Estate Planning Overview

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. - Abraham Lincoln

Estate planning is all about control. No other financial planning topic comes close to the preoccupation with retaining control exhibited in the estate planning process. This is as it should be.

The primary purpose of estate planning process is to prepare for the time when you are virtually or completely out of the picture. If done right, estate planning allows you to retain control over what happens around you even if you are incapacitated on your death bed, or even dead and buried. This is really an awesome power if you think about it.

The alternative to estate planning is to just accept whatever comes your way in life, as well as in death. This is sometimes referred to as the ostrich defense or the blind eye approach. In a worst-case scenario, this may mean dying a lingering death during which your family is unable to make medical and financial decisions on your behalf and/or years of probate after your death where tax collectors, attorneys, state and local governments, creditors and the court drain any remaining assets in your estate.

Given an informed choice, most would choose the safety net provided by the estate planning process. If you prefer order over chaos and are willing to admit your own mortality, consider the following sections summarizing the estate planning process:

• Estate Planning Inventory: Any good planning effort begins with a good dose of self-examination and self-assessment. Learn why the same applies to the estate planning process.
• Overcoming Incapacity: It is a fact of life that one's death does not always occur cleanly. Find out why the estate planning process also involves financial and medical decision-making safeguards in the event a person becomes incapacitated.
• What Happens When You Die: No matter what your particular views are of the afterlife, life does go on after a person dies. Get a glimpse of what usually happens to your estate after you are gone.
• Handling the Estate: Find out who runs the show as far as managing a deceased's affairs and their estate.
• Probate: No matter what your particular views are of the afterlife, life does go on after a person dies. Get a glimpse of what usually happens to your estate as it winds its way through the legal proceeding known as probate.