Decluttering is a Powerful Tool for your Estate Planning
Clutter can weigh heavily on us and only through purging our physical and digital spaces can we gain mental clarity to forge a clear path forward. Decluttering allows us to discover long forgotten possessions, valuable documents, and old accounts so we can simplify and make room for new possibilities.
Start decluttering your life today in order to make room for better things tomorrow.
This article describes how decluttering helps you create an estate plan that reflects your values, streamlines estate settlement, and protects your family.
5 Benefits of Decluttering for Estate Planning
1. Reflection, Clarity, Focus
Everyone knows how important it is to declutter and organize. It gifts us the opportunity to reflect on joyful moments and tough lessons learned. Gaining clarity on what served us well in the past and whether it will serve us going forward is an important step in estate planning. Clarity helps us shape our future direction, understand our priorities, and focus on a plan to protect our loved ones after we’re gone.
Make space in your life so you can focus on what matters most.
2. Organized Physical and Digital Property
Purging physical and digital spaces can feel overwhelming, but when you follow these tips and keep your focus on why it matters, it makes it manageable.
One Small Step at a Time – start with one drawer and work your way through the room. Carve out one or two hours a day until you get it done.
Keep, Donate, Toss – ask yourself if this item has been used in the past year, will serve you in the future, has sentimental value you want to pass down to your children, and if they want it.
Organize physical and digital documents – organize your personal and financial documents and your passwords and keep them in a secure place like a safe or encrypted cloud platform.
Review and Update Regularly – and when you finally have achieved a clutter free space, including your physical and digital documents, schedule regular reviews and develop a system to keep the clutter at bay and your documents up to date.
Don’t leave your family and executor with hours and hours of work to sort and dispose of decades of clutter.
3. Inventory and Valuation of Assets
Only when you have purged and organized can you see what is remaining to create an inventory of your possessions and property. This is an important step in estate planning because you get a clear picture of your asset value, and possessions that have either monetary or sentimental value. With this information you can:
- Create an Asset Statement of property, investments, collectables
- Document and categorize household possessions detailing approximate value
- Document insurance, ownership information, valuations done on property and possessions
Check out our document organization services here.
Understand what you have available to distribute to build your estate plan
4. Expedited Estate Settlement
Decluttering your physical and digital assets doesn’t guarantee your estate will be settled quickly with no delays. However, it does contribute to a more streamlined process for your executor which can speed up completing the tasks required when administering your estate.
Quick and easy access to your important documents helps your executor:
- Find the original Will speeding up the probate process
- More easily identify and pay debtors and creditors
- Submit life insurance claims
- Gain access to your passwords to manage bank, and investment accounts
Streamline the estate settlement process through easy access to organized personal and financial documents.
5. Reduced Family Stress
Stats Canada indicates that 99% of Canadians age 45 or older intend to name a family member or close friend as their executor. So why not reduce the stress for your grieving loved ones and consider the decluttering task as an act of kindness?
We don’t realize how much stuff we accumulate until we confront it head on. How many of us had to tackle our parents’ decades of stuff when they had to downsize or after their death?
Without clear direction on what they wanted, most of their treasured possessions ended up in the dumpster or donated. Contrary to their thinking we would want all that they saved, the reality is we don’t.
Gift meaningful possessions to your family while you are here to see them enjoy it. Discover what they value and discard the rest.
Conclusion
Decluttering is a powerful tool to help you create an estate plan that reflects your values, protects your family in the future and expedites the estate settlement process.
When we think everything is precious, then nothing is. Clutter impacts our physical safety and our mental wellbeing. By clearing a path that lets go of the past, we create space to focus on the legacy we want to leave behind.
Collect Moments, Not Things
Financial Concierge™ provides Professional Executor Services and uses the Family Playbook™, their powerful document organization tool. Learn more about the Family Playbook™ here.
Consider working with an impartial Professional Executor to assist your family member perform their executor duties when the time comes. Learn more about Financial Concierge™ here.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is not intended to be legal or financial advice and should not be construed as anything other than for information purposes.
