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Do unmarried people need an estate plan?

On Behalf of | Sep 12, 2021 | Estate planning |

There are many reasons why Georgia residents may be unmarried. Perhaps they have reached adulthood but have not yet found a person they wish to spend their life with. Maybe they simply do not have a desire to get married. It is also possible that they have been married but divorced and did not have children. No matter the reason, unmarried adults can still benefit from having an estate plan. 

Commonly, individuals think that because they do not have a spouse to protect or children to provide for after their passing, they do not need to put their wishes in an estate plan. However, there are many important reasons for an unmarried person to create a plan that could benefit him or her personally. In fact, this plan could help in potentially dire situations when a person is still alive. 

Some estate planning steps that could be vital for anyone, married or unmarried, include the following: 

  • Creating an advance medical directive in order to explain wishes for medical care in the event that they cannot speak on their own behalf 
  • Creating a power of attorney document to give a trusted person the ability to make decisions on the person’s behalf 
  • Ensuring that trusted parties are named in HIPAA release forms so that doctors and other medical staff can discuss medical issues with those parties 
  • Making decisions on how property should be divided and using a will and trust documents to ensure those decisions are carried out 

Though it may not seem important for an unmarried person without substantial wealth to create an estate plan, there are many reasons for doing so. Even the simple fact of needing a trusted person to make decisions in the event of an incapacitating event is enough to create a plan. Interested individuals may wish to discuss the other benefits of estate planning as an unmarried person with knowledgeable Georgia attorneys.