It’s a truism that most adults, single, married, with or without children, want to establish their wills, and to plan for incapacity. For those who want to establish an estate plan, I have found a few distinct behaviors that follow. The first impulse seems to be for the individual to try to draft and sign a will in the cheapest way possible, through an office store form, a program, or an online company. The other impulse seems to be to get an expensive and often excessive estate plan with a revocable living trust, deed transfers, and stacks of legal documents in pursuit of the perfect plan that avoids probate, regardless of the alleged need to avoid probate. A third action is not an impulse, but rather a considered, careful decision to plan together with an attorney - hopefully an estate planning attorney - to receive effective legal advice about the planning goals and effect, and to professionally oversee execution of the estate plan documents. A common fourth behavior is to delay and to plan for another day.

I want to emphasize that of the four above options, none of them are particularly right or wrong. In my estimation as an estate planning attorney, I mostly see the options as effective or ineffective as applied to the person’s circumstance. What is right or wrong about the above choices depends on how the individual, who wants to establish an estate plan, views the correctness of their choice. Meaning, if a parent with several children over a couple of marriages chooses to write and draft an estate plan in the cheapest possible way or instead chooses to delay their estate planning for a different day, then for that parent-individual, their choice is the correct choice – even though the plan would be easy to attack in a will contest or would leave the individual intestate.

Everyone is free to establish their estate plan or to rely on the incapacity and intestacy rules of Georgia. By not drafting a will and by choosing to not decide about the treatment of your person, treatment of your money, and the distribution of your possessions, you still have made a choice to rely on State guardianship, conservatorship, and intestacy. Not making a choice is often unintentional, but the lasting effect and impression of intestacy becomes part of the legacy the decedent leaves behind.

This is my note to you, to say that if you are reading this, then this is your opportunity to leave behind a more favorable impression by establishing your plan for the “just in case.” Everyone (over 14 and of sound mind) is eligible to establish a new estate plan or improve an existing plan. If a person is early in their career and has kids and spouse, then insurance funding a contingent testamentary trust is an inexpensive and thoughtful way to care for one’s children or spouse in case of incapacity or worse.

It’s very curious that people will easily pay life insurance premiums, but will find it difficult to pay the equivalent of one year’s insurance premium to establish an estate plan for incapacity or death. Why is that? This is when insurance premiums are paid out to 19-year old orphans with disastrous results. With a little estate planning in this scenario, the life insurance proceeds, if paid out, could be directed to a trust to be created for the metered benefit of the decedent’s children. That is a good, lasting impression. That’s a thoughtful legacy.