When people talk about estate planning or long-term care planning, the conversation often seems to assume there are two people.

A husband and wife. Two partners. One person who can step in when the other cannot.

But what if there is just you?

Maybe you have never married. Maybe you are divorced. Maybe you lost your spouse after 40 years of marriage and are suddenly managing everything on your own.

You have spent years building your life. Maybe you own your home, have retirement savings, investment property, or a business. You manage your own affairs and have every intention of continuing to do so.

But especially as you get older, there may be this little part of you that occasionally wonders:

Who will be there for me when I can no longer do all of this myself?

Who is my person? Who will make sure my decisions are carried out if I can no longer speak for myself? Who is the person who has me in my time of need?

You don't have to feel anxious or embarrassed about asking these questions.

The key is acknowledgment and preparation.

Who Is Your Person?

Most people assume their children will eventually take on this role.

But maybe you don't have children. Or maybe you do, but for whatever reason, one or more of them should not be the person you designate.

If that is your situation, that's okay.

Being your child does not automatically make someone the right person to manage your finances, make medical decisions, or carry out your wishes. Maybe one child is wonderful but terrible with money.

Another lives across the country. Or perhaps there is simply someone else you trust more.

Your person might be a sibling, niece or nephew, cousin, longtime friend, or someone who has become family even though you are not related by blood. For some responsibilities, a professional may make sense.

And it doesn't have to be one person.

The person you trust with medical decisions may not be the person you want managing your investments. You can choose different people for different responsibilities and name successors in case your first choice cannot serve.

Give Your Person the Tools to Help You

Choosing your person is only the beginning. They also need the legal authority to act.

A financial power of attorney can authorize someone to handle financial matters. An advance health-care directive can identify who you want making medical decisions if you cannot communicate them yourself. Depending upon your circumstances, a revocable living trust may provide another way for someone you select to manage trust assets if you become unable to do so.

But documents alone aren't enough.

Your person should know you chose them, where your important documents are located, and what you actually want.

A carefully prepared estate plan doesn't help nearly as much in an emergency if no one knows it exists.

What Are You Actually Trying to Protect?

Imagine a 62-year-old single woman living in Fort Washington, Maryland. She owns her home, has retirement and investment accounts, and owns a small rental property.

She is healthy, travels, enjoys her life, and wants to protect what she has spent decades building, but not by unnecessarily giving up control of it.

Her assets are not simply something to protect for the people who may inherit them one day. They are hers. They can help her travel, remain in her home, pay for care if she needs it, help someone she loves, and enjoy the life she spent years building.

So before choosing a legal tool, I would ask:

What are we trying to protect, and what are we trying to protect it from?

Creditor protection, long-term-care and Medicaid planning, incapacity planning, avoiding probate, and deciding who ultimately receives your property are different issues. They don't necessarily require the same solution.

Some assets may already have protections under D.C. or Maryland law. Depending upon the particular concern, planning might involve insurance, beneficiary designations, a business entity, a revocable living trust, or, when appropriate, an irrevocable trust.

There isn't one tool that does everything. Good asset-protection planning should begin with the problem, not the product.

If Something Happens, Can Your Person Find What They Need?

Suppose you have a medical emergency.

Your niece knows you have money in the bank but doesn't know where. Your investments are electronic, your bills are automatically deducted, and you bought a life insurance policy years ago.

Then there is your digital life: email, cloud storage, photographs, social media, online payment services, and other digital assets.

Who knows what exists?

Consider maintaining a secure inventory of your important financial and digital accounts and where they are held. Your person should also know where your estate-planning documents are, who your important professional contacts are, and how to access your home if necessary.

But knowing an account exists is not the same as having legal authority to access or manage it. You need both pieces.

Acknowledge it. Prepare for it.

Then go on living your life.

Where Do You Want Everything to Go?

You worked for it. You saved it. You should decide where it goes.

Maybe you want your assets to go to family, a close friend who became family, or an organization that matters to you. Maybe different people should receive different things. And perhaps there is someone you specifically do not want to inherit. If you don't make those decisions, the law will eventually make some of them for you.

A will or trust may be part of the answer, but it isn't the whole answer. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death arrangements, and other assets may pass according to beneficiary designations rather than your will.

You could update your will today while an old beneficiary designation still directs a significant asset somewhere you no longer intend.

Your beneficiary designations should work together with your estate plan and be reviewed when your life changes.

The question is not simply, Do I have a will?

The better question is: If something happened to me tomorrow, would everything actually go where I want it to go?

Planning Solo Doesn't Mean Planning Alone

There is no single document or legal strategy that is right for every person planning solo.

Planning solo doesn't mean planning alone. It means building your village, putting the right protections in place, and making your decisions now so the people you choose know how to carry them out when you need them most.