Do I need a Will at a young age? Debunking myths about Wills for the healthy and young!

Congratulations. I’m glad you’re young and you’re healthy, but I’m really glad that you’re exploring whether you should have a Will. I mean the real question is, do you read the obituaries? Probably not, only sick people like me look at those. I mean, what I look at is that we have people who we’ve done estate plans for who pass away, we have other clients, and family members who show up in there.  I want to know what’s going on with people around me, people who our firm has helped but, I see at least once a week someone in their 20s, even younger, whose obituary is in the paper. Usually by reading the obituary, I don’t know why they died, what caused them to die, but it happens. So, you have to understand that a proper estate plan is appropriate for anyone who is eighteen and over because you don’t know what might happen. It may be that you’re 20 years old, you’re healthy, you feel great, and you’re driving down the road when a semi-truck comes across the center line and kills you. It may be that you have some kind of health condition that you don’t know about what’s going on, then you have a brain aneurysm, and die in your sleep. There’s a million different ways that this can happen. In fact, there are books written, I think it’s 1001 Ways to Die, and many of them are not related to your age and your health. Even if you’re young, even if you’re healthy, you should talk to an experienced and qualified estate planning attorney to explain your particular life circumstances and help decide whether you should have an estate plan. The answer is probably yes, but more importantly, what that estate plan should look like. What do you want and what do you want to happen? That’s the important thing and you should take the steps today to make that happen.