Spring Clean Your Estate Plan
The weather is warming up, and the urge to spring clean is hard to ignore. But spring cleaning isn’t just about closets and garages — it’s about tying up loose ends in every corner of your life.
What happens when a loved one passes and their estate isn’t fully settled? What if planning keeps getting pushed to “someday”?
Let’s discuss why estate planning deserves a place on your spring-cleaning checklist — with a few cautionary tales of estates left untouched for far too long.
The 20-Year Probate
A parent passed away without a will or trust, leaving behind a probate estate and six children. One child moved into the family home and maintained it, informally agreeing to pay a small amount of rent to a sibling to hold for property upkeep. For 20 years, the arrangement continued without issue.
Then the family decided to sell.
They quickly discovered that the home could not be sold without first opening probate. But in the two decades since the parent’s passing, two of the six children had also died. What should have been one probate case suddenly became three. Because those two children had vested interests in the property at the time of their parent’s death, their shares now had to pass through their own estates before the property could be transferred to the rightful heirs.
To complicate matters further, the “rent” paid over those 20 years was not technically part of the original estate. Instead, it was considered a personal gift to the sibling who collected it — whether that was the family’s intention or not.
What could have been handled promptly and efficiently became a costly, time-consuming legal maze.
When It’s Too Late
Another couple put estate planning on the back burner — indefinitely. One spouse passed away without a will or trust. Fortunately, their assets were jointly owned, so everything transferred automatically to the surviving spouse.
But the surviving spouse continued to delay planning.
Then illness struck. Hospitalization followed. Although recovery was expected, their condition worsened. By the time the children tried to step in and help their parent execute incapacity documents and finalize an estate plan, it was too late. The parent had lost legal capacity and could no longer sign the necessary paperwork.
Without powers of attorney or estate planning in place, the family faced court involvement, added stress, and significant expense during an already challenging time.
Spring cleaning isn’t just about clearing out the old — it’s about protecting what matters most. A thoughtful estate plan can prevent confusion, conflict, and costly delays. If you’ve been meaning to “get to it,” consider this your reminder: now is the time.
