The Most Important New Year’s Resolution: Make an Estate Plan in 2022

One of the biggest reasons to make an estate plan is to protect your assets from creditors. If you don't have an estate plan in place and something happens to you, your creditors can come after your assets to pay off your debts. With a well-drafted estate plan, however, you can put measures in place that will help keep your assets safe.

Another reason to make estate planning a priority is that it can help avoid probate issues. Probate is the process of transferring your assets after you die. While this process used to be quite simple, now there are many more rules and regulations that affect how estates are handled following death or incapacitation. The last thing you want is for your estate to be tied up in probate for months or even years.

An estate plan can help you control the allocation of your assets and who will receive them. Without a well-drafted estate plan in place before you pass away or become incapacitated, there's no guarantee that your wishes will be carried out. With wills and trusts, however, it is much easier to make sure that what happens to your assets is exactly what you want.

One of the most important reasons to make an estate plan is so that your wishes are carried out. If you don't have a plan in place and something happens to you, who will make decisions about your health care and end-of-life arrangements? With an estate plan in place, you can appoint someone you trust to handle these important decisions, which can give you peace of mind knowing that they will be made in line with your wishes.