Valar morghulis (all men must die)… But the well-prepared ones have an estate plan in place before they do.

Tonight, the final episode of Game of Thrones will air after eight seasons. As any fan of Game of Thrones knows, death is a constant present as most of the key players, and countless others, have been systematically killed off.  Even though the Night King and the Army of the Dead have been defeated (or have they?)—there is never a respite from death for the people of the Seven Kingdoms. If it’s not a horde of wights coming for you, a fire breathing dragon is just around the corner ready to incinerate an entire city. Indeed, for the vast majority of the common folk, life remains, in the immortal words of Thomas Hobbes, “nasty, brutish, and short.”

Luckily, we don’t live in Westeros and death by dragonfire is unlikely. But unlike Arya, we don’t have the option of saying “not today” when death approaches. It’s coming for all of us whether we like it or not and the only way of asserting any control, is to prepare for it in advance. So how do we do that? By having a comprehensive estate plan in place.

If you don’t make a plan before you die, then a court will likely have to determine who gets your assets (and maybe even your children). As anyone who had ever dealt with the Probate Court knows, this is never a quick and easy process. Probate is a public proceeding that can be time consuming, lengthy and expensive. In California, probate proceedings average one to two years—which means that your family will not be able to access your assets during that time. Probate is expensive. One of the major reasons why people put off estate planning is that they don’t want to pay for something that provides seemingly no immediate benefit. But the fact is that you can pay a little bit of money now, or your heirs will pay later.  An attorney must be hired to represent heirs in probate court, regardless of whether they want one. That attorney, as well as the executor of the estate, are paid according to a fee schedule that is set by statute based on the size of the decedent’s estate. So for example, the fees for an estate valued at $1 million are $23,000.  Now, you may be thinking, wow, a $1 million is a lot of money, there’s no way my estate is worth that much. But you may be wrong. For example, if you own a home or other property, the gross value of the property is used to calculate fees—not the amount you owe on your loan. So chances are, if you own any real estate in California, the value of your estate is higher than you think. In addition to the expense and time incurred by probate, you should also consider the emotional toll that you are placing on your family or heirs. Not only will they have to cope with the trauma of losing you, but now they will have to hire a lawyer and go to court—rarely a choice that anyone would make willingly.

On the other hand, if you have a plan in place, you control how your assets pass and they can pass privately without involving the court if they are placed in a trust. You also maintain full control until you die, because most trusts will be fully revocable and allow you to make changes at any time before your death. In addition, you can protect your heirs by controlling how and when they inherit, which can protect their inheritance from creditors, unscrupulous friends/partners, or even themselves.

 I know that none of like to think about death, but as Jaqen H'ghar taught us, valar morghulis (all men must die) – so you might as well take control and have a plan in place for when that happens. Reach out when you’re ready to do that.