Estate Planning Vault

Estate Planning - Trip of a Lifetime, Ready to Leave Tomorrow?

A company called Last Minute Travel.com will trade low fares and accommodations for those willing to set off on a trek with a minimum of notice. That seems apt to me, as one with a law practice that includes estate planning.

As I meet with clients I am always struck by the disparate ways they view aging. I have clients in their 50's, who despite their young age, have no plans for the future beyond an immediate 24/7 Weather Channel vigil.

Then there are 90-and-older clients who show up in VW convertibles, asking about pre-nuptial agreements, as 'someone has caught their eye'. There is wisdom in the old adage, age is a state of mind.

To locate my mother at any given time, I need a globe and an airline guide. She worked hard all her life and travel is her escape from aging. Have your bags packed, I say. To some, this is literal as well as figurative.

As an estate planner, I work to help clients pack their proverbial bags. It is not easy work. Many people don't prepare for a journey until flood waters have risen around them. There is only so much I can do for someone lying in an ICU who gave no prior thought to what lies beyond.

As for real travel (as opposed to that of joining the cosmos) I look forward to my planned trips more than I enjoy the reality of battling the national embarrassment that is our transportation system. There is hope in the planning of a journey - the expectation of something good to come. Some of the joy of any trek is in the preparation of it.

Estate planning is no different. It is your ticket and your itinerary, if you will, for the trip of a lifetime. Like any kind of travel, it could be difficult - but the idea of passage itself, eternal rest, etc. doesn't sound so bad.

Look forward to the biggest trip of all - and don't disregard the secret to any successful excursion - plan ahead. Put it on the calendar. It is a journey we will all make, whether planned or via last-minute travel. Bon voyage.