Estate Planning & Probate

What is estate planning and why do we need to do that to protect our family?  According to Wikipedia, estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging during a person's life, for the management and disposal of that person's estate during a person's life and at and after death, while minimizing gift, estate, generation skipping transfer and income tax.  Estate planning includes planning for incapacity as well as a process of reducing or eliminating uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximizing the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. The ultimate goal of estate planning can be determined by the specific goals of the client, and may be as simple or complex as the client's needs dictate. Guardians are often designated for minor children and beneficiaries in incapacity. 

What is probate? From Wikipedia, probate is is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased.  There are good reasons why we should try to avoid probate.  First, that it can tie up the property for months, sometimes more than a year. Second, it is expensive. Attorney and court fees can take up to 5% of an estate's value. 

It is not hard to avoid probate. This can be avoided by setting up a living trust. Living trusts were invented to let people make an end-run around probate. The advantage of holding your valuable property in trust is that after your death, the trust property is not part of your probate estate. (It is, however, counted as part of your estate for federal estate tax purposes.) That's because a trustee -- not you as an individual -- owns the trust property. After your death, the trustee can easily and quickly transfer the trust property to the family or friends you left it to, without probate. You specify in the trust document, which is similar to a will, who you want to inherit the property.

For better example, see article from Legacy Shield:  Call me or email me for more info.