The word “estate” conjures images of great wealth, which may be one of the reasons so many people don’t develop estate plans. Afterall, they’re not rich, so why make the effort?
You make things easier for the children, by planning for the possibility of a nursing home stay because you take the burden off the children to make crisis decisions for your long-term care costs.
Parents' instincts to protect their children can cause them to hold back on some important truth-telling about the kind of inheritance they might expect, but that could be a big mistake.
Your obligations to your family or loved ones do not stop, even if you have already passed on. If your family, especially your children, are still heavily dependent on you, you can still provide for them through proper estate planning, even if you are no longer present.