The reasons people delay their estate plan are familiar to every estate planning attorney, too busy, too healthy, not enough to plan. But every day the will does not exist is a day the family is one unexpected event away from a situation that could have been prevented entirely.
Here are the five most common reasons North Shore families delay their estate plan, and an honest look at why none of them hold up.
1. "I'm Too Young to Need a Will"
This is the most common reason, and the one with the least basis in reality. A will is not a document for the elderly, it is a document for anyone who has people or assets they care about.
If you have minor children, a will is arguably the most important legal document you will ever sign. It is the only mechanism by which you can name a guardian, the person who would raise your children if both parents were to die. Without a will designating a guardian, that decision goes to a court that does not know your family, your values, or your wishes. The process is costly, contentious, and completely avoidable.
If you own a home, have a retirement account, or hold any assets of value, a will determines who receives them. Without one, Massachusetts intestacy law makes that determination for you, and the result may not match what you would have chosen.
The right age to have a will is the age at which you have dependents, own property, or have assets you care about directing. For most people, that's their late twenties or early thirties at the latest.
2. "I Don't Have Enough Assets to Bother"
A will is not primarily about wealth, it's about control and clarity. The assets don't need to be large for the absence of a plan to create real problems.
Consider: a couple rents an apartment, has $15,000 in a joint checking account, and owns two cars. They have a three-year-old child. Neither has a will. If both parents die in an accident, who raises the child? A court decides. Who handles the financial accounts during that process? Whoever the court appoints. Does the surviving grandparent who everyone assumed would step in have any legal standing? Not automatically.
The value of an estate plan is not proportional to the size of the estate. It is proportional to how much the outcome would matter to the people left behind.
3. "I'll Do It When My Situation Settles Down"
New baby, new house, new job, new city, there is always a reason why right now isn't quite the right time. The situation will settle down after the move. After the promotion. After the kids are in school. After the refinance closes.
The problem is that "when things settle down" has an indefinite horizon. And the situations that seem to make this a complicated time, a new child, a new home, a recent marriage, are precisely the situations that make the need for a plan most urgent.
A life transition is not a reason to delay an estate plan. It is the reason to accelerate one. Major life events, marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a parent, the purchase of a home, should each trigger a review of existing documents or, if none exist, the creation of a plan.
4. "It's Too Expensive"
A basic will, healthcare proxy, and durable power of attorney, the three foundational estate planning documents, costs a fraction of what most people assume. For the vast majority of North Shore families, a complete foundational estate plan is a one-time expense measured in hundreds of dollars, not thousands.
Compare that to the cost of dying without a plan. Probate in Massachusetts, the court process that administers an estate without proper planning, involves filing fees, attorney costs, a public process, and delays that can last months or years. For families with a home and modest assets, the cost of a poorly planned or entirely unplanned estate typically runs well above the cost of the estate plan that would have avoided it.
The expense objection almost never survives a conversation about what the absence of a plan actually costs.
5. "I Don't Want to Think About It"
This one is honest, at least. Estate planning requires thinking about your own death and incapacity, subjects most people reasonably prefer to avoid. The discomfort is real and understandable.
But the alternative, not thinking about it, doesn't make the events less likely. It just ensures that when they occur, the people you love are navigating the consequences without any guidance from you. The will, the healthcare proxy, the power of attorney, these are not documents about death. They are documents about care: who cares for your children, who makes decisions when you cannot, who receives what you've built. Writing them is an act of love, not a confrontation with mortality.
Every estate planning attorney has sat with a family in crisis, after a sudden illness, after an accident, dealing with a situation that a few hours of planning would have made manageable. The discomfort of the planning process is small compared to the difficulty of what families face without a plan.
A practical note: The process is not as daunting as most people expect. A consultation takes about an hour. You describe your family, your assets, and your wishes. We explain your options in plain English. The documents are typically ready within a few weeks. From first conversation to signed plan, most North Shore families complete a foundational estate plan in under a month.
What a Basic Estate Plan Includes
A foundational estate plan for a North Shore family typically covers:
- Last Will and Testament, directs who receives your assets and, critically, names a guardian for minor children
- Healthcare Proxy, designates who makes medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot make them yourself
- Durable Power of Attorney, authorises a trusted person to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated
- HIPAA Authorization, permits designated individuals to access your medical information
More complex situations, significant assets, a family business, blended families, a child with special needs, typically benefit from additional planning, including trusts. But the foundational documents above are the starting point for every family, and they can be in place within weeks of a first conversation.
Don't wait for the right time. Contact Brigantine Law for a Consultation and we'll explain exactly what you need and what it involves, in plain English, without pressure.
The discomfort of thinking about this is temporary. The cost of leaving it undone is not.