Summary: Everybody’s estate plan is a different from others’, to one degree or another. Many people have specific, unique or peculiar goals they’d like to accomplish through the legacy they leave behind. By obtaining a detailed and comprehensive estate plan, you can take full advantage of the law’s opportunity allowing to control your legacy and make sure that all of your planning objectives, both great and small, ordinary and unusual, are achieved.
We all have our quirks -- those little
peculiarities that make each of us unique. Our quirks can play a role in many
things that we do, including, sometimes, how we go about planning our estates.
Some of us may have rather ordinary estate planning goals, such as splitting
assets between one’s immediate family and/or closest friends. Other people have
goals that are more… unique.
The man who invented the Pringles potato
chip can left instructions that, as part of his final arrangements, he should
be cremated and part of his ashes should be buried… inside a Pringles can. An
aristocrat from Portugal who died in 2007 had an unusual plan, not for his
final arrangements, but for the distribution of his assets. He had no spouse
and no children but lots of wealth. The aristocrat underwent the proper
procedural steps such that, when he died, his wealth went to… 70 strangers
whose names he selected from a telephone book.
A wealthy 19th Century man
from Ohio decided to leave much of his estate for the benefits of animals.
Specifically, according to a 2013 report in the Naples, Florida newspaper, his
plan called for his wealth to be put toward the creation of a house for cats
that was “complete with dormitories, an infirmary, a rectory, rat holes, roofs
for climbing and areas for ‘conversation.’” There was even an auditorium where
the cats could listen to live accordion music. Famed 1960s signer Janis Joplin
had a much less elaborate but decidedly unusual estate planning goal: her plan
set aside the sum of $2,500 for a rousing funeral party – a “final gesture of
appreciation and farewell.”
Chances are, your estate planning goals
aren’t as exotic as a resort home for felines or leaving your wealth to
strangers you’ve chosen at random. Nevertheless, it is entirely possible that
your planning goals do include some highly personalized elements. Maybe you
have some very particular asset distributions you want to make to specific
beneficiaries. Perhaps you want your family to have the bulk of your wealth,
but you want your mail carrier to have your collection of “joy buzzers” because
you know he’s a hug aficionado of novelty toys.
Alternately, maybe you have specific and
detailed desires for your final arrangements. Some people just want to express
their wishes for where they will be buried and/or who will deliver the eulogy.
Other people desire to script almost everything from eulogies to pall bearers
to music to… nearly everything associated with their funeral and final
arrangements.
Whatever your specific or unusual goals
are, your comprehensive and detailed estate plan is the way to make sure those
objectives are carried out. With a detailed will or will and revocable living
trust, you can take control of your legacy and ensure that, even if you have
very unusual estate planning goals you want to accomplish, those goals can be
realized.
Your plan helps you in two ways: it
expresses your intentions and helps prevent your loved ones being left “in the
dark.” Sometimes, the loved ones you leave behind may fail to do exactly what
you want, not because their reject your wishes, but because they don’t know
exactly what your preferences are. With your plan, you can save them the stress
that often comes with uncertainty. Your passing will be difficult for them. It
will be even more so if they have to guess what your estate planning preferences
were.
Your plan also avoids the perils of
intestacy. If you leave no plan, then the law will simply look for your closest
legal relatives (meaning, typically, a spouse and/or children) and divide
everything you own amongst them. If your desires deviate from that cookie-cutter
type approach in any way, then you need a plan. Your plan can ensure that you
not only provide for your spouse and/or kids, but that all of your goals
relative to all of your assets can be realized, even if those objectives are
unique or unusual.
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This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at www.legacyassuranceplan.com.
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