Welcome to the EPAC Corner! We are pleased to bring you this content from the Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) of the DeKalb County Community Foundation. If you have any questions about the information below or the EPAC group, please contact Community Foundation Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org. 

The EPAC Corner content aims to provide general information about estate planning and charitable giving. We hope it’s helpful and informative. Suggestions for monthly content topics are welcome. We’d love to hear from you.

Providing Estate Planning Guidance for Loved Ones

Whatever their age or health status, most people know they need to document important financial and personal information for loved ones, just in case the unexpected occurs. We’ve all heard stories about someone’s family member who passed away and left little, if any, information about where to find bank accounts, passwords, estate planning documents, life insurance policies, and other information. No one wants to leave their loved ones in the lurch with scant details, but it’s often hard to get motivated to write it all down in one place.

• Tax season is an excellent time to get organized and provide your next of kin or key advisors with the information they’d need to take care of your affairs if something happens to you. The list of “must haves” includes the obvious: Will, trust, power of attorney, birth certificate and marriage license, titles to cars and boats, deeds to property, car keys, bank accounts, investments, advisor contact information, life insurance policies and contact information for the agent, funeral wishes, and, critically, passcodes and passwords to devices and accounts. 
• The format for the information can be varied. I typically provide my clients with an estate planning binder that includes copies of the estate planning documents and blank sections to include other estate planning-related documents. These binders are often returned after the client’s death with extensive additions that the client made to provide a complete record of his or her financial affairs to the family. These families also tend to leave organized folders of bills, account statements, and tax returns.
• Other families present a less organized, but no less comprehensive, picture of the loved one’s affairs. Often, the lack of organization is symptomatic of other issues leading to the death or disability. These meetings usually require a fair bit of sorting, but in most cases, the family knew where the information was. 

Whatever your organizational style, there is no substitute for a family meeting to discuss the critical information and begin familiarizing your family with your financial affairs long before the need arises for them to find the information independently.

– Matthew L. Brown, local attorney and member of the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee

Established in 2020, the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) comprises of local professionals providing estate planning services, including attorneys, trust officers, CPAs, wealth advisors, and insurance agents. The purpose of the EPAC is to raise awareness and understanding of the Community Foundation as a resource for professional advisors and their clients, assist with efforts to deliver effective estate planning education to the general public and notify estate planning professionals on topics relevant to the intersection of estate planning and philanthropy.

Matthew L. Brown