4 Ways to Place a Burden on Those You Name in Your Will*

I remember sitting down with our attorney when my wife and I put together our first will. We had small children and the attorney asked, "Who do you want to name as Guardians for your Children?" Whoa! There it is! The question hit it me right between the eyes. Who do we want to have the responsibility of caring for our children if both my wife and I died? We both paused, looked at each other, then looked at the attorney, then looked back at each other again. We continued to pause, as if at some point one of us would be struck with some form of divine wisdom to answer such a question!

The experienced attorney had witnessed this scene befoand I'll never forget his guidance. He said, "Remember, there is no one here on earth who will love your kids as much as you do, so don't worry about trying to think of someone. Instead, think of someone who you believe will love your kids as close to how much you love them and choose them."
 

This wise attorney also suggested we think about the people we were naming in our will from their perspective. Were we inadvertently placing too high a burden upon them? Realizing the responsibilities carried out at your death is always going to have some level of burden attached to it, here are 4 ways you may have inadvertently made the burden greater than you realize.

1. Job Fatigue: I've seen many people who have named the same person to do all the jobs in their estate plan. Every single one: personal representative, trustee of a trust, guardian of children, health care power of attorney, and durable power of attorney. Naming the same person to do more than even one job can lead to that person being overwhelmed by all the decisions and responsibility. Each job requires special attention and time. In my opinion, it is a good idea to consider how much time the people you are naming have available to devote to these tasks. Naming the same person to do 1 or 2 jobs is fine, but if you name the same person to do more than 2 jobs, then that person must have a large amount of time to devote to these tasks.
 

2. Out of State Personal Representative: The person you name as personal representative (formerly known as executor/executrix) has the responsibility of pulling together all your assets and distributing them according to what your will says. The biggest time commitment for this job is going through all your personal items in your home. Your clothes, furniture, collectibles, car, everything stored in your closets, attic...etc. You get the idea, it is a big job that takes A LOT of time. If your personal representative lives far away, then the travel only adds to the time for this job. Ideally naming someone who lives close to be your personal representative makes this much easier as they do not have to be gone from their home overnight or for multiple days.

3. Lack of Clairy with Health Care Power of Attorney: If you have made elections in your living will that you would like certain life sustaining medical procedures withheld, you owe it to the person you have named as Health Care Power of Attorney to explain this in advance. Being in a position of making decisions for someone else to have some type of life sustaining procedure or equipment withheld is stressful. While the Health Care Power of Attorney document can be made very specific, many are written so the health care power of attorney has latitude and flexibility in how to interpret your wishes. If the person you have named for this job does not know your specific wishes, they may feel ill equipped and burdened carrying out your wishes. Schedule a time to sit down with the person you have named for health care power of attorney. Discuss your thoughts and desires regarding the decisions you have made in your living will. Talk through various "what if" scenarios so they have a better feel for how you feel about this issue. It is impossible to discuss every possible situation. However, talking about your thoughts and desires will better prepare your health care power of attorney to make the best decisions and lessen their burden in doing so.

4. Under-Resourcing Guardians of Minor Children: This only applies to families with minor children still living at home. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, naming a guardian is always a tough decision for a parent. Once you name a guardian for your minor children, think about the home the guardian(s) live in. Do they already have minor children? What will the addition of your children in their home mean for the comfort of the new family? Would it help if the guardian(s) had the financial resources to add on to the home to make it larger to accommodate the addition of you children? Would the family need to upgrade to a larger vehicle with the addition of your children? These questions can be answered by creating a trust for the care of minor children. The assets from your estate would be placed into the trust to help pay for their care and future college education. You would also designate your life insurance to fund the trust for the care of your minor children. This is where you can greatly increase the resources available to your guardian(s). You could increase your life insurance such that there are adequate financial resources available to not only fund your children's future college education, but also to help the guardians pay for any needed home expansion project or additional vehicle purchase.
 

Choosing people to take on the various jobs in your estate is a tough task. The choices you make have an impact not only on the people you choose, but also their spouses and families. The Planned Giving office at One Mission Society is available to help answer any questions we can. Give us a call today!

 

*Please note that Jay Dunnuck is not an attorney and any recommendations written in this post are for example use only. Please consult with an estate planning attorney for your unique situation.