Recently I sat down with a 34-year old widow -- we’ll call her Mrs. X -- to open the estate of her 43-year old husband. Mrs. X desperately needed to gain access to her husband’s bank account so that she could pay bills and take care of her children. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. X did not make an estate plan before Mr. X died. Since it took a few weeks before Mr. X’s estate could be opened with the probate court, during that time Mrs. X ended up falling behind on many of her bills. Do you think that the utility, credit card and mortgage companies cared that Mr. X died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 43?

This sad story leads me to one of the most common questions I'm asked as an estate planning attorney: “How do I know if I need an estate plan? “ The easy answer, as my example above shows, is that anyone who has a family to take care of and earns a living should have an estate plan. But aside from these broad observations, where can you look for some straightforward answers?

You can assess your need for an estate plan by reading my personal and financial “red estate planning flags.” If you find that your family life fits into one or more of these situations, then you are in desperate need of an estate plan.