Who Should Get a Copy of My Estate Plan?
One question that always comes up is - who should have a copy of your estate plan? As a general rule, I discourage broad dissemination of copies of estate planning documents. One of the goals of a trust based plan is privacy. Having a lot of copies floating around can run contrary to that desire. Your documents contain information that is private. Both in terms of assets and in terms of planning objectives. I believe the better approach is a family meeting where the documents and decisions are discussed, but the documents themselves are not distributed. The parties who will need to have access to the documents are given information on where they are located and how to access them when needed. Unlike the recent movie Knives Out, rarely does the attorney retain the original document for a dramatic will reading after you are gone. Rather, most attorneys will have you retain the original documents in your possession and they will have to be retrieved when needed by the appropriate individuals. You can read more about document storage here. I would also ask your attorney if he or she retains a copy. I am surprised how often I am told by attorneys that they do not even retain a copy of the signed documents.
The exception to this rule would be the medical power of attorney and living will (advance health care directive in some states). I recommend that a copy of these documents be provided to your physician(s) as well as the agents you have selected. Rarely do health issues occur during regular business hours, so you don’t want to rely on being able to get a copy from your attorney at the time of the event. You may also want to consider an online storage data bank.
Death and incapacity are often traumatic times for families. Attention to some of these details will help ease the transition when the time occurs.
This post is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship between Hallock & Hallock and the reader.