Not Another Reason to Put Off Taking Care of Your Family

A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Lawyers.com http://bit.ly/d9cOiH reveals that interest in Estate Planning has declined among Americans.  The article posits that one of the reasons for the decline, apparently only 35% of Americans now report having a will and only 21% report having a trust, is the ailing economy.

I have no problem with the facts outlined in the survey (except that there is no information about the size of the sample or other relevant factors to determine the validity of the survey), but it is unconscionable that the author did not chastise Americans for being so short sighted.  After all, shortsightedness is what got us in this economic mess in the first place (mortgage backed securities anyone?).  The author should have taken the opportunity to point out the importance of estate planning even during and maybe especially during an economic downturn.

Your responsibility to your children if you are a parent of young children or to your family in general if you are not does not end because of an economic downturn.  If you are a parent of young children, you have an obligation to make sure that your children will be cared for if something unfortunate happens to you.  This means making sure that you have adequate life insurance in place and making sure that you have an estate plan, even if you don't need anything complicated.  If you do not have a will, the decision of who will take care of your children will be left to the probate court and your family or perhaps a stranger.  You must have at least a simple will if you have kids.

Furthermore, you may or may not know this, but it is far more likely that you will be become disabled at any point during your life than that you will die.  With the proper plans in place, things will be much easier for your family to handle if you should become disabled.  You owe it to your family to get a plan in place right now.

Last, if you don't make your wishes with respect to life support known through the proper legal documents (Advance Directive or Living Will), then your family could end up with the same type of struggle that Terri Schiavo's family suffered through.  You owe it to your family to make sure that your wishes are spelled out in the proper legal document.

So, in sum, the economic downturn should not deter you from putting a plan in place.  While the plan you need might not be as complex as what you will need when things bounce back, having a plan is your obligation to those that you will leave behind.