I recently stumbled across this list of:
Five Reasons to Die
Without a Will
source: http://www.hughchou.org/calc/withoutawill.html
source: http://www.hughchou.org/calc/withoutawill.html
1. The court can do a better job deciding how to disburse your assets than
you can.
2. The court can choose a better personal representative to handle your
estate during probate than you can.
3. The court can choose a more caring guardian for your minor children than
you can.
4. The government will use your estate tax dollars more efficiently than
your favorite charity would use a charitable bequest.
5.
Your grieving loved
ones will be better off looking after your affairs without your will.
Interesting,
the lesson here? – let someone else do
it. A court can choose who’s better suited to take care of my
child? And my grieving loved ones will handle dealing with the creditors and
debts I’ve left behind? Someone else can decide.
On
the other hand, I thought about one Adam Yauch. More aptly known as the Beastie Boys’ (one of the rap groups
responsible for bringing hip hop music into the mainstream in the mid-to-late
1980s) “MCA”, Yauch passed away
from cancer in 2012.
Yauch’s
will named his wife as the executor of his estate and provided that his wife
and daughter would receive all of his estate, worth approximately $6.4 million.
Most uniquely, Yauch stated that he didn’t want anything relating his “artistic
property" to be used in advertising.[1] He “might stick around or [he] might be a
fad,” but he certainly “won't sell [his] songs for no TV ad.” It seems Yauch
got pretty clear on what he wanted his will reflected that. (credit: ARTS, BRIEFLY; Yauch's Will Protects His Artistic Integrity, James C. McKinley, Jr., available here)
All
wills aside, what about healthcare decisions? The bottom line is, no one is
talking about making critical healthcare decisions because they don’t want to.
It’s an uncomfortable subject that no one wants to think about. Many doctors
won’t even broach the subject with most patients, especially elderly patients.
Another
fact to consider is that more and more people are growing older without
children or spouses to help them in these situations. According to the New York Times, “In 2010, according
to census data, nearly 19 percent of women age 40 to 44 had not given birth,
compared with around 10 percent in 1980.” Coupled with a staggering divorce rate of nearly 50% in our country, people
are growing older without anyone there to support them. Living wills are crucial in this
respect—they not only appoint someone to make decisions but, pre-approve what
you want this person to decide.
At
what point do you need to sit down and address these issues with a loved one to
ensure that they have a plan in place for when they are no longer capable of
making decisions?
