Where do people get their estate planning advice?

10/21/2016 | Kaplin Stewart Blog

According to research, fewer than half of all American adults have taken the time to create a comprehensive estate plan. That leaves far too many people without the ability to direct the course of their own incapacitation care, or to hand down assets to their surviving loved ones. In order to understand why so many Pennsylvania residents have not addressed their estate planning needs, it is important to take a close look at how Americans seek and find information.

In decades past, many adults turned to their extended family for financial management advice. Parents passed down skills and knowledge to their children, including a blueprint for creating a solid estate plan. Today, however, the manner in which we receive and share information is drastically altered from the path taken by earlier generations. Many adults today seek information exclusively from online sources.

When it comes to estate planning, websites can offer inconsistent, misleading or simply false information. While there are number of excellent online resources that can guide families through various estate planning options, there are also plenty of sites that provide potentially harmful advice. Even more importantly, many estate planning options are highly complex and work best when used as part of a larger estate planning strategy.

The best way for Pennsylvania residents to address their estate planning needs is to seek the services of a seasoned estate planning attorney. Working with a professional can not only make estate planning a faster and more efficient process, it can also reduce the chance of making unwise decisions. Working with an attorney to create a partnership, one that can last a lifetime, can yield a wide range of benefits.

Source: wealthmanagement.com, “More Than Half of American Adults Are Living Without an Estate Plan“, Anna Sulkin, Oct. 11, 2016