Estate Planning Issues To Consider As A Childless Young Adult

Law Blog

Everyone can benefit from estate planning; it is not reserved for rich people, old people, or parents. Here are some of the estate planning needs of a young adult without a child.

Health Issues

Health issues are not age-dependent; they affect everyone from infants to senior citizens. Therefore, you need to ensure that you will be well taken care of if you are unable to do so due to health reasons. There are two vital things to do to ensure this is the case:

• Set a Health Care Proxy - A health care proxy takes charge of your health issues if you are unable to do so. This is the person who decides whether you undergo controversial or experimental treatments if you can't make the decision because you are in a coma.
• Set a Durable Power of Attorney - Medical care is expensive, and your health insurance may not always be adequate. Designating a durable power of attorney ensures that someone is there to confirm the availability of funds and direct them to the right places.  

Asset Distribution

Many people think that only the wealthy need to plan for their estate distribution in case of death, but this isn't the case. Everyone owns things, and it is these things that you should plan for upon your demise. Even if you just own normal household items like computers, bedding, and sofa sets, you need to decide whether they should be donated to charity or given to your favorite cousin in case you pass away. This is as simple as writing a will for your estate.

Digital Asset Protection

These days most people own digital assets in the form of social media pages, websites, blogs, and even digital repositories, such as cloud storage accounts. Apart from online digital content, you probably have some things stored on your mobile phone, tablet, memory card, or flash disk. Do you want your family to get these things, or do you want them to be deleted upon your demise? You need to state your preferences and ensure that there is someone to enforce them, a digital executor, if the need arises.

Debt Protection

Lastly, debt is a serious problem, especially among young people, and you wouldn't want the problem transferred to your family if you die. There should be a clear way of dealing with your debts if you die, and one of these involves buying a life insurance policy to pay them off.

To learn more, reach out to an estate planning attorney like Abom & Kutulakis LLP.

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25 June 2018