People sometimes worry about being too young for estate planning, and this is a common myth. They assume that they don’t need to make an estate plan until they are much older, but the reality is that it can be beneficial even at a young age.
But what about the opposite side of this coin? Would it ever be possible to be too old for estate planning? If you haven’t done it yet, and you are getting to be more advanced in age, are you already past the point where it would be useful?
Considering mental capacity
As a general rule, no, you cannot be too old to do your estate planning. It may have been optimal to do it at a bit of a younger age, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t start the process now. In fact, the older anyone gets without an estate plan, the greater the odds they will pass away without that plan. It is best to prioritize planning quickly to avoid such an outcome.
One exception to this is in regard to mental capacity. Remember that an estate plan is not just for when someone passes away, but for when they become incapacitated. There are certain mental disorders that may lead to this incapacitation. If they have already set it in, that can lead to some questions about the accuracy of an estate plan created at this time.
Overall, everyone who does not have an estate plan would be wise to consider all of the different legal options at their disposal.