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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Plan QCDs Early in the Year and Before Your RMDs
At the start of a new year, one of the first actions many of my readers should take is to plan the year’s qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) and required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs. QCDs should be considered first, because they can reduce the income taxes on your RMDs. Even if you don’t have […]
The Focus of Estate Planning After the Election
The 2024 elections are over and so is much uncertainty about estate planning. It’s now very likely the current lifetime estate and gift tax exemption amount won’t be allowed to expire after 2025. Estate and gift taxes should remain a concern for fewer than 1% of families. But don’t think that means estate planning isn’t […]
Tips for Leaving a Legacy That’s More Than Money
Part of your legacy planning process is deciding wheth- er you want to leave more than money and property to your loved ones and, if so, the best ways to do that. More and more people are interested in looking beyond finances to leave their heirs something meaningful and intangible. The Covid-19 pandemic seemed to […]
Simple Asset Protection Strategies to Defend Your Estate
Many people would like to grab part of your estate, and they know how to take it. Creditors could be targeting some of your property. A loved one could have a problem with gambling, substance abuse, or debt, leaving at least a por- tion of the estate vulnerable. When you or one of your loved […]
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Prepare Now for the 2026 Cliff, a.k.a. Tax Armageddon
Shrewd people are taking time now to consider the actions they should take in the rest of 2024 and 2025 to avoid falling off the tax cliff. The 2026 Cliff, or Tax Armageddon as some prefer, is the scheduled reduction of the current lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. The exemption was doubled in 2017’s […]
Close A Major Estate Planning Gap: Questions Your Spouse and Adult Children Must Be Able to Answer
There’s a major gap in most estate plans. Few estate planners discuss it or provide help with it. The gap causes many plans to fail or be less successful than they should have been. You’ll learn how to close this gap in the latest Retirement Watch Spotlight Series online seminar. In the presentation, I review […]
The Little-Known Benefits of Upstream or Reverse Estate Planning
Families holding stocks or other assets with a lot of appreciation often overlook an easy way to reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes. The strategy is for multi-generation families in which the generations are fairly close and trust each other. Known as upstream or reverse estate planning, the strategy works best when the middle generation […]
How to Avoid Probate Without a Lawyer
About 70% of U.S. adults don’t have a will or trust, according to various surveys. That doesn’t mean those individuals are neglecting their estates. Most people are exempt from estate and gift taxes under current law, so they don’t need a tax avoidance plan. The main goals of estate planning these days are to transfer […]
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Estate Planning Strategies
Estate Tax
Executors and Trustees
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Gifts and Gift Giving
Grandchildren
Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children
IRAs & Your Estate
Power of Attorney
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