Creating an estate plan is crucial if you want your property to be taken care of in case you pass away or become incapacitated. However, when you make the estate plan, you must ensure you do it right. Too many people make mistakes when putting together their estate plans, and this could affect their loved ones later on. 

Thus, you should be aware of the most common errors in estate plan creation. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list with some of these so you can stay away from them and ensure your plan fulfills its purpose without issues.

• Not Choosing the Right Person to Take Care of the Estate

If you have a large and supportive family, you probably think you know who would be perfect for handling your estate. However, choosing a person for this task can be difficult. In fact, you may even end up choosing the wrong individual. 

For instance, you might be thinking of picking your child or spouse as an estate executor, guardian, or trustee. This is not always the best idea. In some cases, they might disagree with some of your decisions, and they will not fulfill your will’s terms. Other times, they might not act responsibly, or they might simply not know how to deal with the complexity of the probate process.

Although you love your family and probably want them to be in charge after your passing, they don’t always make the best choices. The best route would be to discuss these matters with an estate planning attorney. He or she can help you find the best individuals for the job.

• Writing No Will

No matter what anyone says, having a will is something to consider. Not writing a will can be a serious mistake, as this document helps determine the distribution and management of your assets after your death. 

When an individual dies and there is no will that demands who the assets should go to, it means they died “intestate”. Therefore, the assets will be given to their spouse, children, and parents, depending on the case. 

Maybe you didn’t have a good relationship with your spouse and wanted to get divorced but passed away before having the chance to do so. Or perhaps you don’t have children and you don’t get along with your parents either. In such cases, having your assets go to them sounds like a disaster. Not only that but your children might be given to a guardian that you wouldn’t approve of or to someone abusive. 

Unfortunately, there are low chances of the estate going to someone else if you didn’t leave behind a will that specifies the exact terms. 

• Not Making Will Updates

The will isn’t unalterable. Just because you wrote something in it, it doesn’t mean it cannot be changed later. Therefore, you can make updates to your will whenever you wish. 

Not updating your will can be a terrible mistake. Life is unpredictable, and some life events may change your perspective completely. As a result, you might want to change the person you want to be in charge of your assets after your passing.

For instance, you might get divorced, in which case you probably want to make sure your assets will not go to your former spouse. New York is a state that had a divorce rate of 1.8 per 1,000 inhabitants in the past 30 years. If you get a divorce in New York state, you should have a Long Island estate planning attorney help you handle the asset distribution and management.

Other events such as getting married, buying more assets, retiring, owning a business, and starting a family should also prompt you to update your will.

• Naming a Single Beneficiary

Ideally, you should have more than one beneficiary listed on the plan for your assets. You never know what could happen. The named beneficiary might pass away before you do, in which case it could be bad to have them listed alone. 

You should have a contingent beneficiary as well. If something happens to the primary beneficiary, the contingent one will be next to your assets. Name several contingent beneficiaries if possible. 

Keep in mind that each account, asset, or policy should have a primary beneficiary and then several contingent ones.

Final Thoughts

Putting an estate plan together is not that simple and you might be prone to making mistakes. To ensure that everything goes the way you want, you should hire an estate planning attorney that can help you throughout the process.