Don’t Wait Until You Retire to Plan Your Estate

In this Elder Law Minute, Kaye Dent explains why it’s important to plan ahead while you’re young.
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"Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey"
Dent Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer's Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older.
At Dent Coulson Elder Law, our clients' well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call [phone], [phone], or [phone].
THREE LOCATIONS
O'FALLON ILLINOIS OFFICE
774 Sunset Blvd., Suite 200
O'Fallon, IL 62269
618-632-7000
EFFINGHAM ILLINOIS OFFICE
415 W Virginia Ave
Effingham, IL 62401
217-330-5500
ST. LOUIS AREA OFFICE
2200 Westport Plaza Dr., Suite 221
St. Louis, MO 63146
314-567-9292
CONTACT US
Email: [e-mail]
Phone: [phone] or 217-330-5500 or 314-567-9292
www.dentcoulsonelderlaw.com
Facebook: dentcoulsonelder
Video Transcript:
Hi, I'm Kaye DeSelms Dent with Dent Coulson Elder Law, and I'm here with an Elder Law Minute for you. These videos are intended to educate you about the Elder Care Journey, which begins earlier in life than you might think. We hope that you find them useful, and if you have further questions, please call us at Dent Coulson Elder Law.
It's not uncommon for us to meet with people who are either retired or nearing retirement and decide that that's when they need to start thinking about their estate planning, about having a will, or sometimes a trust. But that's actually really late in the game. When you turn 18, and think about your kids and grandkids, because you've heard this phrase, "You're not the boss of me," legally, that translates into, "Guess what? You can't make my decisions, and I get to make my own decisions now."
So by the time you turn 18, you need to have at least Powers of Attorney-the property power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney. And certainly, it doesn't hurt at any age beyond 18 to have a will or a trust, depending on your circumstances. But while you are younger, and you're raising children, working, and being active, you need to have an estate plan to protect your family. Without it, there can be some very significant unintended consequences to your family if something were to happen to you, either disability or, sadly, death.
Fun fact: if you die without a will and you have a spouse and minor children, your spouse doesn't get everything. Your minor kids actually get part of your estate, and that can be a big hassle for your spouse and can actually put them at risk financially.
If you're younger than retirement age or if you've put off estate planning until retirement age, we'd love to help you formulate and execute a proper estate plan here at Dent Coulson Elder Law, we're here to help you at any age, but we'd like to start early and make sure that you're on sound footing.