Estate Planning with No Children or Partner

If you are currently a single adult with no children and no partner, you might be under the mistaken assumption that you do not need to consider estate planning. Much too often, Summit residents assume if they are single and childless that there is no need to create a will or a trust, and no need to consider other components of estate planning. However, there is much more to a complete estate plan than documents that leave assets to children or partners, or those that identify guardians for minor children. There are many different issues that are taken into account in a full and complete estate plan, and those certainly apply to single adults who do not have children. Consider the following information, and do not hesitate to get in touch with our New Jersey estate planning lawyers for assistance with your estate plan.

Advance Directives Can Give You Peace of Mind About Your Health Care in the Future

Regardless of your current family status, you will want to have advance directives in place that can give you peace of mind about your health care in the future. What will happen if you become incapacitated due to an accident or illness and cannot voice your decisions about your care, or about treatments you do or do not want administered?

New Jersey has two advance directives, including a Proxy Directive (also known as a durable power of attorney for health care) and an Instructive Directive (also known as a living will). With your Proxy Directive, you can name a person you trust — it can be any adult, including a family member, friend, neighbor, or co-worker — to make any necessary health care decisions for you if you become incapacitated and cannot make those decisions yourself.

An Instructive Directive allows you to clarify what types of treatments you do or do not want to receive if you become incapacitated, including certain life-sustaining measures. You can make these decisions in advance by creating advance directives, and they will be honored by your health care team.

New Jersey Will Make Decisions About Your Property If You Do Not Make Those Decisions Yourself

Even if you are not close with any family members, you do not want to be in a situation where you die intestate and the state of New Jersey makes decisions about how your property will be distributed.

If you die without a will or a revocable living trust in place, your assets will be distributed according to the laws of intestate succession in New Jersey. New Jersey’s intestate succession law says that if a person dies without a will, all assets go to a surviving spouse and/or children. If there are no surviving children or spouse, assets will be distributed to surviving parents or descendants. As such, if you want to have any say in how your property is distributed upon your death, you should make a will. If you have friends, neighbors, or even charitable organizations that you want to leave your assets to, you should also consider a revocable living trust.

Contact a New Jersey Estate Planning Lawyer for Assistance Today

Every adult in New Jersey should have an estate plan that includes certain documents, regardless of your age, health, income, or family status. Do not wait to seek legal help with your will, revocable living trust, advance directives, and powers of attorney in addition to other estate planning tools that may be beneficial for you. One of the experienced Summit estate planning lawyers at Dempsey, Dempsey & Sheehan can speak with you today about estate planning options and what will work best for you based on your individual circumstances and experiences. Contact our firm for assistance.

Sources:

nj.gov/health/advancedirective/ad/forums-faqs/

law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-3b/