Why Most People Fail Estate Planning!
Video Transcript
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Hi, this is Ray Hrdlicka, host of Attorneys.Media – Legal Commentary Interview. Today we’re sitting with Andrew Dósa, an estate planning attorney in Alameda County, California and Tacoma, Washington. And I’m going to ask him a very simple question. Why don’t people get an estate plan? It boggles my mind when I hear that it’s a great percentage of people that don’t do it. So let me ask an expert, Andrew, why? Why don’t people get an estate plan?
Andrew Dósa – Estate Planning Attorney – Tacoma WA and Oakland, CA
Well, I think we can identify three reasons for that, or probably more. All you have to do is think about the human condition. What are the things that make us less effective? What makes us, what causes us to do things that are harmful to us? But let’s start with the first thing, and that is inertia. You want to do your estate plan, but you just haven’t gotten started and it doesn’t seem really urgent because you, like me, are a very young man. I’m 67 and it’s a wonderful young age. I have at least 25 or 30 years.
Why should I consider getting an estate plan? I haven’t rushed to get it now.
Oh, I’m just getting busy.
Well, I’ll put it off.
There’s inertia. You get stuck not moving.
There’s also fear. I don’t know why you’d be afraid of dealing with the issue of death. It seems, as the comedian says, well, look at the statistics on death. It’s almost like everyone is doing it. Okay, so if everyone is going to do it, then we, you know, we’re not going to change anything by being fearful about it. And I’ll say a companion issue or a companion explanation might be discomfort. It’s not necessarily an uncomfortable thing to talk about, but some people find it just difficult.
But I can’t offer this to you. When you’re trying to overcome a problem and you want to get to a better place, one thing you can do is not stare at the possibility of things going south. You can think of the possibility of things going well. And what is it when things go well? You get satisfied, you get happy, you get smiling.
I will tell you, Ray, I’ve not had an estate planning client in my 41 years of practice who left my office with a frown on their face when we finished their estate plan. Everyone is happy when it gets done. And then when you get it done and you need to make a change, it’s easy to make the changes because now you’re just saying, I think I can do a better job of taking care of my responsibilities and providing for my family after I’m gone.
So those are three key reasons and I’m sure that we as humans can find all sorts of other reasons for not wanting to do it too. Or, you know, it’s always my spouse that was a responsible one and she didn’t do it. I mean, I will tell you, it’s not uncommon for me to bump into clients where the husband just doesn’t want to talk about it and the wife really wants to deal with it, more so than men, I think, sometimes. But husbands are going, well, my wife’s always taking care of the finances. She just always pays attention and she’s worried about the bills. And I just kind of go, I’ll pay them when I know I ought to. But she didn’t ever call the lawyer. So it’s like, well, she’ll get to it, I know. But it’s not somebody else’s responsibility. It’s your responsibility.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
No, that makes a lot of sense. It really does. And let’s hope that this video reaches, and we’re going to put it out in a number of social media sites. Let’s hope this video reaches people and get some thinking about this action that they need to take. Because of course, you never know what’s going to happen in the future.
Andrew Dósa – Estate Planning Attorney – Tacoma WA and Oakland, CA
Well, I certainly hope that people start getting their estate plans together and starting sooner.
Relevant Authoritative Links
- Top 5 Estate Planning Mistakes in California and Solutions Bay Legal
- Most Estate Plans Fail Don’t Let Yours Be One Of Them Forbes
- Estate Planning Mistakes Learn From These 8 Errors Chamberlain Law
- 10 Estate Plan Pitfalls to Avoid Fidelity Investments
- Common Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Smithsonian
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