Issue Four Summer 2020

Estate Planning Steps to Protect Yourself
and Your Loved Ones News about
the coronavirus is everywhere, and we
have all been affected by it in some
way, even if we are currently completely
healthy. There are steps we can
take now to protect ourselves and our
families financially. This is a great time
to pull out your estate planning documents
and take a close look to verify
that they still reflect your wishes and
are able to accomplish your goals. As
you review your documents, ask yourself
a few important questions:
Would your last will and testament and/
or revocable living trust still achieve
your goals?
In your will, you have specified how
you want your money and property
distributed to your loved ones. If you
have children, you probably named a
guardian in your will to care for them
if you cannot. In your revocable living
trust, you likely named a trusted person
to be your co-trustee or successor trustee
to step in to manage the money and
property held in the trust even during
your lifetime if you are unable to do it
yourself.
Lastly, you specified how the money
and property in the trust should be
distributed to beneficiaries you have
named in the trust once you pass away.
Important to review whether the people
you named to act as your personal
representative or trustee are still your
top choices. Even if you are still comfortable
with your choices (would they
take the actions you would – do they
share your goals?), are the individuals
you selected currently able to serve? Is
the person you chose to be the guardian
of your children still available and
willing to care for them? In the current
crisis, the person(s) you have selected
may be unavailable due to illness, quarantine,
or a stay-at-home order, and if
he or she lives out of state, may be subject
to travel restrictions.
Are you still comfortable with the people
you chose to be your agents under
your medical and financial powers of
attorney?
In your medical power of attorney,
you named a person you trust to make
medical decisions for you if unable to
communicate with doctors on your
own. In your power of attorney, you
designated an individual to make financial
and property decisions for you
should you become unable to manage
your own affairs. Make sure that you
are still comfortable with these choices
and that people you have chosen are
still capable of acting on your behalf.
Do you need to modify or update the
beneficiary designations of your retirement
accounts, investment/bank accounts
and insurance policies?
If you have already named beneficiaries,
now is the time to confirm those
choices and make any changes that are
necessary to reflect your current wishes.
Do you have a current list of all your
accounts and important documents?
The list should include bank and investment
accounts, titles to vehicles
and homes, digital accounts (e.g., Facebook,
LinkedIn, and Twitter) and passwords
which may be needed to manage
your property if you become ill, or to
settle your estate if you pass away.
If you have these documents in place,
you are well prepared! If your estate
plan needs updating or if you don’t
have an estate plan, this is something
you can do today to prepare for the future.
Brendan Ward is a Trust and Estate
attorney at Bradley Moore Primason
Cuffe & Weber, LLP in Lynn and
works predominately with people helping
them prepare for the future with
comprehensive estate planning, which
include Wills, Healthcare Proxies, Powers
of Attorney and Revocable Living
Trusts.
27 | Nahant Magazine