According to research by management consulting company Bain & Company and Google, as reported by Times of India in August 2021, India has 13.5–15.7 million women-owned businesses, accounting for 20% of all companies.

With this evident shift in women's financial standing comes the necessity to structure and secure the money they have worked so hard to accumulate. But estate planning isn’t just for business owners, or wealthy women, it is a necessary task for all households.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is simply the process of safeguarding the assets that one has worked so hard to accumulate or that one has gained through good fortune. In the event of death, estate planning allows a person to select how their possessions will be passed on to the next generation. It is most commonly known as creating a “Will”.

An estate is defined as all of a person's property that they own or control. It might include financial assets like bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and personal physical goods like artwork, collectibles, gold, and antique automobiles. Immovable property, such as residential real estate and ancestral land, is also included.

Planning one's estate entails arranging one's wealth so that it can be passed down to the intended beneficiaries in a smooth and trouble-free manner, especially when several claims are involved.

Despite the fact that estate planning is only relevant after a person's death, all money is earned or collected via hard work. It guarantees financial stability for a person and their family. As a result, after one's death, this hard-earned or acquired money may become a resource and contribute to the security of the next generation.

Relevance of Estate Planning

Home Makers

Let's start with women who are financially reliant on their spouses or families to understand why they require estate planning. Women in this group may be heirs to assets or co-owners of a family firm, or they may be stay-at-home moms running part-time small companies. This is a crucial distinction to recognize since, more often than not, women in this category do not prioritize financial planning.

Despite the fact that homemakers are not directly involved in employment, they play an essential and supporting role in their families' financial well-being. As a result, they have the right to enjoy the family's riches throughout their lifetime, and their portion of the fortune is entitled to be allocated according to their wishes once they pass away.

Self-Employed Women

Estate planning is even more critical for self-employed women who manage their own businesses. You not only have to look at your personal possessions and property, but you also need to consider what happens to your business. Do you have the proper insurance programs in place? What happens to the shares you own in your business? For self-employed women, estate planning and reviewing their plan should be completed on an annual basis, at minimum.

Widowed Women

To comprehend this better, take the hypothetical instance of a widowed Hindu woman with no children who has self-acquired property yet dies intestate, meaning without a Will. According to current Indian regulations, her assets can be passed on to her deceased husband's heirs even if she has never met them or relied on them for financial assistance.

In this situation, a well-thought-out estate plan would have assured that the woman's wealth was distributed to her siblings, parents, or other planned heirs. As a result, for women who have entered the job and amassed some savings and wealth, failing to establish an estate plan might result in their assets not being distributed according to their preferences when they pass away.

High Net Worth Individuals

The importance of estate planning is even more vital for married women who are HNIs, company owners or have received a large inheritance from their parents or family. This is because her assets must be secured from claims by unworthy beneficiaries in the event of marital strife, divorce, or separation.

As a result, estate planning is necessary for women from all walks of life, and it isn't only for the ultra-wealthy.

Estate Planning Tools

Wills, trusts, and even prenuptial agreements are just a few estate planning strategies available to women. Estate planning paperwork also acts as a vision statement, stating a person's goals regarding their assets. For example, suppose you want your children's education to be a top priority. In that case, a trust can be set up such that the highest amount of money goes to education. Alternatively, you can provide instructions in your Will for the many charity organizations you intend to continue supporting after death.

Estate planning may be complicated to put together, and it definitely helps to use skilled specialists such as financial advisors and estate lawyers.

True empowerment ensures a woman's right to her possessions during her lifetime and even after she dies. As a result, women should consider estate planning seriously rather than dismiss it as a necessary evil. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that life may be brief in uncertain times, and contingency preparations must be put in place to ensure the future of our loved ones – estate planning allows for this.