Why You Need an Estate Plan

As a dentist, an estate plan should be a top priority and is both essential during your lifetime and after you pass away.  Estate plans become crucial in the event that you become ill, disabled, or are unable to make financial or health-related decisions on your own.  Further, as dentists, you must consider the possibility of facing unexpected liabilities.  A comprehensive estate and financial plan can address these concerns by protecting your wishes and your practice.  An estate plan can enable you to assign guardianship for your children, protect a beneficiary from making bad decisions with an inheritance, pay off large debts, dispose of or continue your practice, and minimize estate taxes and administrative costs.  Thus, the burdens of carrying out your wishes will be lifted from the shoulders of your family.

Three elements compose an estate plan.  The basic tools include:

1.  A will,

2.  Living will,

3.  Health care power of attorney,

4.  Financial power of attorney, and

5.  Trusts. 

By incorporating these elements, executing an estate plan will preserve your wishes and ease the stress on your family in the event of an accident or illness.