After you get an estate plan, you need to make sure that your spouse knows what to do with it.
An estate plan is only as effective as the people who are tasked to implement it. The most well-written legal documents in the world are worth nothing, if they are not carried out by people who know how to interpret them and what to do with them.
You can have everything about your estate and your end of life care thoroughly planned, but if the person who is most affected by your plans, your spouse, is not aware of what to do, then your plan may not be as effective as it should be.
For this reason, you need to talk to your spouse about your plans as Forbes points out in “5 Questions You Should Ask Your Spouse Today.”
Your spouse needs to know what to do, if you ever become incapacitated. Your spouse needs to know what to do, if something happens to you and you pass away before your spouse.
At the very minimum, your spouse needs to know where to find the documents and who to call.
This is important, even if your spouse has no responsibilities in your plans. Your spouse is going to be one of the first to learn that something happened to you, so your spouse must know who to contact.
Do not let your estate plan be defeated by a lack of communication with your spouse. Make sure that he or she knows what to do.
Reference: Forbes (July 26, 2017) “5 Questions You Should Ask Your Spouse Today.”