What is the root of procrastination?
“Procrastination” is derived from the Latin verb ‘procrastinare’ — to put off until tomorrow. But it's more than just voluntarily delaying. Procrastination is also derived from the ancient Greek word “akrasia” —doing something against our better judgement.
Some call procrastination “The Thief of Time” – Time spent wastefully, instead of doing what is needed for our own well-being.
Procrastinators generally fall into three man types:
The Plenty-of-Timers: “there is plenty of time” to get it done (up until time runs out!)
The Perfectionist: “I can’t get it done until everything is just perfect!” (Then time runs out.)
The Avoider: I just cannot face it right now! (Did you think you had forever?)
Procrastination has dealt many a heavy (and expensive) blow in the area of wills, trusts, and general probate matters.
See your estate planner as soon as you can. Moreover, once you have an attorney, there is often multiple documents which you must read, review, sign, and return to your attorney to be filed in a timely fashion. These documents must be completed without delay.
As a client, you sometimes do not understand the urgency. Why is my attorney pushing me to complete this? I have to think about this, then re-think it and re-think it again. What’s the harm?
Hey, trust your estate planning attorney. That’s why you hired him and paid him - to protect you and your estate.
The Harm in Procrastination:
The idea of estate planning is to provide for your family after you are gone. That is providing for those you live (children, grandkids, etc.) If you were to die without setting up a plan, this means your children may be presented with a huge tax bill, meaning that what you want for them, in large part, instead goes to the government. Creditors may eat up the estate. Your daughter or son may unfortunately, go through a divorce and the non-biological spouse may take half the estate, and your heirs become the losers. Money that you wanted for your sons, daughters and grandkids now go, in part, to the divorced spouse and to his/her family.
He/she who hesitates, may lose a substantial portion of their estate.
So, do not be the loser. Do not let the government take money out of the mouths of your people in taxes. Do not let a relative who has a substance abuse problem be the source of waste to your estate. All can be avoided if you listen to your estate planner and do not procrastinate!
Call our Long Beach estate planning office for an appointment. Don’t be a victim of procrastination when it comes to your estate planning.
Comments