I cannot tell you how often those words by John Greenleaf Whittier come to life in my office each month. It may be senior citizens, previously too occupied with the hustle and bustle of life to take time to sit down to make their estate plan. Suddenly, they have gotten some bad health news, and have finally decided to take action. They are hoping that it is not too late.
Just as often, it is their children, left to wade through the financial chaos and clutter of their parents as they look to me and my team to preserve at least some of what mom and dad spent a lifetime saving.
Quite often the client will say, we (or mom and dad, as the case may be) went to one of your workshops 3, 4 even 5 years ago. “We never came in for our meeting.” or “we didn’t think we needed to plan then”, or “my parents just put it off. They hoped this day would not come” or “we tried to talk to our parents about this, but they didn’t believe they could lose everything.”
Just this week, a son hired us to take action for his parents. They decided not to move forward when we first met, years ago. Now, both of his parents are in a nursing home, facing bills of near $25,000.00 per month. We can still help, but they will lose about half of their lifetime of savings. It didn’t have to be that way.
When should you plan. The answer is easy. As soon as you can. That means now. The only reason to not have a estate plan and asset protection plan in place today is that you know: 1) when you are going to die; 2) when or if you will become disabled, and need care, or 3) when you will have an accident which leaves you vulnerable to a lawsuit. If you have those dates in hand, then we can figure out the best time to plan.
If you don’t know those dates (and I am being intentionally facetious) then you should plan now, as those events can happen at any time.
As John F. Kennedy said, “the time to repair a roof is when the sun is shining.”
We help people plan for their particular needs and concerns. Worried about losing your home and life savings to nursing homes and Medicaid? We can help. Want to be sure your kids avoid probate when you pass away? We can help. Need a Power of Attorney, Will and Health Care Proxy. We can help. Is a loved one in a Nursing home, and you want to protect your assets? We can help. Concerned about leaving money to a child with a disability? We can help. Want to make sure your money gets to your grand-kids, rather than a son-in-law or daughter-in-law? We can help.
We provide solutions to these concerns everyday. “Help” is what we do best.