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(Part of a series of articles on charitable giving and the Union County Foundation by David Vollrath - Executive Director) Earlier in the year my last remaining parent, my father, passed away. Many of you know first hand how difficult such a death can be and how much stress it places on a family. In retrospect my father left a wonderful final gift to the family by having in place proper estate planning prior to his death. By "gift" I don’t mean a financial gift but rather a gift of structure and defined procedure that served to avoid and minimize family discord when dealing with his failing health and ultimately settling the affairs of his estate. Several actions of my father were extremely helpful and important. First he had a thoughtful and well written will in place, he had executed a durable power of attorney specifying who could make financial and legal decisions in his behalf, he had a living will, a health care proxy (perhaps the most important document of all), and some written directions regarding how to distribute personal property between my brothers and me. These items were all located in one known location. Many very difficult decisions were made much easier through the existence of these basic documents. Any family that has to navigate through these decisions without the roadmap provided by these documents is destined to have a very difficult and likely divisive experience. My father was intentional in the way he lived and intentional in the way he died but even those of us who are less focused can relatively easily make sure we leave a roadmap for our heirs. What single component is too often over looked? In retrospect one important action that could have been improved upon and that would have further reduced stress amongst the family was prior communication. Yes my dad had the foresight to have the right documents in place but the contents and rationales for the decisions could have been better communicated to the parties involved. Prior knowledge by all siblings of who will be the executor, how does the will disburse the assets, who holds power of attorney, who is the health care proxy, etc. is important in my opinion. Even though all will not agree on the decisions at least thy will be informed, understand the decision process, and most importantly not be blind sided at an already highly emotional time. As you can see proper estate planning is important and impacts your family substantially. One component of my father’s estate planning that was very important to him was fulfilling certain charitable goals. He understood better than most that leaving a legacy for the future was perhaps the only way to improve upon the past. He was intentional about his charitable giving and made his charitable goals an important part of his estate plan. His example, and the example of others like him, is a model to which we all should aspire. The Union County Foundation is equipped to help you achieve your charitable goals by providing: planned giving and estate planning resource information, charitable gift annuities/life income plans, and Donor Advised Fund information. Please call us at 937-642-9618, email us at commfounduc@imetweb.net, or stop by our Marysville office at 126 N. Main St. We are committed to helping you…. "preserve your footprint in time." |
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