A lot of the estate planning process is focused on the distribution of assets. While that’s certainly a major aspect of estate planning, it’s only part of what you need to consider as you plan for the future. For example, a significant portion of the population will end up needing long-term care at some point in their lives. This can be costly, and without proper estate planning it can lead to the erosion of assets that you intended to pass down to your loved ones.
How can you incorporate long-term care into your estate plan?
Fortunately, there are several ways to address long-term care as you engage in estate planning. This includes giving consideration to the following:
- A long-term care insurance policy that may help you cover care costs if you meet your policy’s requirements.
- Medicaid planning, which oftentimes requires giving away certain assets outside the lookback period and using certain trusts to reduce your income and assets to meet eligibility requirements.
- A power of attorney. This allows someone you trust to make important decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to make those decisions on your own.
- The need for additional savings to help cover your costs.
You may need to explore several of these options to protect your interests as much as possible, so be thorough in your approach to addressing long-term care in your estate plan.
Avoid gaps in your estate plan that threaten the financial well-being of your estate
On its face, estate planning might seem straightforward. But the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of intricacies that come into play throughout the process. If you don’t properly address each of them, then you could end up with a gap in your estate plan that poses a threat to your vision of the future. So, as you work to create your estate plan, be sure to thoroughly address each and every issue that’s relevant to the estate plan that you want and need.