Everybody Needs An Estate Plan
Estate planning is not just about taxes and not just for the wealthy. You need a plan which defines the management of your wealth while you’re alive and specifies the distribution of it after your death. You want to choose who will have what role in managing this plan and make sure that they have the tools they need to efficiently wpmasters and effectively reach your goals. You need a plan which accounts for tax issues – both estate tax and income tax – as well as people issues, such as whether those you intend to inherit from you are ready to manage their inheritance or might benefit from protections you can provide in your plan.
When we talk about an estate, we mean all assets of any value that you own, including real property, cash, investments, insurance proceeds, business interests, retirement accounts, personal property and even your personal effects. No two people have exactly the same assets and certainly no two people have the same family and loved ones. Everybody needs a plan, but not everybody needs the same plan. The core of estate planning is working with a knowledgeable attorney to determine your personal and family goals and choose which tools will be most effective in reaching them.
The goal for attorney and client should be clarity. We educate and counsel our clients with the goal of giving them an understanding of the issues, including clarity with respect to what can go wrong as well as what opportunities exist for getting things right for the client and his or her loved ones.
