There are a lot of ways to do estate planning wrong, and more than one way to do it right.  But, there are certainly more ways to make mistakes in an estate plan, and some of the mistakes I have seen have been downright silly.  I have seen people who wait too long to start an estate plan, so it cannot be completed, or others who wait too long to start, and aren’t capable of making an estate plan by the time they try.  These would seem like simple problems to avoid, but some of the ways these happen just make me laugh.

Don’t Wait Too Long, or it May be Too Late!

I once had a potential client who called me and wanted me to set up a will for them, but apparently time was of the essence.  This particular person had been diagnosed with cancer two years before calling me.  I set up an appointment with the person and went to meet them at their house.  We talked about what they wanted to do with their estate plan, to whom they wanted to leave assets, and who should be in charge.  We also talked about how there were certain people in the potential client’s life who should not receive anything.  At the end of the meeting, I let the potential client know that I would draft the necessary documents, send them via email for review, and then we could get together to sign the documents.

This particular potential client has a great sense of urgency, so we set up a meeting to get everything signed less than a week after we met, as I could accommodate that time frame back than…not like the wait times I have today!  I drafted the documents the next day, and sent them out to the potential client for review.  Over the weekend, the potential client passed away, having never been able to sign the documents, or get them witnessed and notarized.  I was saddened to hear that the person had passed on, as I would have liked to get everything done prior to the death of this individual.

After this person passed away, I got a phone call from the deceased individual’s grandchild.  The grandchild was quite angry that I had not completed all of the estate planning documents during the first meeting, despite the fact that I had visited the deceased individual at their home and no printer was available at the house, and I had not promised anything to be done at the first meeting.  The grandchild was pretty sure as to how I should have done things, and even went so far as to demand a refund of the initial payment I collected at the first meeting.  I politely informed the grandchild that the initial payment had already been earned after I drafted the documents, but that I would be happy to not collect the final payment that I had planned to collect at the signing.  This was apparently not good enough for the grandchild who threatened to sue me for taking money and not completing the work.  I let the grandchild know the timeline and how I had worked as quickly as possible to get the documents prepared, but the timing just didn’t work out, and we eventually came to an understanding, though I think the granddaughter was still upset when we left things off.

I didn’t say what seemed obvious to me, the question of – why did you not call me in the preceding two years to get the will done earlier?  I am not hiding from anyone.  I advertise online; I am available for phone call; I write blogs twice a month and publish them on the Internet; I make myself as available as possible; and I make appointments to see people as soon as I can when they call me.  I am not sure why the person did not call me in the two years between the cancer diagnosis and when I met this person.  I tried to help as best and as quickly as I could, but I was also at the mercy of the person calling me.  Had I been called at any time during the previous 2 years, I could have completed the work for the individual, but I couldn’t help someone who hadn’t called me.  I didn’t tell the grandchild that I really could have helped if I had been contacted earlier, but I did find it quite silly that I got blamed for a person passing away 3 days after I met them, when there were 2 years before that in which I could have helped, but was never given the opportunity until it was too late.

 

This Isn’t the Only Person Who Waited Too Long

During 2020, I got 3 – 5 phone calls per week from people who had family members in the COVID ward of a hospital.  Many times, these conversations involved a family member telling me that someone was going to be put on a ventilator and they wanted me to come to the hospital to prepare a will for the family member prior to going on a ventilator.  I declined these types of requests.  First and foremost, I wasn’t particularly keen on going to the hospital to ensure my exposure to the COVID-19 virus.  I don’t think anyone who called me quite considered that they were asking me to walk into a situation where I could make myself very sick.  In addition, I knew that if someone was about to be put on a ventilator for treatment, the person likely was quite sick and probably unable to understand what they were doing or the consequences of making a will.  As such, the lack of mental capacity to make a will would have prevented me from helping them anyhow.  I felt great sympathy for the people who were sick and dying, but I really couldn’t help them without fully jeopardizing my own health and doing so in what would likely be a futile effort…such efforts would not have been fruitful, so even trying seemed quite silly to me.

I recently had a friend who asked me to write a power of attorney for their relative who is in memory care.  The relative has had years of mental decline, and now needed round the clock care because of the mental impairment the relative suffered.  I had to explain how preparing a power of attorney required the individual creating the power of attorney to be mentally competent to sign, and explain why the relative was not going to be able to understand the power of attorney and sign the document due to the impaired mental function the relative had.  My friend told me that the illness had just come up so suddenly that there was no time to prepare a power of attorney.  I agreed that the timing was unfortunate and told my friend about the process to apply for guardianship and conservatorship, which allows the courts to appoint someone to make decisions for the mentally incapacitated individual.  Such court actions are much more involved and more expensive than setting up a power of attorney, but it is good those options exist for these types of circumstances.

 

The Time to Plan Is Now, Before it is Too Late

What I didn’t tell my friend is that the time to set up a power of attorney, will, or other estate planning documents is long before any illness hits.  The best time to set up an estate plan is when you are happy and healthy, not after a crisis hits.  You are able to make clear and rational decisions during such times, and the necessary time is available to get the estate plan completed.

You are in no rush, and you can set everything up like you want.  There are no silly deadlines, timeframes, circumstances, or reasons to prevent you from completing what you need, and just having it in place.  You have planned ahead, so when silly things come up, you are prepared.  To meet with an estate planning attorney and start preparing now, please click the button below.