No adult is ever too young for estate planning

Being young and healthy often makes Nevada’s young adults believe they are immortal. For this reason, many Generation Xers and Millennials tend to stay away from estate planning. They do not necessarily stay away from it because it necessitates contemplating their own mortality but simply because they do not believe they need it.

Young adults often think of estate planning as something that the elderly and wealthy do. They often fail to take into account serious accidents or illnesses that can strike at any time. Even if an individual fully recovers, there could be at least some time when he or she is unable to make health care and financial decisions. Without powers of attorney and medical directives, family members will have to go to court to obtain the right to act on behalf of their loved one — even if only temporarily.

In the event of death, the laws of the state of Nevada would govern who receives an individual’s assets, and they may not go to the person or persons the decedent would have chosen. Furthermore, family members would be forced to undergo a sometimes lengthy and expensive probate process. The first step of that process is for the court to appoint someone to administer the estate, and it may be someone that the decedent would not have chosen.

Even though it is never too late to do some estate planning, it is better to have a plan in place while young and healthy. After that, it may only need to be reviewed to ensure that it still reflects the individual’s wishes. Furthermore, having an estate plan will give his or her family members peace of mind.

Source: thestreet.com, “Why Millennials and Generation Xers Need to Worry About Estate Planning“, James Salter, Nov. 24, 2015