You may believe that most people have already gotten around to estate planning. If you haven’t done so, maybe you have the perception that you’re falling behind.
But the truth is that, even though they should, most people have not done any estate planning. This can be very problematic when their assets have to get passed along to the next generation, and there are many more complications that can arise with medical decisions, financial obligations and things of this nature. Estate planning is very comprehensive and needs to be done in advance if it’s going to be effective.
But why is that true? Why don’t more people have a plan?
After all, most Americans do not. Here are some of the reasons that they provide:
- The most common answer, belonging to 40% of those in the survey, was that they were planning to do it but had not gotten around to it yet.
- Next, a third of all individuals surveyed said they didn’t think that they had enough assets
- After that, 13% claimed that creating an estate plan would be too expensive.
- Finally, 12% said that they just did not know how to create an estate plan, even if they needed one.
These are just the top four examples, but they do help to show that there are many reasons why people who need an estate plan just do not have one in place. If you find yourself in this position and you’re worried about the future for your family and your assets, take the time to look into your legal options.
