With the holiday season in full swing, it’s likely you’ll see your parents, grandparents, siblings, and other family members in the next few weeks. In addition to food, songs, and other merrymaking, this is also the perfect time to speak with your family about more serious topics, such as their estate plan.

How To Bring Up The Topic:

1. Let your family member/s know you’d like to discuss their estate plan during a less-hectic part of the holidays.
2. During your conversation, ask how up-to-date their documents are, and if changes or updates need to be made. These could include new additions to the family, children becoming adults, and ensuring current addresses and phone numbers are included.
3. Ask for their Estate Planning attorney, financial advisor, CPA, attending physician, or other professionals’ contact information if needed.

If your family member/s do not have an estate plan, the right time to make one is before you need it. Encourage your loved ones to contact an estate planning attorney to create their documents. Their estate planning attorney will walk your family member/s through the most common documents, and ask questions to determine if more detailed estate planning documents are needed.

It is important to start these discussions when you can meet with your family member/s in person because you are able to encourage them to start their estate plan while they are still in good health. Having a solid estate plan in place before they need one will ease stress for them, you, and your family member/s when an estate plan is eventually necessary. A Will provides a guideline for property distribution and names an executor; a Power of Attorney grants an individual, usually a spouse and/or children, the authority to manage an individual’s financial affairs should they become incapacitated or unable to make decisions for themselves; a Health Care Power of Attorney designates a specific person to make health care decisions in the event the individual cannot advocate for themselves.

Once your family member/s have an established estate plan, encourage them to keep their documents in a safe place you will be able to access after they become incapacitated or pass, such as a home office or similar document storage location.

The Estate Planning attorneys at CGA Law Firm are experienced in drafting vital estate planning documents with your input, and will work with you to establish the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and clear documents as possible. If you are interested in meeting with one of our estate planning attorneys, fill out our Contact Us Form, email [email protected] or call 717-848-4900.

Additional readings on Estate Planning and crucial estate planning documents:

• What are the Most Basic Estate Planning Documents to Have in Place?
• What is an Estate Planning Trust?
• Why Do You Need an Estate Planning Trust?
• What is a Last Will and Testament?
• What is Healthcare Directive or a Living Will?
• Why Do I Need a Power of Attorney?
• Powers of Attorney and Determining Capacity.
• Five (or Six!) Mistakes to Avoid in your Estate Planning.

Timothy J. Bupp

Estate Law Chair | Shareholder | Attorney

Timothy J. Bupp is a Shareholder with CGA Law Firm and chairs the Firm’s Estate Law Section. He provides clients with specialized advice in Estate Planning, Business and tax planning, Real Estate transactions and related matters. Tim assists his clients by utilizing the knowledge he gained from his advanced degrees in business administration, business taxation, and law, as well as his certifications in estate planning and employee benefits taxation. He counsels individuals and businesses with estate and wealth transfer planning, business succession planning, entity formation or acquisition, and tax planning. 

Attorney Bupp has earned the designation of Certified Elder Law Attorney from the National Elder Law Foundation, the only ABA-approved Elder Law certification approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Read Tim’s Bio Page in full HERE.