Delaying Estate Planning - It's Not Really That Bad

Recently, it seems that I’ve lost more than my share of clients. Death is a part of our business, but it still troubles me sometimes. Two clients in particular come to mind that recently passed unexpectedly. One client was living in life’s sunset and he certainly experienced a full life. The other died very prematurely leaving young children and unfinished business.

In all cases, I am glad that the client found the time and allocated their resources to come in and prepare an estate plan. I hope that our work will make things easier for their families. It makes me wonder if I would have a Will in place if I could not easily prepare my own?

I feel like I am always borrowing something for my blog posts from other sources – but I found this blog post from CNBC about people procrastinating about preparing a Will. The numbers that were shared were surprising, even to me:

• In a recent survey, only 57% of people surveyed have Wills in place.
• For individuals under 35, only 10% of people have a Will.
• For individuals between 45 and 64, only 44% of people have a Will.
• And for individuals over age 65, the survey found that 20% of respondents still did not have a Will.

The best part of the blog discussing the survey stated that one in three of the respondents would rather experience the following instead of creating a Will: 1) Prepare a tax return 2) have a root canal 3) give up sex for a month.

So, for you faithful readers of the Jeffrey Burr Blog (all seven of you), statistically at least a few of you do not have a Will. So, let’s get it done, but let’s also not ignore our dental health, tax deadlines, and consortium.