Procrastination Leads to Chaos: Tips for Creating an Estate Plan

Procrastination Leads to Chaos: Tips for Creating an Estate Plan

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

July 22, 2024

According to the 2024 Caring.com Wills Survey, 64 % of Americans state having a will is important, yet only 32% have one.  The study also reports that of those surveyed, 43% of respondents would wait until receiving a major medical diagnosis or having a serious health event to create an estate plan. After nearly 20 years of practicing estate planning and probate, I can say with confidence that waiting until you are really, really sick to create a plan is setting yourself up for a very difficult task -- likely increasing your chance of never actually completing a plan.  For example, any of the following may make it difficult if not impossible to create a plan for what happens at death:

• Your schedule is overtaken by medical appointments, tests and procedures leaving little time to dive into estate planning;
• Medications given for your treatment impair your ability to think clearly and make an informed decision;
• Medical bills dominate your budget, leaving little or no extra money to pay for estate planning;
• Your mobility is limited and you cannot easily travel to an attorneys office; and
• The risk of you being declared incapacitated removes your ability to create a plan.

I procrastinate in areas of my life as well -- my backyard is yet again a jungle of weeds.  I keep saying, tomorrow I'll go out and tame the chaos.  So far that tomorrow has not arrived.  My family jokes that the wildlife here in Madison, Wisconsin are content with the lack of attention I've given to the yard.  

The Toad of Whitney Way -- this guy (or gal) resides in my side yard, beneath the ferns and peonies that once stood in my late mother's yard.  Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, July 2024.

With each passing day the chaos intensifies and I've reached the point of saying, "oh well, perhaps in the Fall I can cut it all back....or in the Spring, when life is calmer I will take care of the yard."  As I type this I know that unless I take action now, the yard will remain an unruly mess.  I offer you the following suggestions if you mean to create an estate plan, but have not yet done so:

1. Break the work into smaller tasks, making it possible to get some traction.  For example, start with filling out a form to help you organize your thoughts on who should do what if you are too sick to act or if you die.  Also, you could review your beneficiary forms to make sure they say what you think they say;
2. Outsource the work if your budget allows.  Consider hiring an attorney to give you the full-service attention you need.  For example, you meet with the attorney and tell them your goals and wishes, then the attorney drafts all the paperwork for you to sign.  It is likely far easier than you attempting to make sense of legal jargon and fill-in-the-blank forms;
3. Accept that perfection is not obtainable, and embrace the concept of "good enough".  Having some paperwork in place is a start.  Putting your thoughts for what you want that this moment is time is better than stalling as you try to sort out what happens in a dozen hypothetical situations down the road; and
4. Remind yourself that estate planning is about taking control.  There is very little we can control in this world, yet many of us crave control.  Embrace this as an area where you can make decisions and then put them in a legally binding format.  

A blog is not meant to be legal advice.  Rather it is a platform to spark thought and reflection.  It is best to consult with an attorney in your home state for advice specific to your situation.  Thank you for reading, and be well.  Click the box in the upper right hand corner to enter your email advice to receive notices for future posts.