A common piece of estate planning advice is to review your estate plan in light of a major life change. This can include getting married, having a baby or getting a divorce. Add one more event to that list: moving out of state.
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The public nature of probate is a primary reason many people wish to avoid the process to the extent possible. Implementing the proper strategies in your estate plan can protect your privacy.
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Families with a disabled child face difficult estate and financial planning challenges. Two options available to them are a special needs trust and an ABLE account. How do they compare?
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Pitfalls abound when creating and maintaining an estate plan. Here are four to be especially aware of.
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If you possess a beloved family heirloom, make certain you address it properly in your will or living trust to help avoid family disputes after your death.
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Under a new IRS procedure, eligible estates now have up to five years after a deceased spouse’s death to make a portability election request.
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If you’re considering making gifts to, or for the potential benefit of, your grandchildren or other “skip persons,” you’d be wise to account for the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax in your estate plan.
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If you’re preparing to send your child to college this fall, now is the right time to create a basic estate plan with the help of an advisor.
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There are a variety of tools to build flexibility into an estate plan. A power of appointment is a provision that permits another person to determine how, when and to whom certain assets in the estate or trust will be distributed.
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Transferring a family business to the next generation requires a delicate balancing act.
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A charitable lead trust provides a regular income stream to one or more charities during the trust term, after which the remaining assets pass to your heirs or other noncharitable beneficiaries.
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To ensure your desired treatment of adopted children or unadopted stepchildren, you and your spouse or partner must clearly communicate your plans through wills, trusts and other estate planning documents.
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In addition to helping to reduce health care costs, a Health Savings Account can positively affect an estate plan because its funds grow on a tax-deferred basis, potentially building wealth for heirs.
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Splitting gifts with your spouse can reduce your gift tax liability, but specific rules must be followed to avoid unintended outcomes.
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Estate tax planning can get complicated if you or your spouse is a nonresident alien.
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A Crummey trust allows you to leverage the annual gift tax exclusion to transfer substantial amounts of wealth to your family tax free. But pitfalls to this strategy exist.
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Your beneficiary designations and jointly held assets can wreak havoc if you don’t coordinate them carefully with the rest of your estate plan.
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A defined-value gift may be right for you if you’re transferring hard-to-value assets. However, to pass muster with the IRS, precise language must be used in the transfer document.
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Ambiguous language in your estate plan may lead to family disputes after your death.
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If you own real estate in multiple states, consider using a revocable trust to minimize or avoid excessive probate costs after your death.
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