Reports

Many people think of estate planning as a life event. You spend some time with your estate planning attorney and talk about your goals, plans, dreams, and fears for the future.

Find out the most common reasons why it is important to do estate planning such as avoiding probate, protecting your assets and designating someone who will manage your affairs after your pass away. These are all important matters that should not be ignored.

The question of what will happen to your children without you or their own partner will be answered someday. In preparation for the unexpected and the inevitable, it is important to set up a proper estate plan.

Why create an estate plan? As 2013 started, the estate planning world had a new law: The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA), enacted January 2, 2013.

One thing should be clear by now: we do our families and ourselves a great disservice when we fail to plan for every contingency. That’s why a crucial first step in this entire process should be a consultation with an estate planning attorney.

Chances are you’ve already heard a lot about the attributes of Living Trusts: avoiding probate and legal quagmires, sometimes lowering estate and/or income taxes and protecting privacy.

As citizens of a culture that worships youth, most of us find it nearly impossible to admit our own mortality, much less make plans for that eventuality. Denial, however, offers no protection from the inevitable.

For surviving family members, the hours and days following a loved one’s death is no time for weighty decisions. For many Americans, however, this will be the first time they think about the preparations for their loved one’s funeral.

Our firm has found that looking after these financial assets is only a part of planning for passing on your legacy. Typically speaking, non-financial assets are more valued and often omitted when passing an estate to future generations.

Estate planning is an essential part of life and death. In planning for our future and our family’s future, we must take stock of who we are, what our goals are, and how we want our estate distributed.