Estate planning is essential if you want to grow your assets and protect them against uncertainty. Choosing who to give your assets to when you die and the circumstances in which your beneficiaries receive your property is what estate planning does. Illinois estates are subject to being disbursed based on the wishes of a public court when estate owners have no plans in place.
Incapacitation
The unforeseeable future could lead to instances of you being incapacitated. Incapacitation disables you from working or even thinking as a normal, healthy person. Drafting your estate plan now gives you time to develop a strategy against the uncertainty of incapacitation.
Death
Estate planning includes decisions about what happens to your belongings when you die. Your estate becomes public property if you don’t specify your wishes for it when you die. Failing to plan now could hurt your loved ones.
Estate taxes
If you die without a plan to reduce, avoid or pay all of your taxes, your property might be confiscated as a tax payment. Probate, which is the settling of your property, happens to your estate when you die. Your belongings could be used to pay your debts or taxes if you haven’t protected your assets from such.
Now is time to plan for the future
Estate planning gives you a way of designating who your beneficiaries are, be they people or institutions, and what assets they receive from your estate. Even when you have good intentions, your heirs could receive nothing if you haven’t notarized your specific wishes. This is why it’s important to create an estate plan and keep it up to date throughout your life.
