferences she had shared with them prior to her stroke.

However, had the sons gotten into a disagreement about Bunny’s wishes, they might have ended up petitioning a judge to appoint a medical proxy. The legal process is costly and ultimately may prolong an incapacitated individual’s life or suffering where he or she would not want it.

No one really likes to ponder their own death, but appropriate advanced planning can save you and your family pain and confusion in a time better spent saying goodbye.

James D. Perry

My family said goodbye last month to my dad who celebrated his 94^th birthday last June and had lived a full life. He spent his final weeks at home with hospice care surrounded by the people he loved.

He manifested signs of dementia during his final years, but we were able make the decisions necessary for his medical care because he had an advance health care directive which set for his wishes for end of life care.

People hoping to avoid a prolonged dying process or to prevent family confusion and turmoil should execute an advance directive. Because a stroke or auto accident can lead to severe impairment, it’s never too early to have a plan in place.

The first step is to draw up an Advanced Directive for Health Care. This is known in some states as a living will. You can specify your preferences on a wide range of options – resuscitation, hydration, drugs, intubation, etc. – requesting that you want everything to be done or limiting medical interventions.

The second step is to appoint a health care agent, someone you know well and trust, to whom you designate to make medical decisions for you by way of your health care directive. That person will use your advance directive as guidance to make decisions that you yourself cannot make due to incapacity.

Your health care proxy should be someone who knows you well and someone who will be willing to carry out your wishes, even in the face of family conflict. Your agent in California will also be the person responsible for implementing your wishes for disposition of your body after your death.

Once your advance directive is in order, be sure to give a copy to your doctors, the proxy, your attorney, and your family. Be sure to communicate with your relatives and health care providers about your concerns and wishes.

All who knew my dad miss him and grieve his loss. Still as a family, we are comforted that he lived and died just as he wanted without unnecessary trips to the emergency hospital, or unwanted medical intervention, at a time when he just wanted peace.

James D. Perry

 Where should you keep estate-planning documents prepared by your attorney?  Where should people expect to find your living trust, will, durable power of attorney and advance health care directive? You want to be sure that those documents stay safe and can be easily found when your family needs to find them.

For those of you in California, I suggest that you do not keep them in a safe deposit box at the bank.  They will be safe there, but not accessible when urgently needed.

Your safe deposit box won’t be easy for your friends or family to open it if you’re not there. This is true even if they are co-owners of the box. Having the key isn’t enough to get the bank to open it up for them — the bank wants you to prove that you have the legal authority to require them to open it up. So here’s the conundrum: the document granting your friends or family the right to act on your behalf as an executor or as the power of attorney/agent is inside the box, and until the box is opened, they can’t prove that they have the authority to get the bank to open it…etc.

Safe deposit boxes are often inside a bank, which may be closed over the weekend. If a durable power of attorney or advance health care directive is needed over the weekend, no one will be able to get to it until Monday. In a medical emergency, the advance health care directive should be easily accessible.  If you insist on keeping your documents under lock and key either at a bank or at home, make copies of your durable power of attorney and advance health care directive, which can easily be located.

Most estate attorneys agree that the best place is in your home where the documents can easily be found when they are needed. Some suggest that you don’t lock them into a box for safekeeping inside your home, because that would be as difficult to penetrate as a safe deposit box.

My advice, simply leave them in a file cabinet or drawer, or inside a desk, on a shelf or binder somewhere else that is obvious to anyone looking for them.  

James D. Perry