What is the biggest myth about estate planning? There's actually two that I've run across. One is that a lot of people think a will covers every estate planning contingency, all you need is the will and you're good, and that's absolutely not true. A will doesn't cover what happens if you're incapacitated or disabled and, this might surprise you, a will has to go through the probate court, be filed with the court and lawsuit is actually commenced in order for a will to be effective, so that's myth number one.
Myth number two is that a lot of people believe that if they are incapacitated or disabled and they're married then their spouse can automatically exclusively act for them, and that's actually not true. Even though you're married, there is no presumption that your spouse has your best interest at heart and so your spouse would actually have to go to the probate court. If you're needing medical decisions and financial decisions made on your behalf, your spouse has to actually go to court just like anyone else would to act on your behalf, to get permission first from the probate judge, so don't rely merely on the fact that you're married that your spouse gets to do that automatically for you, and don't rely just on a will to cover all of your estate planning concerns. Check out our other FAQs on What's a Will, Should I Avoid Probate, because I go into why a will alone is not enough.