All it takes is a deadline to motivate planning

Whether a loved one is at death’s door or the tax law is about to change, there is an inevitable deadline looming for both.

Last week I received five phone calls, Facebook notifications and emails from friends and extended family that a parent  had passed away during the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a shock to have them happen all at once.  But then again who plans on dying.

In between attending wakes, funerals and sending sympathy cards, Scott and I had a chance to see the movie The Descendants, which by the way I urge every planner to see along with their clients.  It is reflective of the state in which we plan as well as for those who planned for us.  Both death and estate planning have something in common, finality.

The tax law will change at the end of 2012 if not before. And it will have finality.  This is why the current call to action for so many advisors and their clients is to move the planning process forward.  The deadline is fast approaching.

When my dear friend told me about her father’s recent passing she said, “ He stopped at the lawyer’s office to sign his will on the way to the hospital and he left me with the mess.  Thanks Dad.” I could say nothing but only hope that we can encourage clients to be more purposeful than this in their planning, deadline or no deadline.

Kim Hamilton