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:

• What is Estate Planning – A Comprehensive Overview

Estate Planning Strategies

Asset Declines are an Estate Planning Opportunity

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

There is at least one silver lining in today’s dark cloud – Estate Planning opportunities are being created. Today we have a rare opportunity to transfer wealth to younger generations while incurring very low gift and estate taxes. Falling market prices and low interest rates are a great combination for estate planners. If the price […]

Trusts

How the Turmoil Can Alter Trusts

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

The financial crisis is causing major changes in the banking business, and that will lead to changes at trust companies and in trustees. Trust creators and beneficiaries need to at least monitor the situation and might need to take action. Many trusts have a corporate trustee or co-trustee, such as a bank or trust company. […]

Estate Planning Mistakes

Why Most Estate Plans Fail

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

A large percentage of estate plans fail to achieve one or more of their goals, and many of them fail for a surprising reason. In past visits we discussed the ways trustees, heirs, changed circumstances, and new laws upend estate plans. What we have not discussed is the most surprising and perhaps most frequent reason […]

Estate Planning Mistakes

How to Save Your Estate Plan

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Too often what seems like a great estate plan fails to achieve its goals. Sometimes the execution is wrong. Other times the owner failed to take one or more key steps. One often-overlooked step is to ensure that the estate prevails in any audit by the IRS or state tax authorities. Estate tax returns are […]

Gifts and Gift Giving

7 Safe Ways to Give Wealth

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Gift giving is the surest way to reduce estate taxes, help loved ones of all ages, and establish a legacy. Yet, many people are hesitant to make significant gifts to loved ones, because of the potential pitfalls. Those pitfalls, however, can be avoided with some shrewd and creative strategies to give wealth. Potential givers see […]

Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Children

Estate Planning to Avoid Rags to Riches to Rags: Inheritance Planning for Heirs and Beneficiaries

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

The pattern for family wealth seems fixed. Different times and different cultures display the same pattern. The first generation builds wealth, and the second generation shepherds or preserves it. The third and succeeding generations spend until it is dissipated. There are a few examples of families in which wealth lasted many generations but many more […]

Estate Planning Forms and Documents

What is Your Estate Plan Missing? The Importance of the Proper Forms and Documents

July 1, 2008

Publication: Retirement Watch Weekly

Many people believe that a will and a trust or two is an estate plan. Others think that a living trust or joint title with a spouse is all they need. That is why most estate plans are woefully incomplete. There is much more to an estate plan. Heirs and loved ones often suffer from […]