10 Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Estate Planning Mistake #5: Failing to Make Your Estate Plan Accessible — Florence Griffith Joyner

A signed will cannot guide your family if no one can find it.

The Florence Griffith Joyner estate planning story offers a simple lesson that is easy to overlook.

Creating an estate plan is not enough.

The right people also need to know that the plan exists and how to find the documents when they are needed.

Florence Griffith Joyner, better known as “Flo-Jo,” died unexpectedly in 1998 at age 38. She was an Olympic champion and remains the world-record holder in the women’s 100- and 200-meter races. NPR.

Published reports indicate that Griffith Joyner had prepared a will.

There was one major problem.

Her husband could not find the original.

Florence Griffith Joyner’s Missing Will

A will is meant to provide instructions after death.

But those instructions are difficult to follow when the original document cannot be located.

According to published reports, Griffith Joyner’s husband was unable to locate her original will after her death.

The problem became more significant because disagreements developed within the family.

Griffith Joyner’s mother reportedly maintained that her daughter had promised that she could live in a home for the rest of her life. Her husband disputed that claim.

The disagreement became part of the litigation surrounding the estate. A probate judge eventually appointed an independent third party to administer it.

Whether a properly located will would have prevented every disagreement is impossible to know.

But the missing original removed an important source of evidence about Griffith Joyner’s intentions.

Why the Original Will Matters

Today, keeping a copy of an estate plan is easy.

You can scan it. Save it to the cloud. Keep a PDF on your computer. Give copies to family members.

Those copies are useful.

But they are not necessarily a substitute for the signed original.

When someone dies, the original will is ordinarily the document presented for probate.

If the original cannot be found, additional legal questions can arise.

Was the will simply misplaced?

Was it accidentally destroyed?

Did someone else have it?

Or did the person who signed the will intentionally destroy it because he or she wanted to revoke it?

The answer can determine whether a copy of the will is accepted.

A Missing Will Can Be a Problem in New Jersey Too

New Jersey law can permit a copy of a lost will to be admitted to probate. IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF RICHARD D EHRLICH.

But that does not make losing the original harmless.

New Jersey courts have long recognized a presumption that can arise when a will was last in the possession of the person who made it and cannot be found after that person’s death.

The law may presume that the person destroyed the will intending to revoke it.

That presumption can be overcome. But doing so may require clear and convincing evidence concerning the will, its contents, and what happened to the original.

Instead of an ordinary probate proceeding, the family may suddenly have a contested court matter.

That means more evidence.

More legal work.

More expense.

And potentially more disagreement among the people left behind.

Your Family Should Know Where to Look

You do not need to give everyone a copy of your estate plan.

You may have good reasons to keep its contents private.

But at least one or two trusted people should know that the documents exist and where the originals can be found.

Your executor or successor trustee is usually a logical person to tell.

The documents should also be stored somewhere secure.

Depending on your circumstances, that might be a secure location in your home or with the attorney who prepared the documents if the attorney offers original-document safekeeping.

The important point is accessibility.

A document locked somewhere that no one knows about may be secure, but it is not particularly useful after an emergency or death.

Don’t Forget the Other Estate Planning Documents

The same principle applies beyond your will.

Consider how someone would locate your:

• revocable trust;
• power of attorney;
• advance directive for health care;
• beneficiary information;
• deeds and other important property records; and
• instructions for accessing important digital information.

Some of these documents may be needed while you are still alive.

That makes accessibility even more important.

A power of attorney locked somewhere that your agent cannot reach may do little good during an emergency.

The Florence Griffith Joyner Estate Planning Lesson

Estate planning has two parts.

First, create the right documents.

Second, make sure the plan can actually be implemented.

That includes signing the documents correctly, keeping the originals safe, retaining useful copies, and making sure the people who may someday need them know where to look.

You do not have to disclose every detail of your estate plan to your family.

But keeping the existence and location of the plan a complete secret can defeat much of the purpose of creating it.

Florence Griffith Joyner reportedly had a will.

After her death, her family could not produce the original.

A carefully prepared estate plan should not become a treasure hunt. Make sure someone you trust knows where to find it.

This article discusses publicly reported information concerning Florence Griffith Joyner and her estate for educational purposes. Public reporting does not establish the complete terms of her estate plan or every circumstance surrounding the missing original will.

 

How long has it been since you reviewed your estate plan with an attorney?