6 Excellent Estate Planning Tips to Get Your Affairs in Order

Sooner or later everybody is going to need an estate plan.  The only questions you should be asking is “when?” and “who wrote the plan, you or the government?”

No matter how much you own, you should have your affairs in order.  You want to give what you have, to who you want, how you want, and in a timely manner.  Your family will appreciate the fact that you took the time to get your financial, legal, and personal houses in order.

You want to save your loved ones and spouse from going through the emotional ordeal and financial expense of court proceedings. Get your financial house in order.

If something should happen suddenly, the people left behind can be in a lot of trouble.  Don’t ever think you are too young to get your house in order.

Make Sure You Know Who Gets What

You need to make sure that you determine who gets what.  The quickest, cheapest, and easiest way is through a Last Will and Testament.  However, that may not always be the most efficient way.

If you don’t determine ahead of time who gets what, the government has already decided who gets what, how much, and how long they must wait.  Typically, your spouse and children are first.  But, if you don’t have any close relatives, what you have may end up going to the government.

Be very clear on who gets what.  This is one time when you don’t get a second chance to decide.

Decide How Your Money Will Be Spent

You can go beyond who gets what, and decide when and how the money will be spent.

By setting money aside and putting conditions on having the money, you can maintain control for many years to come.

Match Your Plan to Your Stage in Life

Everybody has a different and unique situation.  Everybody needs a unique and different plan to match their situation.

You plan will be different before children, with young children, with teen children, after your children are out of the house, when you retire, and when and if your health declines.  Each stage of life needs an updated plan.

Many people think it’s foolish to setup a plan, only to recreate it just a few years later.  Nothing is further from the truth.  The more foolish move is to do nothing.

Do All You Can to Protect You and Your Money

You should use every tool you have at your disposal to protect yourself, your family, and your money.

Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare powers of attorney, HIPAA waivers, and living wills (advance directives) are the basic tools available.  However, your attorney may know of tools specific to your state that can be used to create an even better plan.

Study the tools available to you, pay attention to an estate planning expert attorney, and use the tools to protect everybody and everything you can.

Plan to Minimize Taxes

Just because you can have up to about 5.5 million dollars before estate tax kicks in, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for it.  Congress can change, and has radically changed, that limit many times.  One year it was a few hundred thousand.

The estate tax rate starts at 40%.  You shouldn’t be caught in a plan that did nothing to plan for taxes, just to find that the limit has been changed downwards and now your family owes a large amount in taxes.

Insurance to Cover Costs

You can use term or permanent insurance to cover your final expenses and costs.  You should strongly consider either pre-arrangement insurance or pre-paying your final costs.

Otherwise, your estate can be asked to pay off your final debts and expenses, reducing what your family will get in the end.

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