ESTATE PLANNING
An AARP report indicates that only 60% of individuals over age 50 have wills. Only 45% of these people have durable powers of attorney and only 30% have advance medical directives. 100% of these individuals more than likely need all three estate planning documents. Of those that have a comprehensive estate plan, the vast majority have not reviewed their plans in years.
An estate plan that incorporates an additional document, a revocable trust, can in many situations have added benefits and advantages. Revocable trusts offer particular advantage when one’s estate is or will be subject to federal estate taxes; wherein one desires upon one’s death, to provide for a spouse who is not the mother or father of one’s children and at the same time to assure that funds not needed by the surviving spouse ultimately pass to one’s children or grandchildren; when one wants upon one’s death to avoid the probate process with its associated costs, fees, taxes, and potential delays; and when one wants to provide for some type of investment management and administrative help for a surviving spouse, children, or grandchildren.
Still other trust arrangements can protect assets from a beneficiary’s creditors, provide management for an incompetent beneficiary, a beneficiary under some other type of disability, a beneficiary’s educational needs, or simply a beneficiary who needs spendthrift guidance.
Of primary importance in any estate plan is the individual, banking institution, or trust company you choose to carry out your wishes upon your death or incapacity. The fiduciary you choose may act as an executor, trustee, or agent depending on the estate planning vehicle under which they act. In every case the fiduciary should be experienced in money management matters, capable of exercising sound judgment, and above all trustworthy.
Any type of estate plan should be periodically reviewed, particularly if one moves from one state to another, family situations change, financial assets increase or decrease in values, and one’s desires as to ultimate disposition of assets or wishes as to healthcare arrangements change.
Attorney Tex McKinnon offers free initial estate planning consultations and/or reviews of existing estate plans.