Course 2415 lessons

Estate planning and wills

What happens to your money and property after you're gone, and the wills, tax rules, and documents that let you decide instead of leaving it to default law.

What estate planning actually means

Estate planning is simply deciding in advance what happens to everything you own, and who takes care of your affairs, if you die or become unable to make decisions yourself, then putting that decision into a form the law recognizes. The word 'estate' just means everything you own: a bank account, a motorcycle, a small sari-sari store, a phone, jewelry, a house and lot. If you own anything at all, you already have an estate, whether or not you've ever thought of it that way.