5 Estate Planning Strategies for Singles

Single people may have been enjoying the exotic life with no children – socking away money, getting away on numerous weekends, and focusing 100% on their career. But it may not be likely that they put much effort into their estate planning or retirement plans.

Here are 5 tips for single clients as they near retirement:

• Execute a power of attorney and a healthcare proxy.
  • Even those without children do not live forever, though mortality may not be shouting in their face like a teenager that looks just like them. Establishing a power of attorney and a healthcare proxy will allow another person to make important financial and medical decisions for a single client, if it becomes necessary to do so.
• Make a will.
  • With no direct descendants nor a spouse, a will is highly efficient as disposing of assets. The client can name the executor to handle the affairs, and a simple solution can be to name a revocable trust as the beneficiary of the estate.
• Create a revocable trust.
  • The client should go ahead and establish the trust and name themselves as the primary beneficiary.
• Fund the trust now.
  • If the client funds the trust during their lifetime, and are later incapacitated, the successor trustee will be able to use the funds for the client’s care. Without it, those close to them may have to petition the local probate court to have a guardian or conservator appointed.
• Consider estate taxes.
  • Single clients have no direct descendants, so any beneficiaries will be receiving a windfall. If giving these beneficiaries more and the government less is important, the client should consider charitable giving as a means to lower taxes.

See Christine Fletcher, 5 Estate Planning Strategies for Singles, Forbes, March 15, 2019.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.