If there’s one thing I have learned, it’s that life can teach us a lesson at any time and any place. One of those teachable moments happened to me recently while I was on a vacation at the beach with my husband (and law partner!), Jeff.
Let me start by saying that I am one of those moms who is very strict about sunscreen. My kids do not go swimming or play outside for very long without a healthy coat of sunscreen.
But Jeff and I found ourselves on the beach on a very overcast day. I know that clouds don’t prevent sunburns. But we were also sitting under our very own tiki hut. The thought of sunscreen entered my mind, but quickly left because we were “safe” under the tiki hut.
So there we sat — in the “shade” on a cloudy day — and read our legal books for hours and hours. How did our little beach adventure turn out?
Sunburn. Lots of it. Jeff got the worst of it because he is very fair skinned. But I didn’t escape scot free.
The tiki hut gave us a huge false sense of security. We felt incredibly safe because we had taken some steps, even though they weren’t enough. In a sense, the cloudy skies and tiki hut prevented us from taking the truly effective steps that we needed to take to protect ourselves.
I run into the same thing all the time when talking to people about their estate plans.
- The people who told me they got a Will to avoid probate (but a Will actually guarantees probate)
- The parents who were very proud that they named guardians in their Will (but had done nothing to address who would care for their kids on short notice or if they were injured but not killed)
- The adult children who took money from their elderly parent’s accounts to reimburse expenses they had incurred (but they hadn’t kept proper records so their parent’s eligibility for Medicaid long-term care coverage was put in danger)
- The people who tell me their estates won’t have to pay estate taxes (but they didn’t include the value of their life insurance policies when they added up their estate)
- And many other stories we hear…
Each of these people felt a false sense of security because they hadn’t been properly educated by their attorney (or had gotten documents without seeing an attorney at all, such as from Legal Zoom). We are strong believers in education because good decisions are only possible by having the full picture. That’s why we became National Preparedness Coalition Members.
If Jeff and I had the full picture, we wouldn’t have had to stay inside for three straight days of our “beach vacation” because of a serious sunburn. But the stakes are much bigger in estate planning.
So, get a head start on National Preparedness Month. Ask yourself, have you fully investigated what you need to do to protect yourself and your family? Or are you living under a false sense of security? If you have any questions about your plan, call me and let’s talk about it.
But don’t just think about your own family. If you believe someone you know — a friend or family member — has a false sense of security, take the initiative to send them this email. Tell them to get prepared — and get their plan checked out.
Comments are closed.