What’s The Worst That Can Happen To My Family If I Die Or Become Incapacitated Without An Estate Plan?
Individuals who are still in the prime of life, or those with limited assets, as well as people who simply find estate planning painful and unpleasant to think about, occasionally wonder if creating a custom estate plan is likely to matter much in the end. They may ask – flippantly or sincerely – “What is the worst that could happen?” The answer to that question can depend on a variety of circumstances, but in even the best-case scenario, the range of possible outcomes is typically far from ideal. If you are wondering about the potential consequences to your family if you die without an estate plan, consider making today the day when you start to wonder instead about how to put an estate plan in place to provide for them and protect their peace of mind. An estate planning lawyer with Roulet Law Firm, P.A. may be able to help you determine which estate planning documents are most essential to address your own and your family’s specific needs, so call (763) 420-5087 in Minnesota or (941) 909-4644 in Florida to schedule your personalized consultation. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will reach out to schedule your consultation.
Family Impacts of Death With No Estate Plan
The outcomes your family is likely to experience if you die without an estate plan may vary somewhat depending on the circumstances of your death and the ages, personal health situations, and financial resources of your family members. In general, however, some of the most common problems families experience when someone dies with no estate plan in place include:
- Financial hardships
- Confusion and anxiety
- Conflict
- Property losses
One of the most common motivations for preparing a comprehensive estate plan is the desire to care for the people we leave behind, once we are no longer there to provide for them or offer comfort and reassurance in person. A well-designed estate plan can be a powerful tool for achieving those goals.
Funeral Expenses
Unfortunately, laying a loved one's body to final rest is not an inexpensive process, nor is it optional. While burial and cremation may not be the only options for disposing of a deceased person's final remains in all jurisdictions, generally speaking, there will be legal requirements that establish mandatory deadlines for putting the body of a deceased person into the hands of an appropriately trained and licensed professional, and minimum standards for how a family ultimately chooses to dispose of their loved one's physical remains.
Timeframes for embalming a body or placing it in a final resting place as well as the specific standards governing such concerns as minimum depth of burial or the firing processes associated with cremation do vary from one state to the next, as will the agency tasked with overseeing compliance on the part of hospitals, mortuaries, and other parties commonly involved in handling the disposition of an individual's final remains – but in general the deceased person's estate will be liable for the expenses associated with this process. While in theory, this means that the family members left behind can be spared those final expenses, the reality is that, in the absence of an estate plan, there may be no recourse for retrieving those funds from the estate other than to complete the probate process. The probate process itself can be considerably delayed and extended in cases where the individual has died without leaving a valid Last Will and Testament (also known as dying intestate), and in this situation, family members may be stuck struggling to cover the costs associated with laying their loved one's body to rest, even as they also attempt to come to terms with their grief.
Medical Bills
People die in roadside accidents and backyard medical emergencies every day. Not everyone leaves behind a legacy of final medical expenses when they depart this life. However, the reality is that in the United States, individuals who do not perish in unforeseeable accidents are overwhelmingly likely to die in hospitals, often after extended treatment. The total costs of medical care associated with an individual’s final days – whether stemming from ultimately unsuccessful attempts to save a patient’s life or from the compassionate attention given during comfort care – can vary widely due to a number of factors, including the duration of treatment and the health insurance coverage of the individual patient, but in all too many cases, the bills received by a grieving family in the wake of a loved one’s death can be considerable. Putting an estate plan in place – especially one that includes a mechanism, such as a life insurance policy, for transferring at least some financial resources directly to family members immediately after your death – can help alleviate the potential burdens.
Probate Problems
Dying without a Last Will and Testament means leaving no legally executable instructions regarding how you would like your property to be distributed once you are gone. While many individuals assume their loved ones “already know” how they want their possessions handled, this assumption is faulty on two levels: Firstly because in many cases family members do not share an understanding of their deceased relative’s wishes, and secondly because even if family members are in complete agreement, this consensus will not matter for legal purposes because state intestacy laws, not a family’s understanding of a decedent’s wishes, will determine how the estate is distributed.
The inflexibility of proceedings regarding intestate administration means that no matter what wishes you may have shared with your loved ones, those wishes will not be honored by a probate court unless they are also expressed in a Last Will and Testament that meets the requirements for a legally valid Will in your state. In Florida, these requirements include two witness signatures, as outlined in § 732.502 Fla. Stat. (2024); Minnesota covers the same type of requirement under the state’s Uniform Probate Code § 524.2-502. While some individuals might be unsettled enough by the prospect of family members who expected to inherit either valuable assets or personal items of deep personal significance going empty-handed as they realize, amidst their grief, that they are powerless to enforce what they believe to have been their loved one’s wishes, intestate administration has an additional detraction in that it is in many cases plagued with both familial conflicts and procedural delays. Individuals who die without making their estate plans leave their family members subject to a wide variety of inconveniences, uncertainties, and frustrations that can often be avoided by taking the time to put some estate planning essentials in place.
Advance Directives: Planning for Incapacity
Properly speaking, “confusion and anxiety” do not have to wait for your death. If you die without an estate plan, there is unfortunately a very good chance that you will do so after receiving medical treatments that ultimately failed to save your life – and that may have been controversial among your family members. Estate plans that include advance directives for healthcare, such as a Living Will declaration or a designation of healthcare proxy, can be invaluable not only for ensuring that your wishes are known and respected by healthcare professionals during a medical emergency or the administration (or withdrawal) of life-sustaining treatments but for alleviating the guilt and uncertainty that family members often feel when the necessary decisions are left up to them.
The designation of a healthcare proxy may be especially important, as – similar to the requirements for intestate proceedings – in the absence of a clear and valid advance directive this responsibility will fall on the individual the laws of your state acknowledge as your next of kin. In some cases, the position may be shared by more than one individual, as some states place this responsibility on the shoulders of a patient’s adult children when there is no surviving spouse, and in that case, disagreement among your children regarding your medical care may become subject to a vote of the majority – a less than ideal situation for the siblings as well as for their ailing parent. Preventing this kind of scenario and the potential for decades of doubt and recrimination that are apt to follow can be just as important, in its own way, as any provision you make for the disposition of your personal property.
Start Your Estate Planning Journey Today
If you have ever wondered, “What’s the worst that can happen to my family if I die without an estate plan?” the truth is that the range of outcomes will depend to a large extent on the circumstances of your death. No one truly gets to choose those. A carefully-designed estate plan, however, allows an individual to exert control over a number of other variables that can influence how their death impacts the people they leave behind. Preparing an estate plan is one of the most selflessly loving acts anyone can hope to perform for their family. Begin your estate planning journey today by calling Roulet Law Firm, P.A. to set up a personalized consultation to meet your individual needs. You can reach us in Florida at (941) 909-4644 or in Minnesota by dialing (763) 420-5087. Or you can fill out the contact form on this page and a member of our team will reach out to you to schedule your consultation.
If you are not yet ready to schedule a consultation and would like additional information on how to protect your home and life savings from long-term care and nursing home costs, or about estate planning, we have some additional resources for you:
