change your individual brokerage accounts into trust accounts & perhaps update your life insurance. Arrange to update accounts with your advisors, i.e.Please discuss this step with your attorney to make sure you get it right. SIX: Implement the plan, once the plan is in place, it must then be implemented. Have the attorney draw up the documents and review the ENTIRE plan with the attorney to make sure it fits your goals and roles as you outlined above in step two.You are paying them to write a document that takes care of your loved ones. Be extremely open with your attorney as to what you want.You can call us as well, we know a handful of qualified attorneys we would be happy to introduce you to. If you don’t know a good attorney, ask a friend whom you trust for a referral.I have outlined some figures to help you understand the questions that will be asked by your attorney when drafting your final estate plan documents.įIVE: Schedule your appointment with an attorney Power of Attorney for Health Care (a.k.a.Draw a picture of what your estate plan should look like keeping in mind the four components that are essential to an estate plan listed below.Gather all titles to your assets and review all your beneficiary selections for retirement accounts. Gather all your financial data (bank, brokerage and retirement accounts).Also make sure to appoint backups for all these roles. If there is no one that you want to be your executor, you can hire a professional executor whom you can pay with the proceeds of your estate. Choose these appointees carefully as they will be required to deal with a lot of work and need to make decisions on your behalf when you are no longer there. Figure out whom you wish to saddle with the responsibility of distributing your trust and whom will be the guardians of your children (if you have minor children).If there are loved ones in your life that you want to make sure they are cared for, like an elderly parent or a special needs stepchild, make sure to remember them when getting the estate plan drawn up. Also, figure out ahead of time if there are specific gifts you wish to give to a particular person or charity? Make sure that you remember to specify them in your trust.An age-based distribution might be 20% at age 25, 50% at age 35 and the remainder at age 50. To whom do you wish to distribute them and how would you like them distributed? For example, all at once or over time, etc.What do you want to happen with your assets when you aren’t around to make decisions about them?.Keep your plan simple and your estate plan will also be simple.Having a plan in mind will help avoid costly pitfalls or potential family squabbles in the future.The more time you put into planning, the better the result and the easier the process.Estate planning isn’t complicated however, it does require planning and forethought.ONE: If you want to create a solid estate plan the two most important things you can do are create a plan and hire an attorney to execute the plan. Your ability to control the disposition of your assets from the grave is a powerful tool but it must be wielded for the benefit of your heirs and ostensibly minimize the power of the state. It is important to keep in mind that estate planning isn’t about you, it’s about those you care about. It is designed to help people easily understand what is in a proper estate plan, what each part does and how to prepare to create or update an estate plan. This is an updated reprint of a post I created in early 2016.
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