Admittedly, initiating for and having an estate plan sounds intimidating for many. And yet, seeking the advice and help of an experienced estate planning attorney is very important if you want to protect not only your hard-earned money and properties but also your loved ones.
At the very least, having a thorough estate plan is what your loved ones can use as a clear written guidance that will ensure your contributions toward the community or family legacy will continue even at end-of-life. To know more reasons you need one, check out the following.
Wealth Transfer Strategy
An estate plan will help in ensuring both the current and future financial security for you and your loved ones, letting you transfer your wealth based on your wishes and eliminating any unnecessary expenses and taxes.
A good estate planning lawyer will work with and for you and your family. One will also help you determine all your long-term plans and financial goals. He can also help you figure out how to structure your estate assets, minimizing your tax liabilities while maximizing your assets’ value.
With help from an estate planning lawyer, you can ensure that you and your loved ones can take the right steps to reduce your tax liability while taking the best actions to help in financing remaining future tax liabilities.
To Maintain Your Privacy
This estate plan will protect and keep your privacy because your assets won’t become public information at end-of-life especially if a probate court is required to take this action on your assets. This court assists in settling your estate, but the estate plan will get rid of its involvement.
An estate plan will include a list of your updated account information and passwords. Some of these include bank accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers. The plan will let that information be available upon your disability or death, but if you don’t include such information on the plan, your loved ones might have to wait a long time to unlock your accounts.
Protects Families With Young Children
To protect your children is one of the reasons to put together an estate plan. It will also protect adult heirs/beneficiaries from outside influences, their bad decisions, divorcing spouses and creditor problems.
For families with young children as beneficiaries, all the state laws are requiring a conservator or guardian to be assigned to manage the finances and needs of minor heirs until they become 18 or 21 years old based on the laws where they are living.
An estate plan can also help in preventing any costly legal expenses and family discord because it can include the name/s of the trustee/guardian for the minor beneficiaries. When the time comes that they become adults but are poor at finance management, the estate plan will also be able to protect them from their bad decisions or outside influences.
Stops Heirs From Overpaying In Taxes
If you want your heirs to avoid overpaying taxes, you should have an estate plan in place. Or else, taxes, such as state inheritance taxes, will negatively hit your entire estate. When this happens, what you left will become less than what you have intended to leave to your heirs/beneficiaries.
With guidance from a good estate-planning lawyer, you can transfer your assets to your beneficiaries who will be able to pay the smallest taxes possible, making the entire process less costly and easier for them.
In some cases, married couples can also prevent paying hefty estate taxes via ABC trusts, AB trusts or revocable living trusts.
An estate planning lawyer can also help you come up with other techniques to reduce estate taxes. So with a plan in place, the tax costs will be less significant for your heirs than without one.
Protect Yourself In Case You Become Disabled
Many people suffer from a sort of disability in the old age. But with a well-designed estate plan, you can arrange how you exactly want to handle the situation when you become disabled.
By having a disability plan, you can be certain that the assigned individual will have control over your assets. Or else, they may be assigned to a legal guardian that might not work on your favor by mishandling your wealth.
Final Thoughts
Definitely, you need an estate plan in place because it is a wealth transfer strategy, minor beneficiary protection, and privacy assurance. It is also the best tool that can ensure that your heirs will stop paying costly taxes in the future.
With the help of an estate planning attorney, you can be certain that your family and your assets will be taken care of upon your death. As early as now, you may want to consult an expert in estate planning to prepare the right plan and ensure that your loved ones and legacies are protected.