Is the Information in My Estate Plan Confidential?
There are many different reasons that Canton residents may want to keep the information in their estate plan confidential. When it comes to particular health care decisions, you may not want certain people in your life to start arguments with you or to attempt to urge you to change your mind about a particular decision you have made. In terms of your assets and debts, and who will receive your property upon your death, you may want to keep that information relatively private for a range of reasons. For example, you may not want family members attempting to argue with you or to change your mind about who will receive certain assets. After your death, you may want to avoid having certain people in your life know about the assets you had, or who you left them to.
It is completely valid to want to keep your own decisions, and details about your property, relatively private. As such, you may be wondering if the information that is in your estate plan is confidential. It depends on the estate planning document or tool, and our Canton estate planning lawyers can explain in more detail.
Advance Directives Are Private
When you create advance directives pertaining to your health care, including naming a person you trust to serve as your agent or representative in the event that you become incapacitated, you should know that these documents are not part of the public record. Similar to how your medical records are private, these documents are not accessible publicly, either.
Wills and the Probate Process Are Public
The details of a will, however, do become public through the probate process. Wills must be probated, and this process goes through the court system, which ultimately means that the details in your will are going to become part of the public record. Your will is not public record when you make it, but when you die and probate occurs, the details do become public at that point.
Transferring Assets Through Trusts and Beneficiary Designations Can Remain Private
If you want to keep certain information private that is currently in your will, it is important to consider other estate planning tools for transferring property. Any property that passes outside the probate process (i.e., outside your will) does not become public record. You can consider establishing a trust or creating beneficiary designations to avoid probate, which will in turn prevent details of those asset transfers becoming public.
Contact a Connecticut Estate Planning Attorney
Do you have concerns about privacy and estate planning? Depending on the reasons for your privacy concerns and the degree of privacy you want to have, you may want to consider various estate planning tools in addition to a will. An experienced Canton estate planning attorney at the Law Office of Brian S. Karpe can assist you with all of your estate planning needs. We can answer your questions today, and we can begin working with you on beneficiary designations and establishing one or more trusts. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you.
Source:
cga.ct.gov/2023/pub/title_45a.htm
