Don’t Go Into the Basement: Estate Planning Rules to Avoid Scary Situations

Once you’ve watched a certain number of scary movies, you start to recognize the tropes.  

At that point, you find yourself screaming at the screen:  

• “Don’t go into that basement!”  
• “Take a flashlight because obviously the storm is going to knock out the power!”
• “He’s not really dead; he’s going to get up! Why are you even turning your back on that guy?!?” 

Real people don’t typically go into abandoned house basements alone at night during a storm on Halloween when there’s a maniac on the loose. There are certain scary movie rules that make sense and are just not that hard to follow. 

Forgive the segue, but the same holds true in estate planning.  

(Not the maniac part, but the pretty-easy-to-follow-rules-to-avoid-horrible-situations part.) 

In the Ingle Law version of the Halloween movie, families come in to see us after they’ve received a giant tax bill, cousins come out of the woodwork disputing a will, or the trust set up by a former family lawyer to protect all the assets turns out to be abandoned paperwork that doesn’t protect a thing. 

All these frightening outcomes can be avoided with smart, proactive steps. Here are the estate planning rules to help you stay safe… 

Estate Planning Rules to Avoid Probate and Scary Scenarios 

Rule 1: Create the trust, then fill the trust. 

Trusts are effective tools to avoid probate. Trusts act as containers for assets, and when your assets are held within a trust, they can be managed and distributed according to the trust’s terms. However, the critical legal step after setting up a trust is integrating assets into that trust by taking individuals’ names off them. Bank accounts need to be retitled. Beneficiary designations need to be changed. Real estate ownership needs to be updated.  

If you skip these steps, then your assets are still (legally) owned individually. And when you die, your family and attorney will have to go through the probate process to move them. We’ve already talked about why you want to avoid probate! When you’re an estate lawyer, an empty trust is just as threatening as an abandoned mansion… 

Rule 2: Name beneficiaries. And keep them updated.  

Lots of people wisely plan ahead, setting up insurance policies, retirement accounts, and buying real estate as stable investments. But then they overlook the important step of naming beneficiaries for those policies and holdings. Or they name a spouse, parent or sibling, and forget to change things when the named beneficiary predeceases them. You don’t go into the basement alone; similarly, you don’t want to be the only name on an asset. You want all your assets to have clear, designated, living beneficiaries, so when the time comes, every asset transfer is straightforward enough to avoid probate. 

Rule 3: When your life changes, your plan should change too. 

When the weather changes, you take steps to brace for the storm. When your life changes – you get married or divorced, you relocate to a different place with different laws, your kids turn 18, your executors age, you add property or other assets to your holdings – take the steps to update your plan. An estate plan is not one and done. You have to keep batteries charged, so that flashlight works when you need it. 

Secure Your Future and Sleep Easy 

Despite all the Halloween theming, estate planning shouldn’t be scary.  

Our team is a solid group of well-prepared, welcoming, non-judgmental, problem-solvers who feel for the families we’re hired to protect. There’s no need to be haunted by uncertainty or dread legal nightmares. We’ll help you control your future, enjoy flexibility, and experience the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have a strong plan in place.  

Don’t let uncertainty haunt you. Give us a call, or schedule a Planning Goals Discovery Session to get reassuring answers to any questions, no matter how scary they might seem.