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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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10 Essential Actions for Every Estate Plan Checklist

June 27, 2018

There are basic actions that should be taken in your Estate Planning, whether the estate is taxable or not. Too many people still believe that because their estates aren’t taxable under federal law, they don’t need to do any estate planning. Others think they’ll wait until the dust settles on the 2017 tax law before […]

estate planning

Managing the Key Players in Your Estate Planning Strategy (Your Heirs, Beneficiaries, Executors, and Trustees)

June 22, 2018

In last week’s story, we reviewed the major potential “surrogates” in estate plans (the agents, trustees, executors, and others). Today we offer some pointers for reducing problems you may face with surrogate designations. Know all the surrogates you designated Review financial accounts, insurance policies, and estate planning documents to be sure you know who currently […]

estate planning

The #1 Rule to Follow in Your Estate Planning: Executor and Trustee Designations

June 15, 2018

There’s a time bomb ticking in many estate plans, possibly even in yours. You likely won’t even know if the bomb goes off… or, for that matter, how big the explosion will be. You see, the “bomb” is the person — or people — you name to act for you. Whether they act during your […]

estate planning

The 2 Most Common Causes of Estate Planning Failures

June 8, 2018

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 […]

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estate planning

Legacy Planning & Your Estate Planning: Part 2

May 25, 2018

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

May 24, 2018

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

May 22, 2018

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 […]

Winning Your Treasure Hunt for Lost Cash

May 4, 2018

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 […]

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