Important Legal Steps to Take After Retirement

This informative post was contributed to Leisure Freak by writer Veronica Baxter. A good reminder that there are necessary and important legal steps we need to include in our retirement plan. 

This article will outline the actions you should take while planning to retire or having just retired to ensure you achieve the financial and medical outcomes you desire.

Make a Will

If you have not done so already, make a will. In most states, this can be done with forms you can obtain online; however, there are likely witness or notary requirements. Be sure to comply with the testamentary requirements in your state so that your will is enforceable.

If your estate is complex in that you own a business, have multiple real estate holdings, have real estate or accounts across state lines, own property or accounts, or have invested internationally, you should consult an experienced wills and estates attorney for guidance.

Important Legal Steps to Take After RetirementImage Source

Update Your Beneficiaries

Your life insurance and bank, investment, pension, and retirement accounts require beneficiary designations. And, of course, you must designate beneficiaries in your will.

Be sure to keep your beneficiary designations up to date. For example, suppose you’ve had more children since the last time you updated your beneficiary designations. In that case, it is time to update again to include a designation to a trust in the name of those minor children. If you’ve divorced and you fail to change your life insurance beneficiary from your ex-spouse to someone else, your ex may benefit from your death. Not ideal.

Name primary and contingent beneficiaries or multiple primary beneficiaries in case a beneficiary cannot be found or has died. In this way, you avoid life insurance not paying out or the proceeds from your bank and investment accounts escheating to the state. Your loved ones should benefit from your hard work if you cannot, not the government.

Last, be sure to designate your beneficiaries by name. Problems can arise between potential beneficiaries if you do not. For example, if a man designates “all of my children” as beneficiaries, who does he mean? His children from his first marriage? His second wife’s children, who he considered his own but never formally adopted? A child he had with a girlfriend in college? You can see the problem.

Set up Durable Power of Attorney and Medical Power of Attorney

These designations appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf should you become incapable of doing so. For these people to be empowered to act for you, your incapacity may be  

temporary or permanent. The person with durable power of attorney will see to your financial affairs. Likewise, the person with medical power of attorney will make medical decisions for you and enforce your wishes regarding the type of treatment you do and do not want.

Be sure to consult the person or people you want taking on these roles – some people don’t want this kind of responsibility, and you need a willing and capable person to act on your behalf when you cannot.

You can set up a DNR order or organ donation in advance, however, the person with medical power of attorney will make sure your medical team complies with your wishes.

Update Your IRA Investment Risk Level

While not a legal step, this is important. If you have not been advised to do so already, be sure to contact the administrator of your retirement account and shift your investments to low-risk investments. This is to ensure the preservation of the corpus of your contributions as well as growth at a more stable and predictable, albeit lower, rate of interest.

Last, be sure to inform your loved ones of your intentions regarding all of this and their responsibilities, if any. Tell someone where all of your legal documents are so that if something happens to you, they can be easily accessed. You will rest easier knowing that you have taken care of all of this in advance.

Thanks to Veronica Baxter for sharing these important legal steps to take after retirement. 

It’s easy to forget about the non-financial aspects of retirement preparation. Especially things that don’t exactly fit into the more exciting aspects of retirement planning.

V Baxter Leisure Freak Contributed PostAbout the Author

Veronica Baxter is a writer at assignyourwriter, blogger, and legal assistant living and working in the great city of Philadelphia. She frequently works with and writes for Boonswang Law, national life insurance beneficiary attorneys based in Philadelphia.

 

6 thoughts on “Important Legal Steps to Take After Retirement

  1. Great advice Veronica, we did all of those things in the years leading up to our slightly early retirement. My dad and mom had passed away prior to that and as the main executor of the estate I saw how critical it was that my parents had listed my brother and me as the contingent beneficiaries of all their financial accounts. That let everything avoid probate and made it less expensive and minimized the complexity. As my parents health failed I saw how power of attorney on health matters was important in seeing they got the care they wanted when they could not always speak for themselves. And switching from a very aggressive investment strategy to a more balanced approach a couple of years before retiring protected us from some of the stress that market corrections cause retired people. That’s all great advice from the perspective of someone living it today!

    1. Thanks for the comment sharing your experience steveark. My wife and I experienced what happens when there is no PoA or Will after my mother-in-law suddenly passed. We had a big legal bill to get everything sorted out. It sure motivated us to get things in order for ourselves.
      Tommy

    1. Thanks for the comment Dr. Elhais. Happy you found it informative. Too easy after years of focusing on financing one’s retirement and then later enjoying the retirement celebration period to overlook a few legal steps to complete. Best to start this new phase of life fully covered.
      Tommy

  2. Great Blog! Thanks for sharing it. True! finding a good firm is difficult but once you find it , you can get rid of all your legal issues. Recently I heard a Law firm named Mcleskey Law Offices and it very known for providing good services.

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