Estate planning: Not just for the wealthy

Estate planning can include wills, trusts, powers of attorney, guardianship for your minor children, personal health decisions, avoiding probate and more. And local attorneys say it is a good idea no matter what your age or assets.

“A lot of people come to me and say, ‘I don’t have much. Why do I need an estate plan?’” attorney Cindy Sikelianos said. Estate planning means “establishing a plan with respect to your assets” in case you die, are disabled or incapacitated, she said. It also lets you choose “who you want to manage your affairs” if you die or become unable to manage them on your own. And it can ensure proper care for your minor children.

An estate plan means knowing, “’This is who I want in that situation and this is what my decisions are,’” said Sikelianos, an attorney with Pickel Law PC, an estate-planning firm that recently opened in Las Cruces. It also has offices in Albuquerque, where Sikelianos is based, and Kalispell, Mont., where attorney Johanna A. Pickel lives. Pickel has a Master’s degree from NMSU and once taught at Organ Mountain High School.

“If you’re over the age of 18, you need an estate plan,” said Las Cruces attorney Jessica Streeter, who specializes in estate planning, along with a few other Las Cruces attorneys, she said. “A good estate plan does more than distribute your assets. Your estate plan should also name others who can make decisions for you on your behalf if something happens and you’re no longer able to make those decisions for yourself,” Streeter said. 

“If you die without an estate plan, your belongings will be distributed according to state law. If you become incapacitated without a power of attorney, your loved ones may need to go through a guardianship and conservatorship proceeding in order to manage your health and assets,” said Streeter, who opened Streeter Law Firm in Las Cruces in 2020 and returned to practice after serving as a state district judge and Las Cruces municipal judge.

“A large majority of our clients either come to us because they’ve had to deal with an estate of their parents or someone else and there was no estate plan in place and they saw what a pain in the neck it was,” Sikelianos said. In some cases, clients knew someone with an estate plan and wanted the same.

“It’s a huge relief,” Sikelianos said, to know that “’If something happens tomorrow, I’m set.’”

In addition to providing clients with all the documents necessary to set up an estate plan, “we also give them a guide so they can then be very specific about their funeral services, what scripture they want read, songs, pictures they want,” she said. It can also set up a prepaid funeral plan.

“I know that is not an easy conversation to have with your children,” Sikelianos said. But, “If you have this conversation, than it’s easier for them to say, ‘I know this is what mom wants. She expressed her wishes.’”

Having an estate plan in place can dictate not only what happens with a client’s remains, it can also spell out “what happens with their pets,” Streeter said, if there is to be a service and, if so, who officiates. And it spells out exactly what happens with a person’s belongings, “instead of guessing what you would have wanted.”

Having an estate plan can also make things easier when there are “complicated relationships with family members,” said Jayme De La Vega, client services director for the Pickel firm in Las Cruces.

Sikelianos and De La Vega said their firm, part of the national Special Needs Alliance, can also set up a special needs trust, which can be helpful, for example, if someone is receiving government assistance as a result of a disability and is left money or property that could make them no longer eligible for disability payments.

Like the Pickel firm, Streeter said her law office can create a revocable living trust which, in the event that parents are permanently or temporarily incapacitated and have minor children, names a trustee or guardian for the children to ensure continuity of care, including identifying things like the children’s doctors, dentists and educational needs, she said.

 “Guardianships for minor children are one of our primary practices,” Streeter said.

Both law firms provide workshops to help people create their estate plans. Streeter will host a series of hour-long estate planning workshops from Sept. 3-14.

“We are passionate about educating the community on the importance of estate planning,” De La Vega said.

More information about the two firms interviewed for this story are available at PickelLawPC.com and StreeterLawFirmNM.com.