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Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Estate Planning Podcast with your host Colby Kukelski.
The Estate Planning Podcast is brought to you by Rhodes Law Firm in Augusta, Georgia. For over 30 years Rhodes Law Firm has been helping people just like you create solid estate plans. This is the podcast where you will learn everything you need to know about estate planning and why you need one to protect you and your family.
In this episode, we will be discussing what an estate plan is and the benefits of having a complete estate plan.
Typically, the term estate plan is something most people associate with celebrities or individuals with a lot of money. But that is not how we define what an estate plan is. Estate planning is ensuring everything you have, all of your stuff, whether it be a little or a lot, is set up in such a way that it’s being left to your family or beneficiaries according to your wishes when you are no longer here.
While there are numerous benefits to having a complete estate plan, today, we are going to be focusing on some of the largest benefits you will experiencing from having a plan that is complete and specific to your family and your wishes on how your assets are going to be used by your family and loved ones when you’re no longer here.
One of the largest benefits you will receive with having a complete estate plan is having peace of mind. Knowing you and your family have a plan in place if something should happen. There won’t be a question about what happens with your things or who gets what. By having a plan in place, you will know if you are no longer here, your family will not have to assume what you would have wanted to happen with your things. There’s already a plan in place and all your family has to do is follow that plan.
When helping families to draft these estate plans, one of the first responses we receive after they’ve signed everything is the relief they have knowing if something should happen tomorrow, the next day next month, their family is taken care of. So they walk away knowing there’s that family peace being preserved should something unexpected happened to them.
When having a complete estate plan, not only will you have that peace of mind, but it also will serve a secondary purpose.
And that is backing up all of the information you have in your head to a secondary location. You have a really good idea about where all of your assets are, what banks you use, what companies manage your IRAs, 401 K’s, but if something should happen unexpectedly to you tomorrow, would your spouse know this information? Would your children? By having a complete estate plan in place, we are ensuring that we are backing up all that information you have in your head to one central location. So if something should happen, your spouse, your family will know where to go and what to do to manage your assets from there.
There have been instances where we’ve met with loved ones who have a family member who’s recently passed away. They’re telling us we don’t know what bank they used or we don’t know what companies have their life insurance or their retirement accounts because that information wasn’t stored anywhere. So we’re having to tell these family members while they’re grieving, you have to check the mail, search the drawers in the home, we have to have hands on this information somehow. By having a complete estate plan in place, you will be ensuring that if something should happen to you, all of that information is stored in one central location so your family knows where to go and who to turn to.
But probably the largest benefit you will experience from having a complete estate plan is having the ability to create your own set of rules. By having a plan in place, it’s not just setting up the plan, but also making sure that the plan is based on your own rules about how your stuff is to be used. We can ensure that any beneficiaries of this plan are subject to the rules you create
There are special instances where this can be very helpful for families. And we’ll get into that in some of our later episodes. But having a plan in place ensures that you are able to dictate your own set of rules about how your things are to be used when you’re no longer here.
As you can see, having an estate plan provides numerous benefits to each and every family. And what is so great about estate planning is that no two are the same. You want to ensure your plan reflects your wishes for your family. Stick around to join us on our next episode where we were discussing the important considerations you might face when choosing what type of estate plan is best for you.
You’ve been listening to The Estate Planning Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this show, please subscribe and share it with your friends. We look forward to having you back for our next episode. If you’d like more information about estate planning and how to set up your own estate plan, please contact our friends at Rhodes Law Firm found at gorhodeslaw.com, that is GORHODESLAW.com. Or give them a call at 706-724-0405, simply mentioned this podcast and get a free consultation with one of their estate planning attorneys. We’ll see you back here next week.
