Attorney Talks About Estate Planning as Stewardship
The topic of estate planning is a difficult one for many people to discuss, yet it is vital that each of us make an estate plan. There are many unhelpful ways that people tend to think about and talk about estate planning or reasons that they give for not making an estate plan. What if you were to think about estate planning as a tool that helps you utilize and manage all of your resources in ways that improve your life and the lives of others. In other words, what if you viewed estate planning as a form of stewardship, rather than a grim procedure for spelling out where you want your resources to go when you pass away.
Estate planning is about life even more than it is about death. When you take action during your lifetime to earn, purchase, and manage resources, you and everyone around you can enjoy those resources and the benefits that come from your ownership and management of those resources, whatever they may be. Also, when you take action during your lifetime to make your views on medical care known to those who might have to make decisions about your care for you, you help them care for your life in the way that you would if you were conscious or otherwise available to make those decisions for yourself. Additionally, estate planning gives you the knowledge that when death does come, your resources will go to and benefit the individuals and organizations that you wish to benefit from them.
In your life, you likely have others that you support, such as a spouse and children. Estate planning is also the mechanism that allows you to continue to support those people during your lifetime and after you pass away. The financial aspects of estate planning like making a will and making beneficiary designations on financial assets that require them are part of the support you provide, as are protective provisions like guardianship delegations and trusts.
You may be doing beautiful things in your life right now, such as giving to organizations that do work that you wish to support, doing work that helps others, building a business, or creating works of art or other things that enhance and enrich the lives of others. Estate planning is the way that you can ensure that the wonderful things that you contribute to, the good works that you do, and the amazing things you create continue to benefit others even after you pass away.
Estate planning attorneys and the financial and other professionals that they may consult with in helping their clients prepare estate plans are skilled at helping their clients manage every type of resource during their lifetime and plan for the kind of legacy that they want to leave. Wichita attorney J. Joseph Weber is here to serve you. Please call our office, or contact us online to arrange a consultation to discuss your Kansas estate planning questions.