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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The 2 Most Common Causes of Estate Planning Failures
Many estate plans don’t produce the results the owners intended… Which is too bad — because most of these failures are preventable. The failures usually don’t spring from the tax strategies or language in the will. The failures most often result from the human side, or soft side, of Estate Planning. There are two main […]
Legacy Planning & Your Estate Planning: Part 2
When it comes to legacy planning, it’s all about the details. Before deciding to make specific bequests or other gifts from your estate, consider these additional strategies discussed below. Beneficiary designations Bequests of cash or property from your estate often are not the most tax efficient way to make charitable gift. That’s especially true when appreciated […]
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Retirement Plan Rollovers
Why bother with trusts when less than 1% of estates will pay estate or gift taxes? Many people are understandably, but mistakenly, thinking that way. Traditionally, tax savings were the primary reason to use trusts. But in 2018, individual estates worth up to $11.18 million are exempt from estate and gift taxes. Thanks to the […]
4 Trusts That Still Improve Your Estate Plan after Tax Reform
Why bother with trusts when less than 1% of estates will pay estate or gift taxes? Many people are understandably, but mistakenly, thinking that way. Traditionally, tax savings were the primary reason to use trusts. But in 2018, individual estates worth up to $11.18 million are exempt from estate and gift taxes. Thanks to the […]
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Winning Your Treasure Hunt for Lost Cash
You’ve probably seen the headlines about billions of dollars in lost money held by governments. They’re true, and some of the money might be yours. You don’t have to pay someone to find the money and return it to you. It’s easy to locate most of the lost money and have it returned. But a […]
How to Write an Ethical Will for Your Estate Planning
Your estate plan is part of your legacy, but your legacy should be more than financial assets, material possessions and legal documents. For more and more people, the final touch to their estate plans is what sometimes is known as an ethical will. Others have called it a legacy letter, heritage will, family philosophy statement, […]
8 Questions Your Children Need to Be Able to Answer
Many estate plans fail, and often not because of any flaws in the documents or the plans. Estate plan failures frequently occur in the implementation and execution. Especially important are actions taken by others, often your children. They’re likely to be the ones putting key parts of the plan into action, not you. To ensure […]
How to Protect Your IRAs for Beneficiaries: A Simple Estate Planning Guide
How do you increase the odds your IRA will last for a long time? Be sure your beneficiaries know what they need to do! Many people have substantial balances in traditional IRAs. Often, a prime goal is for the IRA to help provide for the next generation or two. One way to do so is […]
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