Many people plan their estates diligently, with input from legal, tax and financial professionals. Others plan earnestly but make mistakes that can potentially affect both the transfer and destiny of family wealth.
Every family has one–or maybe more–black sheep. They’re people who march to their own drum and handing them an inheritance could be problematic.
Creating a will is one of the most basic elements of estate planning. There are different types of wills you can choose from, including a simple will.
In a nutshell, an estate plan encompasses the accumulation, conservation and distribution of an estate. Done well, it will enhance and maintain the financial security of the next generation.
A living trust is an estate planning legal document that contains your instructions and authorization for what you want to happen to your assets, when you become disabled or pass away.
Taking a few simple steps now can potentially help save your beneficiaries thousands in legal fees and taxes.
Low interest rates and looming potential tax changes make this a good time for high-net-worth clients to use a special tool to transfer wealth: the grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT), a strategy to reduce future estate taxes, by transferring assets to beneficiaries without using the lifetime gift tax exclusion.
The steady drone of coronavirus news these past nine months has spurred countless older Americans to face a long-procrastinated task: writing—or rewriting—their wills.
With the prospect of a Biden administration potentially raising tax rates and cutting estate tax exclusion amounts in half, some well-off taxpayers may be looking for a way to ease their burden, even while contributing to their favorite charities. A donor-advised fund may well be that opportunity.
In situations where both spouses want the surviving spouse to inherit all the assets, which is often the case, a joint trust can be far less complicated to set up and maintain than separate trusts, with less headaches for the surviving spouse.
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