The vast majority of people don’t even start thinking about planning their estates until they reach retirement age.  If that’s your plan then you’re making at least two mistakes:

1. (1) You are gambling that nothing will go wrong until you’re ready to plan; and
2. (2) You are severely limiting what you can accomplish with your estate planning.

We all know that we will eventually die but understandably it’s an uncomfortable subject for all but the most morbid among us.  The problem is that having the “I know it’s something I should do but I’m still young and I don’t want to think about it right now” or “I know I need it, but I don’t have time right now so I’ll just wait until next year” philosophies will leave you family in a world of pain after you’re gone.  Emotionally for all of the obvious reasons, but also financially and legally because of the probate procedures that anyone without a well executed estate plan has to go through.

Life rarely happens exactly as most people anticipate: people have children without getting married, people get divorced, they marry more than once, then again, they may never marry or have children.  Real life is full of options, choices and twists of fate.  In short, it’s life.

You have to be prepared for the unknown and provide for your loved ones who depend on you in case you’re not around.  Every time we leave our homes and get in our cars, we are at risk of being in a car accident.  Sorry, but that’s the reality.  The point is that nobody is immune from the unknown or unplanned; accidents can happen to anyone and you have to be prepared for those unknown eventualities.  So how do you plan for the unknown?  Well there’s always insurance - every insurance agent on the planet will tell you to buy their insurance to plan for the unknown.

Here’s the rub, insurance, in and of itself is limited.  My auto insurance isn’t going to do a thing for me when the next big earthquake hit’s California causing a Giant Redwood Tree to lose a gargantuan branch.  This branch will then hurtle to earth at astronomical speeds and land perfectly on the little toe on my left foot causing much pain and a trip to the emergency room. After reviewing my auto insurance policy, I will unfortunately confirm that I’m out of luck getting my insurance company to pay for an “act of God” never mind that I wasn’t in my car at the time of the incident.

Remember … life happens and no one can predict it. This is one of the reasons why estate planning is the best and most inexpensive long term insurance coverage that you can ever buy.  We can’t plan for everything specifically, but we can have a solid plan for every eventuality.  For example, if that tree hit my toe and I was in such unbelievable pain that I couldn’t communicate (as would likely be the case because I have a child like tolerance for pain), the person I’ve selected as my Health Care Agent could tell the doctors what to do about my toe!  Excellent, that’s one less worry keeping me up at night.  What would I have done without my little toe?  Which little piggy would have gone “wee, wee, wee all the way home?”  Thank goodness for estate planning.

We take precautions to try and extend our lives for as long as possible. We make sure our cars are in working order.  We eat healthier foods, exercise, and have regular checkups.  And as a result of certain global events we have all become more aware of our surroundings and any threats to our security.  There are no guarantees in life, but we are doing the best we can.

The key issue then becomes: what if that is not enough?  What if you don’t make it to the end of the “normal” road of life?  What would happen to your loved ones if you died today?  Will there be enough money to provide for them the way you would want?  Will they even be able to get to the assets you leave behind or will your assets be tied up in courts, held ransom by the painfully slow probate process that can take up to 12-16 months or more (keeping in mind your assets are tied up in the probate court this entire time)?  How much will they really get (probate in CA can cost up to 5% of the entire value of your estate)?

Wouldn’t it be better to make sure that the people you care about will be taken care of the way you want no matter what happens during your life?  Of course it would.

You could gamble and wait until the last possible minute to plan your estate.  You could be like those people who make estate-planning decisions from their deathbeds in the hospital.  But do you really want to be making some of the most important decisions of your life that will affect your family’s future, potentially for generations, in that kind of condition?  Wouldn’t it be better to put a plan in place now and then have the rest of your life to think about it, polish and fine tune it until it’s exactly what you want?  Remember, estate planning is a process and not an event; you can always make changes to your plan whenever you want.  Frankly having any plan in place is better than having no plan in place.

Planning your estate now doesn’t mean you will die tomorrow, just as buying life insurance doesn’t mean you’re getting ready to die nor does buying homeowner’s insurance mean your house will burn down tomorrow.  So if you act now, you won’t have to worry about what could happen to your family if your life doesn’t follow the normal progression…or about making bad decisions at the last second when you’ve run out of time.

It’s called peace of mind…and you can have it and you certainly deserve it.  So, when’s the best time to plan your estate? Now!

What are you planning to give your teenager when he or she turns 18 and legally becomes an adult? A new watch? A car? A deposit for an apartment? A trip to Europe?

Those are all fine gifts, if you can afford to spend for them. But here’s one you may not have thought of … and it won’t cost you a bundle. Take your son or daughter to your attorney’s office and have them prepare a trio of documents: a simple trust or will, a durable power of attorney, and an advanced healthcare directive. Actually, it’s a gift for both of you, because once your child reaches legal age of adulthood, you will no longer be able to automatically make medical and legal decisions for him or her without the appropriate legal documents authorizing you to do so.

If your son becomes ill or injured and cannot handle his own financial affairs, you will not be able to step in for him and conduct business (sign checks, sell assets, etc.) unless he has a trust or a durable power of attorney and has named you as his successor or agent. If he hasn’t, you’ll have to go through the courts … and that will take time, cost money, and restrict you in ways you cannot imagine. (Some financial institutions also require their own forms; make sure you and your child check with each bank, etc.).

If your daughter cannot make her own medical decisions, it will be much easier for you to make them if she has already named you as her agent. And what if she should be so ill or injured that she is placed on life support before you get to the hospital? Unless she has made her wishes known through a legal document, you may not be able to abide by her wishes and have the life support equipment removed without court approval.

Finally, if your adult child should die without a will, the court will distribute his or her assets according to the laws of the state in which they lived … regardless of what you (or they) would have wanted.

Make sure your new adult understands that all of these documents will need to be changed as their life changes including: accumulating more assets, getting married, buying property, having children, etc.

Helping your child get started with this adult responsibility at the moment when he or she becomes an adult is just one more responsibility we have as parents. It fits right in there with how to balance a checkbook, how to handle a credit card, and how to buy insurance.

Chances are that it will be a long time before any of these documents will be needed. But you’ll be sending your child out of the nest with a full layer of protection … just in case.

Most people assume that probate and estate planning issues are only for the elderly.  They think that it’s nothing to spend time worrying about until they’re at least 80.  The fact is that seasoned probate litigation attorneys know better.  Every family has to address these important legal issues sooner or later - sometimes much sooner than they think.  When proper planning isn’t done, it can and does often lead to trouble.

The Britney Spears case presents a good illustration.  At the tender age of 26, she became subject to a court-ordered conservatorship and guardianship.  Let me repeat, 26 years old.  Her father, Jamie Spears, has the legal right to make decisions for her, including controlling her finances; finances that are in relation to being one of the worlds best know pop stars.  The judge allows him to pay himself more than $16,000 every month, from his daughter’s money.  Although, given the remarkable turnaround in her life and her career, this fee may be well worth it.

In fact, Britney now seems to be in favor of her father’s control.  In October of 2008, she agreed not to oppose her father’s request to continue the conservatorship indefinitely (it was originally set to expire at the end of 2008).  Think this means the court case is done?  Not remotely.

Last week, an attorney named Jon Eardley, returned the case to court.  Eardley, just over one year ago, claimed that Britney had asked him by telephone to represent her to fight the conservatorship.  He even took the highly unusual step of trying to move the case to Federal Court, arguing she was denied a fair trial in the California Superior Court where the case was pending.

The Federal Court judge quickly ordered the case back to the California Court where it started, noting that the judge in that court had already ruled that Eardley could not represent Spears.  Because Spears had been ruled legally incapable of managing her financial affairs (which is why she needed her father to serve as conservator), both judges ruled she could not legally hire Eardley.  In fact, her father’s attorney and her own court-appointed attorney also argued Britney did not want Eardley to represent her.

So why was Eardley back in court on the case last week?  He appeared before the California judge claiming that Britney was being treated like Soviet dissidents subject to forced labor, as described in the Nobel Prize winning novel “The Gulag Archipelago”.

According to the article, Eardley claims he wants nothing to do with the case.  He was ordered in January not to represent Britney and not to file anything on her behalf in court.  Yet, there he was, essentially arguing to the judge that Spears was a prisoner and a slave.  Eardley claims he did so simply because he wants the restraining order against him removed.

So Britney’s money had to be spent on even more legal fees, for another court hearing (the most recent in a long line of court hearings).  Had she done proper estate planning, and created a revocable living trust, then she could have selected someone she trusted to manage her financial affairs if she became unable to do so, without the need of court involvement.  If such a trust had been properly created and funded, along with power of attorney documents, then the family could have gotten her the help she clearly needed with minimal court involvement — and maybe even avoided the courts altogether.

It’s never too early to plan, and it’s never a good idea to think that estate planning and probate issues only matter to the elderly.