MERRY CHRISTMAS

We are more than half way to Christmas. Many people have started Christmas shopping already! Before you know it, Christmas cards and wrapping paper will be on the shelves. I remember a time when the merchants would wait until Thanksgiving was over before putting up Christmas decorations.

Gifts have become increasingly less meaningful, have you noticed? Talking clocks, adults sitting for hours playing the video games they got for Christmas, neckties that even Uncle Henry wouldn’t use to walk the dog. But the world we live in is complex. It makes us wish for sanity and peace. We want a better life. We want stress-free retirement years.

We live in a community where many people are retired. Our “seniors” have worked hard to accumulate sufficient assets to live a comfortable retired life. I have met some of the most kind-hearted, magnanimous people – people who are ever helping their children with finances, babysitting, chores, everything. But, like me, and like many of us, they wonder, every year, what to get their families for Christmas. More ties. More games.

But this year can be different. Think outside of the proverbial “box”. Have you noticed that most people wait until their retirement years to formulate an estate plan? Have you noticed that most young families don’t even think about estate planning? They assume that life is long. They think they cannot afford to have an estate plan drafted. I see this as such a big problem. Many young people do not think they have sufficient assets to worry about estate planning. Many fail to consider their life insurance policies as part of their estate. And, more importantly, they fail to recognize that their most valuable “asset” is not found in their financial statement or life insurance policies but rather under the covers each night of the children’s beds and bunkbeds.

A significant number of parents and grandparents have been forced to bear the financial and emotional burden of sorting out the mess that ensues when their child with a young family dies without an estate plan. Even a standard ill would have set forth who the minor children will live with throughout their lives and who will make the decisions in the face of illness or incapacity. The emotional stress can be more than a parent or grandparent should have to deal with, while at the same time dealing with grief and loss. To prevent this from happening you could give your adult child(ren) the gift of paying for their estate planning.

For peace of mind, for the benefit of families and young children, for the good that can be accomplished to protect young children, nothing beats the meaningful and important gift of helping your posterity to set their affairs in order. It may well be called “the gift that keeps on giving.” It is not only a wonderful, considerate gift, it is a great idea!

Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney licensed in three states and serving clients in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. He is a partner at the law firm of Barney, McKenna and Olmstead, with offices in St. George and Mesquite. He is a founding member of the Southern Utah Estate Planning Council. If you have questions or topics that you would like addressed in these Wednesday articles please email him at jmckenna@www.barney-mckenna.com or call 628-1711.