Most Procrastinating on Planning; Those That Plan Don't Protect Their Plans

A BMO Wealth Management survey finds 52% of adults have no will, 40% of parents have not discussed estate intentions with children, and only 28% of adults know their parents' legacy wishes. 

For those who have an estate plan in place, the survey indicates that most are not making an effort to notify heirs regarding the location of important estate planning documents.  Only one in three respondents said that their heirs were aware of the locations of estate planning documents such as a will or powers of attorney.  For married adults who had a will and powers of attorney, 25% responded that only their spouse knew where the documents were located. 

BMO sponsored the survey of 1,008 Americans age 18 and older in December.  For a more complete discussion of the survey results, go here.

BMO found that most respondents planned to leave each of their heirs equal portions of their assets, and that spouses and children were most often indicated as heirs. Yet some planned to distribute their estate unequally (between 5 percent and 15 percent, depending on marital status) or not leave an inheritance at all (between 7 percent and 20 percent).  As a result of the survey, BMO warned that such plans could cause division within families if not properly communicated to heirs ahead of a client’s death. 

Only 28 percent of the respondents said that they had estate planning discussions with their parents. Perhaps as a result, 40 percent of those surveyed felt that the distribution of their parents’ estates was unfair.

Of course, these survey results only underscore the many studies confirming what we know: most people do not plan, and those who do plan make too little effort to protect their plans.   This blog contains numerous similar reports, including the recent  New York Times report illustrating the major problems with advance directives, including that the existence of these legal documents is often not known about by medical professionals or loved ones (and even if it is, the physical location of these might not be known). 

Our clients have a convenient system that protects their wishes by vaulting them, and making them available to medical professionals and family members when necessary. LegalVault® is a great tool which allows you to securely store your advance directives and estate planning documents. Here’s how it works:

• The client executes an up-to-date General Power of Attorney for Health Care, and Advanced Directive/Living Will;

• Each document is electronically scanned, and an electronic image of each document is made (which is far superior to a copy);
• Each  client is given a secured LegalVault® account;
• Our firm uploads the image of the  documents to the client's LegalVault® account;
• LegalVault® sends out an Emergency Access Wallet Card which contains instructions for healthcare providers on accessing healthcare-related documents online or via a 24/7 fax back service;
• Once an account has been created, the LegalVault® physician notification system sends a notice to the primary care provider informing him or her of this invaluable service and the storage of advance directives, ensuring that these important planning documents never fall to the back of a medical chart where they go unnoticed for weeks; 
• Clients control what information is available to health care providers, and can quickly update the account with up-to-date documents or information (such as medications or allergies) from their home computer or smart phone;
• With the client's permission, images of other estate planning documents (Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, etc.) are uploaded to the client's LegalVault® account; 
• Clients can log in to their accounts to share other non-healthcare-related documents with our firm, or even upload copies of family keepsakes (photos, home videos, letters to children, family trees, intellectual property, copyrighted materials, publications, art) to ensure these are safely secured and passed down to younger generations;
• Clients can keep or maintain important legal and financial records such as insurance policies, annuities, savings bonds, stock certificates, leases, contracts, and other instruments, potentially lost, stolen, discarded, or destroyed by third parties at a time of death or disability;
• Clients can alert authorities of significant needs or concerns, such as "disabled child at home," "pets at home," or the like;
• A separate vault, inaccessible to our firm, accessible only to the client, and an executor, successor trustee, or personal representative, can store passwords to online accounts;
• Upon renewal of the LegalVault® account (every 3,5, or 7 years) updated documents are executed, ensuring that the documents are never out-of-date.

There is no limit to the storage space available for estate planning documents, pictures, letters, financial documents, and the like.  The cost of such a service is probably less than you might imagine. Contact us if you want to add this valuable service to your estate and/or financial plan. We include the service with many new estate plans at no additional charge for the first three years.