A new year brings new beginnings and, with it, an opportunity to evaluate your legal support practice and how best you can serve your clients. But equally important to your business is ensuring that you comply with state law and adopt best practices, so allocate some time during this holiday season to consider how to best ring in the New Year professionally.
Estate Planning
As part of your new year’s resolution, you should review your estate plans. Even a plan that is only a few years old can be seriously outdated. In fact, you might want to revise your will after any major life events such as marriage, divorce, moving to a new state, the birth of a new child, or the death of loved one. Changes in personal circumstances, health, or finances could impact estate planning documents. There may also be changes in the laws that affect wills, asset protection planning for Medicaid and nursing homes, and estate and retirement taxation.
Medical Directives
Much of the same advice and logic applies to medical directives, also known as living wills. The whole idea behind a living will is to lay out the treatment someone would want to receive if he or she were terminally ill, critically injured, or in a vegetative state. Unlike sticking to that low-carb diet or hitting the gym every day, advance care planning is an easily attainable New Year’s resolution. And just like other legal documents, a living will cannot remain static. A lot can happen between the time a living will is created and when it needs to be used. For example, a medical diagnosis may cause someone to rethink the care options available to him. Living wills need to be updated based on changes in life circumstances, medical advances, and government regulations. Thoughts about life and care change over time.
Financial Planning
Notaries routinely work with certified public accountants and other financial planners and advisors. Consequently, it’s important to re-evaluate wealth management going into the new year and to think beyond a budget. A financial plan should be a living and breathing document. It’s merely a snapshot of someone’s financial situation at a particular time. The plan should reflect current circumstances and address future needs, wants, and wishes. At a minimum, the plan should review retirement, education funding, estate planning, risk management, asset management, and emergency fund strategies. Ultimately, these are all fluid areas, and simply taking a snapshot of where things stand today will not define anyone’s ability to get where he or she wants to be in the future. Some of the most important work that goes into a plan is the monitoring and updating of the plan over time.
Your Legal Support Business
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you should evaluate your legal support business and make any adjustments necessary in order to be the best version of yourself. You are your most valuable asset. Check your business filings with your local government. Make sure your business is in good standing with the local and state authorities in your area. Determine if there are any changes or updates to your state notary laws. Evaluate your legal errors and omissions policy. Is it time for new business cards, brochures, legal journals, printer cartridges, or paper? Start the year off well stocked, as there are often multiple discounts.
The Legal Process Lady wishes you all good health, happiness, and success in the coming year and always. Happy New Year!
Legal disclaimer: An excerpt of this article was originally published on December 2018 by American Association of Notaries. The Legal Process Lady seeks to provide timely articles for legal support proprietors to assist them with information and ideas for managing their legal businesses and enhancing their legal educations but makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained. Information in this article is not intended as legal advice. We are not attorneys. We do not pretend to be attorneys. Though we will sometimes provide information regarding federal laws and statutes and the laws and statutes of each state, we have gathered the information from a variety of sources. We do not warrant the information gathered from those sources. It is your responsibility to know the appropriate laws governing your state. Legal support professionals are advised to seek the advice of an attorney in their state if they have legal questions about how to prepare documents.
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