Top Five Tips for Wills and Estate Planning
It doesn't matter what the size of your estate is; planning it effectively is how you can make sure that the right people get what you want them to get. If for some reason taxes are an issue, then the plan for your estate will be limited. The top five tips for proper wills and estate planning are mentioned below; follow them to help you safely plan yours with no issues or worries at all.
Decide who gets what – If you do not decide this, then the law will decide who gets everything. This includes everything from vehicles, to jewellery, money, homes and much, much more. It also includes life insurance policies, retirement accounts, etc.
Pick out how the money gets to be spent – This is where a trustee or recipient of the will and or estate of said will and/or estate comes into play; they make sure that the money gets spent how you want it to be spent. For example, have some money reserved to pay for college and other kinds of expenses.
Minimizing estate and income taxes is very important – If you believe that those who inherit your money will owe taxes, there are ways you can minimize this; the best way is through tax-efficient strategies. An example of this proper process is to leave taxable assets to charities and non-taxable assets to your other beneficiaries. Some of the non-taxable assets include life insurance, retirement accounts, etc. Another method is to gift amounts to the beneficiaries while you are alive; it will remain non-taxable as long as the amount is under $13,000.
Put taxes off with insurance – Whomever your beneficiaries are, they can lose a lot of money from taxable assets when they inherit the income taxes or estate. To offset this, you can take out a life insurance policy for the same amount and put it in the name of that beneficiary. An example of this would be if the estate planner estimates that they would owe $300,000 you take out a life insurance policy for $300,000.
It is best to work with a professional team of estate planners – A team is better because you will find yourself needing guidance and advice from several different areas, for example, an estate planning attorney, a financial advisor and a tax professional. When working with a team be sure that everyone is in constant communication with each other and up-to-date.
If you have specific questions about estate planning and putting together a will, contact a business like Delaney & Delaney Solicitors to help you learn more.
