What is an Estate Plan?

The process of “Estate Planning” is the formulation of a definite plan for managing your assets while one is alive and the distribution of those assets after one’s death.

What do most people want out of an Estate Plan?

The three most common reasons for having an Estate Plan include:

• To insure that, after death, property is distributed to those people they have previously chosen.
• To maximize the value of their assets gifted to their beneficiaries by not exposing them to either court or attorney fees.
• To reduce or avoid paying federal and state estate and income tax liabilities upon death.

What Estate Planning options exist?

Four basic options exist in Estate Planning:

• Do nothing, probably go to probate, and risk exposing your assets to undue taxation.
• Title assets “jointly.”
• Create a Will.
• Create a Trust(s).