Drafting a last will and testament can help to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes after you pass away. You can also use your will to name a legal guardian for minor children or choose an executor for your estate.
An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some–but not all–of the challenges that the new act presents.
Low interest rates and looming potential tax changes make this a good time for high-net-worth clients to use a special tool to transfer wealth: the grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT), a strategy to reduce future estate taxes, by transferring assets to beneficiaries without using the lifetime gift tax exclusion.
Is it better to transfer the title of the home to us, or to leave it as it is given her age and go through probate?
Your real estate holdings, life insurance, bank accounts and retirement savings won’t magically flow into your trust.
A trustee is a manager of assets in a trust. The grantor creates the trust and appoints the trustee. A trustee has a ‘fiduciary duty’ to serve the grantor and not benefit personally.
Estate planning generally focuses primarily on lifetime protection and post-death distribution of assets. Special needs planning focuses primarily on the individual beneficiary’s lifestyle and care needs.
Probate is a process to transfer the assets after someone dies. For example, when a homeowner passes, probate allows for the home to be sold or transferred, if necessary, even though the owner is no longer alive to sign a deed.
If you’re single and die in 2020, you can have up to $11.58 million in assets before your heirs have to worry about paying a penny in estate taxes.
Estate planning is the process of transferring the management of your assets, if and when you are unable to manage them yourself due to disability or death. Whether you have $100 or $100 million you should have an estate plan.
