What should you ask your parents about their estate plan? While it may seem uncomfortable to approach this topic, attorney Sarah Siedentopf suggests some questions that you can ask to make sure your parents are taken care of.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
What information should you be asking your parents about, about their estate plan? Most of us have sort of a feeling that we don’t want to pry. We don’t want to pressure them. But we also want to make sure that things are taken care of.
I’m estate planning and probate attorney Sarah Siedentopf. If you’ve got questions and want to talk through this sort of thing, please give me a call (404) 736-6066.
What do we need to be asking? I think at a minimum you want to know which documents have they done. It certainly feels overly pressuring to try to ask, “What am I inheriting?” “How are you splitting the assets?” But you do want to know that they have a will, they have a financial power of attorney, they have an advanced directive for health care. If your relationship is good, which we hope that it is, you really want to know who did you make the executor? Who is your financial power of attorney? Who is authorized to make health care decisions for you? It’s a basic, who-do-we-call situation.
So these are the sorts of things that you’re going to want to ask your parents and certainly if they are happy to share the documents with you, that’s even better. You actually get to read them. But at a minimum, what documents do they have and who do they name with responsibility?
So these are the questions, and if you’ve got further questions and want to talk to me about this, please give me a call. Also, I’d love to hear from your comments here. Thanks.
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