Legal and Estate Planning
Legal documents are the infrastructure of your financial life. Without them, even well-planned estates can become contested, costly, and emotionally painful for the people you leave behind.
🏭 Updating Wills and Trusts
Ensure your will and any trusts are current and reflect your actual wishes. Clearly outline how you want assets distributed and designate a trusted executor. Review beneficiary designations on all retirement accounts, insurance policies, and financial accounts separately — these designations override what a will says. Update after any major life event: marriage, divorce, death, or the birth of children or grandchildren.
🏭 Power of Attorney and Healthcare Directives
Appoint a durable power of attorney for financial decisions and a separate healthcare proxy or medical power of attorney. Ensure your healthcare directive (living will) clearly specifies your wishes for medical treatment and end-of-life care. These documents are not just for the elderly — they are important for anyone, and far easier to put in place while you are healthy and clear-minded. Without them, courts decide who makes decisions for you.
Estate documents should be reviewed every 3–5 years and after every major life change. If you haven’t reviewed yours in that time, now — before retirement — is the right moment.