We all know the feeling...Labor Day has always felt less like the end of summer and more like the start of the real year. The pools close, the school buses come back, and Montgomery County stores start carrying Halloween decor and dare we say holiday decor! As an estate administration Law Firm, we also see another trend. Our phones begin ringing.  Marriages happened over summer, babies were born, parents are getting older and most likely will be moving in.  They are calling to get their estate plan done. 

Estate planning attorney Montgomery County MD What we have found is that summer scatters families, Fall brings them back together. Families are inside the house more, they see they mail, they see the documents, that more inside thinking time. Those small moments of noticing are how most estate plans are finally getting done with a good local attorney. 

What Estate Administration Actually Looks Like

Real Estate attorney Kensington MD What happens when one has an estate plan. Well, they are far more assured and relaxed about their future.  But in terms of happenings, the reality is quieter and far more procedural. When someone passes away, the work includes:

  • Opening the estate with the Register of Wills and qualifying an executor or administrator
  • Locating assets, which often means hunting through drawers, old statements, and forgotten accounts
  • Notifying creditors, banks, insurers, and government agencies
  • Valuing real estate, retirement accounts, vehicles, and personal property
  • Filing inheritance and estate tax returns on a deadline that does not care how grief works
  • Distributing what remains and closing the estate properly
  • And sometimes more!

Families who arrive with a clear plan move through that list in months. Families who arrive without one can spend a year or more untangling it, sometimes in front of the Orphans' Court, sometimes across a kitchen table where relationships get strained in ways that outlast the money.

Why The End of Summer Can Be the Right Time

Think about it. As the days get shorter, it's time to slow down and get life in order.  Our clients find that they spend more time inside with the people whose futures they are actually planning for. The task that felt impossible to schedule in July fits neatly into a September evening.

A few good reasons to take action now. 

  • Yearend tax planning and estate planning belong in the same conversation
  • Beneficiary designations often go stale after a marriage, a divorce, a birth, or a death
  • Property values and account balances shift, and a plan written a decade ago may no longer do what you think it does
  • Holiday gatherings are coming, and it is far easier to say "we handled it" than to open the topic over dessert

The Question I Ask Every Client: Do Your Parents Have a Power of Attorney?

This is where we see the most preventable pain. A will governs what happens after death. A power of attorney governs what happens while someone is alive but cannot manage things themselves. We often see clients' families after it's too late. 

Without a valid financial power of attorney and a health care directive in place:

  • No one can pay a parent's bills, sell a property, or manage investments without court involvement
  • A guardianship petition may become necessary, which is public, expensive, and slow
  • Medical decisions fall to whoever happens to be available, without written guidance
  • Banks and brokerages will refuse to speak with adult children, even devoted ones

If your parents are in their seventies or eighties, ask them or help them get three things this fall:

  • Ask: Do you have a power of attorney, and where is it?
  • Ask: Do you have a health care directive, and who is named?
  • Ask: Where are the will, the deed, and the account information kept?

They may already have answers. Many do not, and they are relieved someone finally asked.

What Is the First Step? Make The Call to An Attorney

You do not need every question resolved before you call. Most of our clients walk in with a folder, a few worries, and they are leaning on us to help them begin. And that's what we love to do.  That is enough.  It is rewarding for us as attorneys to see this happen for people. 

Labor Day marks the turn. Use it. Get the house paperwork in order while there is still time to do it calmly.