During the past four months, more than 141,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the pandemic has prompted some people to get serious about creating or updating their estate plans, according to Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance.
Windfalls can result from fortunate events, like lottery winning, and unfortunate events, like a legal settlement. Whatever the triggering event, a big injection of cash can certainly be a life-changing event in someone’s life.
At this stage of your life, preparing these must-have documents is one of the most profound acts of love that you can bestow. This paperwork can shield your family from needless heartache, hassle and expense.
One problem that frequently stems from the inheritance process is fractured relationships between siblings. Unfortunately, the common denominator in many of these situations is the parents' estate plan.
Whenever you open a financial account, you’re almost always asked to name a beneficiary. Simply stated, a beneficiary of the account is someone who is entitled to the benefits of the account, typically, on the death of the account holder. If you’ve purchased life insurance, for example, you name a beneficiary, who receives the benefits of the policy when you pass.
We found that Covid-19 had a significant impact on Americans' sense of personal readiness, with 65% saying that coronavirus made them realize the importance of sharing important information with family. Around the same amount of people (64%) noted that planning for the future was more important than ever and half (50%) said the pandemic made them realize how unprepared they were for a serious emergency.
If you have updated your estate plan during the Covid crisis and even found a way to sign your documents while maintaining social distance, do not overlook the last step of trust funding.
