With the holidays in full swing are you enjoying your time with your family? Are you finding it hard to believe that in just a few short weeks, it will be 2023? Are you busy doing activities with your family, purchasing last minute gifts and planning end of the year parties? Have you thought about the best gift you could give your loved ones this year?
As you think about the past year, are you also looking ahead to your future? What are your goals for yourself, your loved ones, and your legacy? We encourage you to take the time to not only think about the immediate actions that must be completed before the end of the year, but that you also think about what the future may hold for you. While you are rushing to find that last minute perfect gift for your family, consider that completing or updating your Florida estate plan may be the best gift you can give them.
As a Florida senior, do you have any questions about how to begin creating an estate plan or why you should create a plan or whether you need to update your current plan? Questions such as:
- If you are incapacitated for any reason, who will make your decisions?
- If you are in a car accident, who will have the legal authority to pay your bills?
- If you are unable to handle your business affairs, who will?
- Do you have any plans in place for the care of your pets if you were hospitalized?
- Do you want your adult children in charge of your finances?
- Have you researched the need for additional insurance policies?
- Are you confident that your retirement plans will be able to support you as you age?
- Now that you are a permanent resident of the state of Florida, have you updated your out-of-state estate planning documents to Florida estate planning documents?
- Do you know if any of the federal or state laws have changed in the past few years that now makes your estate planning irrelevant?
- Have there been any changes in your family structure that necessitate the need to update your planning?
All of these questions are important questions and we often hear questions just like these from our clients and their family. When it comes to Florida estate planning, you need to be confident that your estate plan will work when you need it to. We repeat, this holiday season, a completed Florida estate plan that lets your loved ones know what you want for yourself is quite possibly the best gift you can give.
Be mindful that while Florida estate planning is a critical part of your health and well being there is a second planning component that needs to be addressed and completed as well. This is your elder law planning. Because the majority of Americans will need some form of long-term care after they reach the age of 70, the time for planning is now. Unfortunately, much of this care is not covered by Medicare and it will fall on the Florida senior to pay. As elder law attorneys we can assure you it does not have to be this way. We can work with you to create not only an estate plan but also a long-term care plan that can protect the estate plan you are putting in place and allow you to be able to leave a legacy for your family, no matter what the future holds.
We know this article may raise more questions than it answers. At Britton G. Swank, P.A., our mission is to guide you in the right direction to help you provide for yourself and your loved ones no matter what the future holds. We want to help you control the assets you have, leave them to people and causes you care about, when you want, in the way you want. We can help you take care of yourself and those you love in the event of disability due to illness, injury or old age. No matter what risks unfold, we can help give you the comfort of knowing you are prepared. We want you to feel good about your future and the future of your loved ones. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.