My clients will tell you that I love the idea of ‘one-stop shopping’. So, how does ‘one-stop shopping’ tie in with estate planning? One of the major reasons for doing an estate plan is to make things as efficient and as smooth as possible if you should become incapacitated and upon passing. Having the proper legal documents in place that provide instructions on what should be done and who should take care of things is critical.
Estate planning should go beyond this however. It is also important to make sure that those who are going to be taking care of things actually have access to and can find information that they need. Ever hear of ‘turning the house upside down’? I’ve heard too many people say that, upon a loved one passing or becoming sick, they couldn’t find anything or that things were so disorganized that they had to go through everything in the house just to figure out what the situation was.
Where does ‘one-stop shopping’ come into play with this? When you get your estate plan done, also go through the exercise of organizing your paperwork. You can do this the old fashioned way with paper files, or for those techies out there, there is software and apps available to help you. Don’t stop there though – I suggest keeping key information with your estate planning documents (or at least have something that says where you keep the key information). Keep the key information and your estate plan all in one place. If you get an estate planning binder with your estate plan, use this to hold that other information. Actually tell the people who will be taking care of things where you keep your estate planning documents and key information. Make sure they can easily get access to this information when needed. This is ‘one-stop shopping’…the estate planner’s way.
