Planning for the future? Help is here

FALLS VILLAGE — There are two times in your life when you’re likely to think about estate planning: when you first have children and after you retire.

Warren Whitaker, a trust and estates attorney with a home in Falls Village, and Steven Essex, executive vice president of Salisbury Trust Wealth Advisory Services of Salisbury Bank and Trust Co., will present estate planning basics at the D. M. Hunt Library on Saturday, June 29, at 3:30 p.m.

The talk will focus on basics, said Whitaker, who went on to list topics that are far from basic, and that are pretty universal, including why wills are necessary, what alternatives there are to having a will,  what trusts are and what to expect from estate taxes. 

People might make the mistake of thinking of those as later-in-life issues. They’re particularly important, Whitaker noted, for young parents who’ve just had children. Not only should financial plans be put in place, but parents should also think about guardianships.

Once plans have been made, financial arrangements should be made to support those plans. That’s the part of the presentation that Essex will make.

“I’ll discuss the need for financial planning and monitoring to administer those documents,” he said.  

While that may sound dry, Essex has suggestions for steps to take that can create a sense of family for younger people, and that can help older people give their children a sense of where they fit in with the rest of what, in modern America, can be distant family. 

Essex suggests creating a family tree as part of the process. It’s also a time to “outline wishes and objectives,” and to do something that can be very emotionally challenging but that creates a solid foundation: getting a sense of the family’s “net worth and cash flows so they may understand how implementing their estate planning may impact their (or their survivors’) financial situation,” Essex said.

That’s a hard conversation to have; which is why it’s sometimes good to have a professional involved.

Essex and Whitaker will also talk about steps that people can take to “make sure their estate plan will work as expected, and that any trusts or other planning strategies are funded as intended.”

Those are just a few of the things that the two experts will cram into a one-hour talk. There will also be questions and answers at the end. Whitaker warns that anyone with very specific and personal questions might want to wait until the end of the talk for a private discussion — or better yet, they might want to get advice on how to find a planning professional.  

Residents of all towns are invited to attend this free workshop but should call the library ahead of time at 860-824-7424.