Estate Planning with Trust & Will

Estate Planning is simply the process of making it clearly known how you want your estate to be handled after you pass or if you’re incapacitated and unable to handle things on your own. The most common Estate Planning definition is — "the process of making plans for the management and transfer of your estate after your death, using a Will, Trust, insurance policies and/or other devices." Estate Planning has been around for many years, but it’s becoming increasingly more and more common.

There are many parts of Estate Planning, but the first thing you must do is conduct a comprehensive review of your estate assets. Your estate is made up of all the property you own, including cars, jewelry, houses, investments, land, and more.

Short answer: Everyone. It’s easy to try and convince ourselves that we don’t need an Estate Plan. But the reality is, we would all be better off if we were planning a little more for our future. You don’t need to be wealthy, or elderly or even have a specific amount in your bank account to justify the need for a valid Estate Plan. If you are over the age of 18, you should start thinking about creating a plan.

Even if you don’t have a lot of assets, your Estate Plan is a guarantee that everyone will know what your wishes are. Health directives and long-term healthcare wishes are perfect examples of this – if you were ever to become incapacitated and couldn’t make your wishes known, your Estate Plan will speak for you, so your loved ones don’t have to make unthinkable decisions or wonder what you would want.

To support your estate planning needs, Self Memorial FCU has partnered with Trust & Will to bring you an easy, affordable, and secure way to create an estate plan. Trust & Will, the leading online estate planning platform, has helped over half a million families in securing their legacies.

A Will lets you nominate guardians for kids and pets, designate where assets go, and specify final arrangements. A Trust can provide greater control over when and how your assets are distributed. Trusts are often used to minimize or avoid probate entirely. (Probate is a legal process to distribute a deceased person's estate; most people prefer to avoid it because of the cost and time required.)

While Wills and Trusts do have a lot of overlap, there are also several differences between the two. Ultimately, both are ways to say who will receive your assets. They just do it in different ways, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

One big difference between the two is in how and when they take effect. Wills don’t go into effect until you pass away, whereas a Trust is effective immediately upon signing and funding it.

It may be easier to think of a Will as a “simple” document. Wills allow you to:

• Name guardians for kids and pets

• Designate where your assets go

• Specify final arrangements

To support your estate planning needs, Self Memorial FCU has partnered with Trust & Will to bring you an easy, affordable, and secure way to create an estate plan. Trust & Will, the leading online estate planning platform, has helped over half a million families in securing their legacies.