Death and Taxes and Living Wills by Sandi Weaver, CPA, CFP®, CFA®

In late June I attended a seminar on living wills.  A Living Will says “when to pull the plug” for someone.  It specifies which life-saving measures you would or would not allow in different circumstances.  For example, “if I’m comatose without any hope of revival, please stop life support measures.”

Statistics show that 90% agree that we all need this form, yet only 30% of us fill it out.  A full 85% of us die without the capacity to make decisions and/or on life support.  We relied on my Dad’s living will the year he passed, to avoid further pain for him.

It may be time to review your living will and update it.  Our desires on what we want done usually change as we pass through life.  What we want in our 40’s changes when we’re in our 70’s. 

We help clients with this when working on their estate planning.  We can direct you to free forms to use, which vary by state.  Your estate planning attorney, if you use one, also has forms.  We keep copies of completed living wills for clients, along with their wills and trusts.  It’s best to plan on death and taxes!