0:02
Hi, I'm Siobhan Keely.

0:03
I'm the lead estate planning attorney at Omni Legacy Law.

0:07
So as an estate planning attorney, sometimes I will introduce myself and I get a couple of reactions #1 is often people bristling and saying, oh, I really need to do that and I'm feeling very shameful that they haven't got their affairs in order.

0:23
But sometimes I'll get a couple of other responses and one of the two or two of the, the key ones that I get, the first one is I, I don't meet an estate plan because I don't have anything to leave.

0:34
And there certainly are movements out there where people are looking to spend down a lot of the assets they have by the time they pass away.

0:42
One thing I would say to that is that unfortunately none of us have a crystal ball.

0:46
So we don't know at what time our estate plan might become effective and useful.

0:52
And for that reason, if you are a planner and you are an estate planner, you'll maybe have an estate plan that goes through a number of different iterations that really suit your needs at the time.

1:04
But none of us know we'll make the plan, the best plan that we can make for today.

1:08
The other thing to note about assets particularly was when we think about the estate plan is that it really doesn't matter how much is in there.

1:18
So you can have a checking account with $5 in it.

1:22
If that checking account is in your name, then when you pass away, somebody has to handle that account.

1:28
Now, if you have a will or the account is in a trust, how that's handled, who handles it is immediately set up.

1:36
Your family knows what to do, where it's going to go, and who has the power to do it.

1:40
If you don't leave a plan, then somebody's going to have to step up and they're going to have to ask the court for permission to handle that asset, even if it is just $5, which seems a little trivial, but just the way that's the way estate planning and probate that we're really planning for.

1:57
That's how that works.

1:58
The second thing that people often will say to me as well of what I do have, my family will just know what you know, who goes to, you know what goes to whom, and they'll just resolve it.

2:09
And anything can just be thrown out.

2:11
It's fine.

2:13
And what I will say is some from some experience of handling probate and administration cases in the past, you would not believe the things that people can become upset about, challenge and fight over in a state that sometimes can stay open for really long periods of time because families can't resolve the conflict.

2:34
One way to attempt to resolve that is to have a very well crafted, well suited plan.

2:43
And some of that will be positive.

2:45
So I want my guitar collection to go to XI, want my books to go to Y.

2:54
That's really positive planning and hopefully meets the needs of the people that you love and is very much tailored to that.

3:01
But you can also do defensive planning.

3:03
So you can say I never want X to receive a penny from my estate.

3:08
We have seen it.

3:09
We have drafted for it, and all estate planning attorneys have to.

3:13
So they're the two main things that I hear.

3:15
And what I'll always say when it comes to parents, particularly of minor children, is that all of those things are true, but also you want to have a plan that deals with guardians during potential incapacity and death.

3:30
Who would look after to your children?

3:31
Who's going to step up and make sure that they're looked after and how are you going to fund that and make sure that they get the assets that they need?

3:39
It is a hard conversation and as a parent myself, I hate to have it personally in my life and I know how difficult it is for our clients, but it is a tremendous relief when it's done.

3:49
OK, bye.