I had a great example today of why clients need to get their estate planning DONE; or as the Nike ads used to say… JUST DO IT!

A client came to me several months ago to update her estate plan.  She advised me that she basically wanted to disinherit her daughter. I made the changes within one week. I reached out to the client a few times and she always put me off.  I reminded her the documents were not in effect until signed.

No, she has not died…

She came in today to go over the proposed amendment. She asked what would happen if she died before she signs the amendment. I said her daughter would get 1/2 of her estate. She looked at me, stunned, and said, “I can’t have that… how can we change that?”  I politely pointed to the trust amendment, which she has been sitting on for 3 months, and said “you can sign this trust amendment.”  No she did not sign as she had a few very minor tweaks to make. Hopefully it won’t take 3 months to get her back in to sign!

We shall see….