Estate Planning
Estate Planning is the process of determining how your wealth and assets should be transferred to the heirs of your choice: your children, grandchildren, friends, families, charitable causes, etc. and then deciding which legal tools and structures to use to best meet your estate planning goals.
Estate planning is not simply reducing or eliminating taxes and avoiding probate. Only after establishing how you want your estate’s assets to be distributed should you consider ways to reduce taxes and avoid probate. From there, good estate plans deal with a host of other issues. Now, with all but a few estates exempt from the federal estate tax, those other issues are, or should be, at the forefront of estate planning.
An estate plan is to ensure that you are taken care of the rest of your life and that your wealth is transferred to the people you want to have it. A good estate plan ensures these goals are accomplished with as much efficiency and as little cost as possible. An estate plan addresses the management and distribution of an individual’s property and financial obligations after he or she dies with financial tools such as wills, revocable living trusts and power of attorney.
For a comprehensive overview of Estate Planning, please start with our article:
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Will Your Children Be Required to Pay for Your Long-Term Care?
Many Americans worry that long-term care expenses will cause them to run out of money. They also should wonder whether their children and estates might be required to pay for their long-term care after they are gone. That’s the trend in both federal and state law. A 1993 federal law compels state agencies to collect […]
The Information That’s Essential for a Successful Estate Plan
Many people mistakenly believe their estate plans are complete after they decide on the strategies and have the documents prepared and executed. A high percentage of plans fall short of meeting their owners’ goals and many become abject failures, though the plans looked good on paper. The failures occur when the estate plan is implemented. […]
Know When You Should File a Gift Tax Return
The gift tax return rules are full of surprises for many people. The first surprise for many people is that you might have to file a gift tax return even when a gift is tax free. In addition, there are times when it’s a good strategy to file a gift tax return though you aren’t […]
Know The Four Ways to Make Tax-Free Gifts
Everyone should know the details of the four ways to make tax-free gifts, because gifts are a key component of most estate plans. Gifts allow you to help loved ones today instead of having them wait until an unknown future date to receive the benefits. You also see how loved ones handle and use the […]
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Using TOD Accounts to Avoid Probate
An increasingly popular way to avoid probate is the transfer on death, or payable on death, account, which I’ll refer to as TODs. Most states have laws recognizing TODs. Financial institutions generally allow many accounts to be designated as TODs with named beneficiaries. A TOD, sometimes called a Totten trust, avoids probate, isn’t covered by […]
How An Estate Plan Helps Prepare for the Worst Events
Few people associate natural disasters and personal catastrophes with estate planning, but they should. Part of the estate and financial planning process is to prepare for unexpected events, especially calamities and misfortunes. A good estate plan anticipates how to respond to natural disasters, serious personal health problems, damage to a house or other property, and […]
Joint or Separate Revocable Living Trusts: Which is Better for Spouses?
After a married person decides the primary estate planning vehicle should be a revocable living trust, the next issue is whether the spouses should have one joint living trust or separate trusts. There are different factors to balance. Money and asset management can be easier through one joint trust when both spouses are alive. The […]
Which is Best for You: A Will or Trust?
The recent deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa highlighted the differences between the two primary tools for passing on the bulk of one’s wealth. The two tools are the will and the revocable living trust, also known as a living trust. Anyone with a living trust also should have a will […]
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Estate Tax
Executors and Trustees
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Grandchildren
Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children
IRAs & Your Estate
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Wills and Estate Planning
