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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5 Important Estate Planning Steps for Your Portfolio – An Estate Planning Checklist
How will your investment portfolio and other assets be managed in the future? The odds are that, after you no longer are managing the assets, nothing good is going to happen. Many people neglect to include an investment portfolio transition in their estate plans, so the returns flounder or worse. Many estate planners don’t realize […]
How to Avoid Having An Obsolete Estate Planning Strategy
An estate plan needs regular maintenance, and sometimes an overhaul. Otherwise, a great plan can become obsolete or flawed, or even a clunker. Much like many types of property, if an estate plan is neglected, time and outside forces can cause it to decay or break down. As much as we’d like to work on […]
Another Celebrity Estate Planning Lesson
Frank Zappa passed away some years ago and left his musical legacy in a trust with his wife in charge. His wife had the right to change the terms of the trust. It turns out she did change the trust to favor the couple’s two younger children at the expense of the older children. Apparently […]
7 Missing Estate Planning Mistakes You Must Identify
Your estate plan is likely to have gaps. Most people, especially those with at least modest wealth, have engaged in some Estate Planning. But few people have complete plans, even many people who think their plans are complete. There are plenty of anecdotes to support the statement, but there also is concrete evidence. I regularly […]
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How to Weed Outdated Assumptions from your Estate Planning Strategy
Is your estate plan based on some incorrect assumptions? Unfortunately, it probably is. A lot of changes occurred over the years, and they affect the underlying assumptions of many plans. Plus, some traditional estate planning assumptions weren’t valid in the first place. We know that, because we have better information now. Be sure that neither […]
Estate Planning for Your Collectibles and Treasures
One of the most difficult problems in Estate Planning is determining how to handle personal collections and similar special assets. Often the owner has devoted more than money to these assets. The collection is a special interest that consumed much time and attention, and there probably is an emotional investment as well. The owner had […]
The Little-Known Estate Planning Advantages of Revocable Trusts
Many estate planners recommend revocable Living Trusts to their clients. Often simply called living trusts, the tool has been around for centuries. Despite its longevity, many people don’t realize the many advantages of using living trusts in their estate plans. Usually living trusts are recommended as a way to avoid probate, and they are one […]
Estate Planning Strategies for Navigating the Kiddie Tax
Shifting assets and income to your children and grandchildren can provide many benefits, including tax benefits. That’s why Congress set up hurdles to keep you from enjoying all the potential tax benefits. When planning gifts of investments to your loved ones, be aware of the kiddie tax. This tax was created in 1986 to reduce […]
