Sadly, you may be your family’s last surviving member. With this, your choice for who is to be the inheritor of your estate, at the time of your unfortunate passing, is not immediately obvious. Even still, you may have individuals or organizations that mean a lot to you; so there are ways to incorporate them into your plan. With that being said, please continue reading to learn what your estate plan should entail if you do not have any living relatives left and how an experienced Putnam County wills attorney at the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC can help you develop a sound strategy.

What should my estate plan include if I do not have any living relatives left?

Whether you have or do not have any living relatives left, arguably the most important estate planning document you can establish for yourself is the Last Will and Testament. Here, you may name your close friends or favorite charitable organizations as the beneficiaries of your estate. What’s more, you may specifically direct which property should be distributed to which individual or organization upon your passing.

Speaking of charitable organizations, you may also make one a beneficiary of your estate by setting up a charitable remainder trust or donor-advised funds. Or, you may even go as far as setting up a private foundation in your name.

Beyond worrying about who is to inherit your financial assets, you must also plan out who is going to take care of you, should you ever reach a point of mental incapacity. Namely, you must designate someone as your financial power of attorney and someone else as your durable power of attorney for healthcare. These individuals may be close friends and/or the attorney helping you establish these documents.

What happens if I do not create a will and do not have any living relatives?

Usually, if you do not create a valid and enforceable will before you sadly pass away, your estate’s property may enter intestacy. Now, intestacy is a condition that results in the distribution of your estate’s property according to statutory intestacy laws rather than by your expressed wishes. In New York State, such intestate succession starts with your spouse and children taking precedence, then your parents and siblings, and so on and so forth.

Unfortunately, nowhere in these intestate succession laws is there a place for your close friends or favorite charitable organizations. That is, the New York State Surrogate’s Court may sooner give your property to your distant relatives who you may not even had a connection with during your lifetime, such as your surviving aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren, grandparents, etc. They may even consider half-relatives or posthumous children at this point.

Lastly, if you do not even have any distant relatives who have survived you, New York State may ultimately become the heir of your estate’s property. With this, the state may place its funds in a state-held account, otherwise known as “escheatment.” This is all in a large effort to say that you must develop a comprehensive estate plan, especially if you do not have any living relatives to inherit your estate through intestate succession.

We advise you to reach out to a skilled Putnam County estate planning attorney sooner rather than later. We are confident that you will not regret retaining the services of our team at the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC.