Our readers in Virginia know that drafting an estate plan needs to be a comprehensive effort. That means including a will, power of attorney documents, healthcare directives and potentially even a trust in most, if not all, estate plans. However, every person’s family and financial situation is unique, so there may be other things to consider as well. Are you leaving things out of your estate plan?
A recent news article mentioned a few different aspects of estate planning that most people should probably consider so that they can make sure they are not leaving anything important out of their comprehensive estate plan. For starters, the article mentioned the need to do a complete financial overview. This means having a complete summary of all of your finances available to those who will be in charge of or involved in administering your estate when the time comes. Such a summary can be immensely helpful so that loved ones and beneficiaries do not need to “hunt around” for your financial documents.
Associated with a financial overview is a master directory of account numbers, passwords and the names of the appropriate contact people at financial institutions you do business with. These details, obviously, need to be in a secure location.
The recent article mentioned another aspect of estate planning that has taken on increased importance in recent years: digital aspects of an estate plan. These days, most people own digital assets and the vast majority of people also have a wide variety of digital accounts. Leaving behind a plan for the digital aspects of your estate can be crucial.