Having a Virginia estate plan in place helps ensure that you maintain a certain degree of control over your personal, financial and medical affairs. If you have put off estate planning because you were fearful of the time or monetary commitment involved, rest assured that an estate plan does not have to be extensive or complex to prove effective.
According to Bankrate, you should be able to retain more control over your personal affairs by establishing an estate plan that includes the following three elements.
1. A will
Without a will, state laws decide who inherits your assets. Dying intestate, or without a will, may also lead to other challenges, and particularly if you have children who hope to access your estate to help cover funeral costs or related expenses.
2. An advance health care directive
Health care directives help you plan for medical emergencies and give you a way to share your medical preferences without having to voice them out loud. You may use advance directives to outline if you want resuscitation, to donate your organs and so on.
3. A financial power of attorney
When you give someone you trust power of attorney over your financial affairs, you allow this individual to conduct business or financial transactions on your behalf. This helps avoid court proceedings that otherwise might take place to determine who is going to oversee your financial affairs if you suffer incapacitation.
Having a will, an advance directive and a power of attorney in your estate plan help you maintain control over your affairs – and it may, too, save your loved ones valuable time and money in the event of a health emergency or your death.
