Imagine that you find yourself in the following situation.

It's ten years from now. Your only sibling dies in a car accident. She's a single parent and has no will. The court appoints you as executor of her estate, meaning that it's your job to distribute all of the things she's left behind.

Who gets what? How will you decide? What if someone who might have a claim to her property isn't happy with your decisions? Who will become the legal guardians of her children if their father is dead or can't be located?

As you can imagine, there are all kinds of questions that come up after someone dies and it's time to deal with someone's possessions and debts.

When you get older, you'll want to make plans for your estate. This is especially true if you have children so that if you die unexpectedly, you'll have instructions for the court and your executor to follow for how to distribute your belongings and take care of your remaining reponsibilities.

Terms

Before we look at what's involved in estate planning, let's look at some of the specialized terms used to describe people involved in the process:

• Executor: ensures items or money is distributed as deceased desires
• Trustee: individual or institution appointed to manage property for someone's benefit
• Guardian: individual that takes on responsibility of providing care for children
• Beneficiary: person(s) entitled to receive som type of property under the provision of a will

Estate Planning There are a number of issues involved in estate planning, but all it really comes down to is making sure that your intentions are clear in the event of your death. Let’s take a look at a short presentation that explains some of the issues involved. Click the player button to begin. View a printable version of this interactivity.