Estate Planning – Protecting Your Future

Writing your will and arranging your family’s financial affairs is the process commonly called estate planning. Estate planning assures you that your property passes to others just as you direct, as efficiently as possible.

Common goals of estate planning include reducing estate and gift taxes, assuring the financial security of minor children or elderly family members and asset protection

Despite its name, estate planning also can involve arranging your financial affairs during your lifetime, such as in the event you become disabled.

A typical estate plan will include the following documents:

• Will: written instructions for how assets will be distributed when you die.

If you die without a will, the state determines who gets a significant part of your property.

• Trust: a practical and flexible legal device by which people you select (your “Trustees”) manage assets for the benefit of others you name (the “beneficiaries”).
  • If you have minor children, a trust can manage and protect their inheritance until they are old enough to do it for themselves.
  • If you leave a large enough estate that it subject to the estate tax, a trust can help reduce or eliminate the tax.
  • If you have a blended family, a trust can help you provide for children or grandchildren and protect their assets.
• Power of Attorney: a written authorization to have someone (your “attorney-in-fact”) act for you in financial matters.

If you are incapacitated, you may need someone to write checks or sell some of your assets for you.

• Advance Medical Directive: a document that states your wishes about the use of life-prolonging medical care if you become terminally ill, and names an agent who will determine what medical treatments you will receive while you are alive but unable to decide for yourself.

This document expresses your wishes and can take pressure off of your family members who want to do the right thing.

To learn more about Estate Planning and other asset protection tools, please feel free to contact one of our attorneys.

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