bieberTween heart-throb sensation, Justin Bieber, has announced that he will be officially settling down into retirement; and after 21 years of bieber-fever, can you blame him? Perhaps he’s merely taking a bow from wooing the pre-teens of the world with his angelic vocals, to try out his acting chops in the next Nicholas Sparks romance drama “I Belieb in Love.” Regardless of where his early retirement leads him, the same remains true: retirement is a life event that requires a reevaluation of your estate plan. An estate plan is a living entity; as factors in your life change, your plan should be altered accordingly. After settling into retirement, you may want to reconsider if the following documents are meeting your current needs and wishes.

  • Living Trust & Assignment of Property – a living trust allows you to distribute your assets while ultimately avoiding probate (the legal process of determining whether a will is valid). Re-examine your income stream and how you will want your assets distributed after your death. This is a good time to look at your entire estate and determine if you will need additional tax planning.
  • Last Will & Testament – this is your traditional will that is used upon death to distribute property to beneficiaries, specify last wishes, and name guardians for minor children. You may want to change who you have designated as a guardian, or burial requests.
  • Durable Power of Attorney – this allows you to designate and authorize someone to legally act on your behalf, in the event that you become incapacitated. As time goes on, you may want to change who will have the power to make financial decisions on your behalf. Furthermore, you want to ensure that your power of attorney document provides “super powers” to allow the agent to make decisions regarding retirement accounts, public benefits, gift exemptions, disclaiming property, and similar provisions that have financial consequences to your estate.
  • Combination Living Will & Designation of Healthcare Surrogate – this outlines important healthcare decisions in advance, and appoints a healthcare surrogate to make healthcare decisions for you when you become unable to do so yourself. You may decide that you will not want any life prolonging procedures in the event that you have one of the following conditions: (i) terminal condition (ii) end-state condition; or (iii) persistent vegetative state. In this case, you want to ensure that you have such wishes outlined in your living will.

Be a Belieber in planning ahead, and update your estate plan! For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?SM