Out of all the forms available to make an estate plan a living will is perhaps the most important. This is probably the only life and death document you will ever sign, unless you’re a judge.

An advance directive outlines what wishes your doctor must follow if you become unable to make your own medical decisions. When you’re admitted to the hospital usually the staff will ask you if you have an advance directive, or you can hand your doctor and hospital staff a copy yourself if they don’t ask.

Today, February 13, 2007, the current federal estate tax exemption is set at $2 million dollars. It means that people with less than $2 million dollars worth of assets can do their own planning. Contingent upon the complexity of one’s estate, number of heirs, varied assets, certain planning calls for an expert. But, for regular folks leaving money to their heirs, there are other ways to do your own estate planning, offset probate expenses and maximize inheritance:

1. First, visit your state’s web site to determine how much the estate tax exemption is set in your state.

Modern advancements in medicine have made it possible for us to live longer than ever before. While these advancements have substantially extended our lives, such an extension may not be desirable because it may lower our quality of life and result in a loss of our dignity. Since all competent adults have the right to make their own medical decisions, you may want to tell your doctor now not to take heroic or extraordinary means to prolong your life in the future if you become ill and there is no hope for your eventual recovery. You can do this by preparing a living will.

A living will is not about who inherits your stocks and bonds when you die and it doesn’t designate who gets the family home or your mother’s jewelry. What a living will does is establish your wishes about what happens to you should you become terminally ill or permanently incapacitated. A living will is a binding set of advanced medical directives that dictates whether you will be kept alive via life support devices, or whether and when to pull the plug on those devices. Having a living will in place means that you make your final decisions rather than depending on your relatives or the state to make them. It can save turmoil and confusion over what you might have wanted, and it can spare your children or other heirs from having to make judgments they would rather not have to make.

You may have heard some of the terms, Last Will and Testament, Living Will, Power of Attorney, but are not exactly sure what they are or whether you need them. From an Estate Planning perspective, these documents are essential to ensure that your assets are distributed properly and your legal interests are protected.

Preparing a living will is not something most people would welcome. Some even dread this task. There is something unpleasant in thinking of that day when one is no longer capable of deciding, or doing things for one self. That is why, a guide in the form of a living will kit is very welcome. A living will kit alleviates the unpleasant feeling of facing the reality that one day one can be as helpless as a baby.

A successful business man who was meticulous in keeping his paper work up to date all of his life died without writing a will. Even though he was nagged by his accountant and solicitor to write one, he avoided writing a will. Not wanting to face the reality of being a mortal, he avoided facing the issue of death which always crops up whenever he thought of writing a will.

The successful business man, by not writing a will has subjected his surviving family to a complicated tangle of legal administration which is unfair and hurtful. The lack of a will has increased the cost and payment of taxes.

A Living Will, also known as a Healthcare Directive or Advanced Health Care Directive, is a legal document used to specify the healthcare or life support you would like to receive under certain conditions. If you are admitted to the hospital you will probably be asked if you have a living will. It is different from a Last Will and Testament, and does not take the place of one.

The death of Anna Nicole Smith has at least one valuable outcome, even if it is simply serving as a model of what happens if you die intestate, i. e. without a last will and testament.

One immediate point to take here, by the way, is the youth and vitality of the deceased. Few people who knew her, or knew about her, would have believed on that February morning that later that day they would hear that she was dead.

Wasn’t there something about, “Ye know not the day nor the hour”?