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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6 Misunderstood IRA Rules and Strategies
IRAs aren’t the simple vehicles they seemed when they were new. Baby Boomers have reached the stages of life when the rules are more complicated and full of pitfalls. Here’s a guide to the top questions people are asking and mistakes many are making. Required minimum distribution mistake #1. Most taxpayers have to take a […]
Recent Changes in Estate Planning and Gift Tax Laws
Congress continues to debate whether or not to eliminate the estate tax, but other changes in the estate and gift tax law will take effect by January 1, 2018. The Treasury Department withdrew the controversial proposed regulations that would have eliminated or curtailed many of the strategies the wealthy use to reduce estate taxes. The […]
5 Ways to Enhance Your Legacy with Beneficiary Bequests and Charitable Gifts and Trusts
Legacy planning can be a powerful part of your estate plan. Not all gifts are created equal, especially charitable gifts. You can leverage the benefits of your gifts, enhancing the financial security of yourself and your heirs while being philanthropic. Estate planners often refer to these strategies as planned gifts or planned giving. Often, gifts […]
Happy Thanksgiving 2017
Happy Thanksgiving 2017 I prepared this week’s Bob’s Journal early and in a different format because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Next week, I’ll be back to our regular journal entry. Once again, this has been a year of surprises, but none of them derailed the economy or the stock markets. One year ago, many analysts […]
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An Overview of Estate Settlement for Executors, Trustees, and Beneficiaries
After someone dies, an executor is in charge of the estate. There are a lot of steps involved in the estate settlement process. This article gives an overview of the many steps involved with tips on how to handle them. Sometimes, an executor may not even be needed. The most obvious reason being if an […]
Estate Planning Strategy: How to Transfer Real Estate to Family, Heirs and Beneficiaries
Some assets require special Estate Planning. One such asset is what I sometimes call heirloom real estate, or family real estate. This is a property that’s been in the family for a while and that you’d like to continue in family ownership. Heirloom real estate includes vacation homes or other second homes, farms, a longtime […]
Avoiding Guardianship
Your estate plan needs to designate who will handle your affairs when you aren’t able to. Ideally, you’ll begin transitioning things to this agent (or agents) before you really need the help. That’s because the alternative often is that someone you don’t know petitions a court to be appointed your guardian. States have different rules […]
Shelter Your Financial Security from Natural Disasters
The recent string of high-profile natural disasters caught many people by surprise — and created major gaps in their financial security. If you made it through these disasters with few or no problems, say a prayer of thanks and realize it likely is only a matter of time before a potentially catastrophic event rolls your way. It doesn’t have to be an historic […]
