ONE Sports PowerPlay Blog
Playing Defense: Will and Estate Planning
Recent history is showing that the millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) as well as those in the following generation, are postponing the decision to get married, and/or have children. Regardless of the reasons for remaining single or without children, we aim to show why the decision to plan and formalize your estate plan should not be postponed.
Who gets what? If you die without a proper Will, many provinces, states, and countries have specific laws that will determine who receives the assets of your estate. Consider this: a distant, ‘long lost’ relative may become entitled to some or all of your estate. Additionally, if a married person with no children dies without a Will, many states in the US grant a share of the assets to his/her parents. Similarly, in many jurisdictions if an unmarried person dies without a Will and without children, the assets may pass directly to his or her parents. Neither of these situations may be what you originally intended.
Planning for your incapacity On our website onesports.ca you can view several articles about planning for a time when, for whatever reason, you are unable to make your own decisions regarding your property or personal medical care. Powers of Attorney, or advanced directives, allow you to appoint someone you trust to take care of these things when you cannot; whether the situation be temporary or permanent.
Beneficiary designations It is very likely that Chris or your agent has already discussed life insurance, your NHL pension, etc. If you have not assigned a beneficiary for these potentially significant assets, it is possible they may pass directly through your estate to someone you had not originally intended, as indicated in the point above. In the Will planning process, we will help you review the beneficiary designations on these assets to make sure all goes as you wish.
What about Rover? Many millennials have pets and treat them very much as part of the family. There are ways that you can ensure that your pet is looked after in the event of your death or incapacity. A properly executed estate plan is one.
Online accounts and digital assets Your Facebook, Instagram, email accounts, and other digital footprint assets are important to you. Many social media accounts have very specific rules that dictate what happens upon your death or incapacity. Having a good estate plan will ensure the right person, one you trust, can manage that digital footprint once you are no longer able to do so.
These are good starting points for discussions to ensure the assets you have worked so hard to create are dispersed according to your wishes or remain intact for you once you recover from an accident or illness. There are still other areas such as charitable giving, that young single individuals often emphasize, that are addressed in an properly executed estate plan.
We are ONE Sports can guide you through this process. It’s important!
The material in this document is intended for information only and not to be used as offering specific tax, legal, financial, investment, or other advice. ONE Sports + Entertainment Group in conjunction with The Pro’s Process™ offers this information to our clients to help them be better prepared to meet all the challenges associated with being a professional athlete in North America.