Most people plan their vacations and their dinner reservations better than the inheritance of their estate. While this latter task isn’t as fun as planning a trip for the family, estate planning should receive more attention.
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Estate planning isn’t limited to the rich. The absence of an estate plan, even in the absence of farm land, shares of stock, an expensive home, a large investment account, or valuable pieces to hand down, means that the state will provide a plan for you. This may or may not be what you want.
A common estate plan involves a living trust is a legal document that a person creates with the assistance of an attorney. In this document, a person appoints one or more trustee(s) and a beneficiary. It’s usual for the person who creates a living trust to be its trustee and beneficiary. Yet in some cases, they might choose to appoint a person or an institution to be the trustee.
A person appoints a successor trustee to take over in the occurrence of death or incapacity; a person also designates the heirs. The trust should include a provision allowing for its amendment or revocation at any time. This affords the peace of mind of having planned the designation of assets to heirs without probate.
If a person desires for their loved ones and their assets to be protected in the event of death or incapacity, an estate plan is definitely needed. Without it, those who will inherit the assets might be faced with large tax burdens, and the courts could designate how the assets will be divided.
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Dan DeKoter is an “AV” rated lawyer, the highest rating given by the premier peer review service as seen at lawyers.com. He has litigated multi-million dollar lawsuits for both plaintiffs and defendants. Visit his firm’s website for more on his practice areas.
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