Why my experience proves it is never too soon to create an Estate Plan.

There are many reasons why I chose to practice in the area of Estate Planning. The main reason occurred when I was eight years old. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of thirty. She had so much life to give but was taken from us way too soon.
Unfortunately because she did not have an estate plan, many family disagreements ensued after her death. I’d say this had to do with the stress of loosing a mother, daughter, sister and aunt at the age of thirty. It was the first major death in our family and we did not know how to cope with her death. This event coupled with not having a plan in place for mounting bills and responsibilities did not allow for a smooth grieving process. My father a Portuguese immigrant who was used to just working and then coming home; now had to take care of two children without a mother to help with the child rearing responsibilities. As you can imagine this was a bit of a stressful situation…

All of these stresses and life changes were not an easy experience for any of us. I believe that if my mother had created a will, the family would have had a better idea what her wishes were and they would have felt at ease, knowing that her wishes were being fulfilled.

Although she was only thirty years old and probably did not consider death as a reality, a plan created prior to necessity, would have allowed her to make a plan that would have assisted everyone in knowing what she wanted life to look like after her death. It may seem as though preparing for death at 30 years old is too soon, but at her age my mother owned a home and had two children, these elements alone should have propelled her to create a plan.

It is never too soon to create a plan in order to prepare for the unexpected. Preparing for the guarantees of death and taxes is something that should be a top priority especially when you are in the early stages of creating your own little family.

until next time…Prepare a plan, because tomorrow is not promised.

Joshua D. Melo, Esq.