Estate Planning - Why is it important to me?
Mar 22, 2011
You've worked hard your entire life to accumulate assets. You have an "estate." There's no doubt you've spent much time planning, saving and investing for your foreseeable future, but what happens after that? Estate planning is an important and essential step in your inclusive plan.
What is Estate Planning and Why is It Important to Me?
Estate planning is the process of creating a plan for administering and distributing an individual's property before and/or after his/her passing. Regardless of your net worth, it's crucial to have an estate plan in place.
By creating a plan in writing today, you may save time, money and frustration for you and your loved ones tomorrow.
Here are some examples of what an appropriate estate plan could accomplish:• Ensure your assets go to the heirs you have chosen.
• Establish directives per your wishes, or give the authority to another person (such as a family member) to make critical decisions should you become incapacitated or in an end-of-life medical condition.
• Eliminate or reduce various types of taxation on specific assets and/or the entire estate.
• Establish guardians for children until they reach legal age.
• Establish a trust or trusts for the care of special-needs children, or adults, or your pets.
• Avoid the publicity and significant delays related to probate; may eliminate probate entirely.
• Remove assets such as real estate, life insurance death benefits, etc. from your estate during your lifetime to reduce the size of your estate while still being able to use or benefit from the assets during your lifetime.
• Make charitable gifts out of your estate, continue to benefit from or use the gift within your lifetime, and take advantage of tax deductions during your lifetime.
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What is Estate Planning and Why is It Important to Me?
Estate planning is the process of creating a plan for administering and distributing an individual's property before and/or after his/her passing. Regardless of your net worth, it's crucial to have an estate plan in place.
By creating a plan in writing today, you may save time, money and frustration for you and your loved ones tomorrow.
Here are some examples of what an appropriate estate plan could accomplish:• Ensure your assets go to the heirs you have chosen.
• Establish directives per your wishes, or give the authority to another person (such as a family member) to make critical decisions should you become incapacitated or in an end-of-life medical condition.
• Eliminate or reduce various types of taxation on specific assets and/or the entire estate.
• Establish guardians for children until they reach legal age.
• Establish a trust or trusts for the care of special-needs children, or adults, or your pets.
• Avoid the publicity and significant delays related to probate; may eliminate probate entirely.
• Remove assets such as real estate, life insurance death benefits, etc. from your estate during your lifetime to reduce the size of your estate while still being able to use or benefit from the assets during your lifetime.
• Make charitable gifts out of your estate, continue to benefit from or use the gift within your lifetime, and take advantage of tax deductions during your lifetime.