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When Aretha Franklin passed away last August, it appeared that she had no estate plan -- despite the fact that she had significant assets, including her music catalog and memorabilia, which are likely worth millions of dollars. She is survived by four sons as well as grandchildren and other family members.

If a loved one has recently passed away, your family will be going through a stressful time. Grief can change our mental state in many ways, and it can also cause us to act out-of-character. This can potentially lead to a higher amount of tension within the family dynamic, even if everyone is sharing the same grief.

When you have defined your business idea, planned your strategy and secured a sufficient amount of funding, it's time to start looking into some of the practical details regarding starting your new business.

Before doing your estate planning, you decide to look up the average life expectancy in the United States. If things go as planned -- if you don't get into a car accident, for instance, or suffer a fatal injury at work -- you want to know how long you have.

For many people, a major motivation in planning their estate is making sure that their loved ones are not under a great deal of stress with administrative responsibilities at the end of their life.

The way you organize an estate plan can be very personal. You consider what you would like to happen if you are incapacitated or if you pass away. You appoint the people you trust most for key responsibilities, and you determine who you would like your money and other assets to go to once you are gone.

If a member of your family has passed away in recent months, you will have needed to work with other family members in order to carry out the wishes that your loved one stated in their will. It is quite common for family members to be shocked and upset by the wishes that are put forward in a loved one's will.

If you are an executor of an estate, you will have the responsibility of going through estate administration. This can feel like an overwhelming process to go through, especially when you are grieving the death of a person that you cherished.

If you are a business owner, it is likely that you started your business from humble beginnings and have had to grow and evolve along with your company. Having a growing business always presents new challenges, and the more successful the entity becomes, the more there is to lose.

In planning your estate, you are essentially attempting to plan for an uncertain future. None of us will be able to predict what ours and our loved ones' lives will be like in a decade's time. In addition, we are not able to force how laws might change, particularly in regard to taxes and inheritance.