ESTATE PLANNING

Strategic Wealth Preservation, Protection & Planning

• What is estate planning?
• What should proper estate planning include?
• Does it make sense to use an attorney?
• When should I start my estate plan?
• What sorts of instructions are made as part of an estate plan?

What is estate planning?
Estate planning is the process to consider alternatives, analyze, and set up effective arrangements that meet your specific wishes if something happens to you or those you care about. Good planning is more than a simple Will. Estate planning minimizes potential taxes and fees, and sets up contingency planning to make sure your wishes regarding health care treatment are followed.

A good estate plan coordinates what happens with your home, your investments, your business, your life insurance, your employee benefits (such as a 401K plan), and other property in the event you became disabled or die.

A good estate plan includes directions for your health care so if you are unable to give directions for yourself, someone you select will make decisions for you, and know what decisions to make for you; when you want heroic measures and when you want them to die with dignity.

Proper estate planning should include:

• Planning to help you maintain control of your assets during your lifetime;
• Planning that takes care of you and your loved ones in the event you become disabled;
• Planning that helps you give what you have to whom you want, the way you want and when you want;
• Planning that helps you save every last tax dollar, professional fee and court cost legally possible.

Does it make sense to use an estate planning lawyer? Is it expensive?
Only a lawyer who regularly practices in trusts, probate and estate planning is able to provide you with sound legal advice as you put your estate plan in place.
When you speak with a lawyer, you can get answers to your questions—including how much it would cost.

Often the expense incurred in retaining an estate planning lawyer to prepare and help you plan your estate is worth hundreds of times what you and your family would pay with no planning or poor planning. It also avoids the financial and emotional nightmares that can occur with a poorly drafted (or improper) plan.

When should I start my estate plan?
You can only prepare and implement an estate plan while you are alive and have legal capacity to enter into a contract. If you are unable to manage your own affairs or suffer from some other disability which affects your legal capacity, your estate plan may be effectively challenged by those who assert that you lacked capacity at the time the documents were created, or that you were subjected to fraud, coercion or undue influence during the creation and implementation of your plan.

The best time to start an estate plan is now, while you have the capacity to do so.

What sort of instructions are part of an estate plan?
An estate plan usually consists of several documents that set forth your instructions.

Some documents are used to control health care decisions, others control your property in the event of your incapacity, and still other documents will control the distribution of your property in the event of your death.

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