Estate Planning When Single

Serving Individuals throughout Laurel, Maryland and the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area

If You’re Single, When Should You Start Estate Planning?

If you are single, then you are in good company. According to the most recent U.S. Census, more than half of all adult Americans are single, too. Whether you just turned 18 or are 118 there is a need for essential estate planning when single, just as there is for your married counterparts.

Even if you do not have two dimes to rub together, you are your estate. Did you know the law requires every adult American to make his or her own personal, financial and health care decisions? Who would make your basic decisions if you are legally incapacitated due to a serious injury or illness?

Unless you legally appoint the decision-maker of your own selection in advance of an incapacity, through a Property Power of Attorney (and possibly a Living Trust), then a judge may be required to select a guardian for you. The guardianship process to accomplish this is expensive (it employs at least two attorneys), discloses your private personal and financial information to the public record and is a real hassle for your loved ones. Without a Last Will and Testament (and possibly Living Trust), you give up the right to decide who will stand in your shoes to handle your affairs when you die.

Did you know that in the absence of proper estate planning, your assets may be distributed after death based on “one-size-fits-all” state laws written for people who do not have their own estate plan? Of course, this impersonal estate plan written by state lawmakers may not reflect your own unique circumstances and objectives for your loved ones and assets.

Fortunately, we can help you avoid a guardianship the probate and replace that impersonal, state-written, one-size-fits-all estate plan with a uniquely designed estate plan for your stage in life. We even help you coordinate the beneficiary designations on your life insurance and retirement plans with your estate plan to avoid unpleasant, unintended consequences.

So, to answer the question we started with – when do you need to start estate planning when single? Today! Don’t delay taking care of your estate planning, whether you are 18 or 118 it’s important to start estate planning.