Creating an estate plan is an important step in ensuring that your wishes are carried out and your assets are distributed according to your wishes. It is a complex process that requires careful consideration of your family situation, assets, and legal and tax implications. This guide will provide you with the steps you need to take to create a comprehensive estate plan. To get started, check the inside and outside of your home and make a list of all your valuables. This includes tangible items such as furniture, jewelry, artwork, and collectibles.
You should also make a list of memberships, such as gym memberships or club memberships. Next, start adding your non-tangible assets to your list, such as things you own on paper or other rights that are based on your death. Items listed here include brokerage accounts, 401 (k) plans, IRAs, bank accounts, life insurance policies and other policies such as long-term care, homeowners, auto, disability and health insurance. Everyone over the age of 18 must have a will. It is the regulation for the distribution of your assets and could avoid havoc between your heirs.
A will can also name a guardian for your minor children and designate who should care for your pets. You can also leave assets to charitable organizations through your will. If you have changed jobs over the years, there is a good chance that you have several different 401 (k) retirement plans open with previous employers or perhaps even several different IRAs. You may want to consider consolidating these accounts into a single individual IRA. Account consolidation enables better investment options, lower costs, greater investment selection, less paperwork and easier management. Preparing and updating your estate planning documents ensures that your estate is managed according to your intentions.
Our checklist helps you prepare or update your estate plan. One of the benefits of a solid estate plan is that you can formalize your wishes in writing. This can help if someone challenges what you said they wanted after you died or if they can't speak for themselves. Retirement plans, such as 401 (k) workplace plans and individual retirement accounts should also be included in an estate plan. While his estate may not be as large or complex as that of a famous singer, it is important to have a plan in place in the event of his death. If this happens, your goods and assets will have to be distributed according to the law, which means you lose control over who receives what. There are also many other financial reasons why you'll need an estate plan, besides estate tax issues.
For example, if a new child has been received into the family, you may want to include him or her as a beneficiary of your estate.
Estate planning
is the process that underpins what you would like to happen to your assets and other matters when you die. As part of drawing up your estate plan, not only will you have to decide what will happen to you and your property if you become disabled and what should happen to your property after you die, but you will also need to decide who should be in charge of carrying out your wishes. The role of the executor is to carry out your wishes as specified in your will, and they have the power to manage the estate. If you've made it this far and decided to use a revocable living trust as the basis of your estate plan, you'll need to put your assets in your trust's name and update the beneficiaries of your life insurance policies and retirement accounts to match the provisions of your trust. Once you have your foundational estate plan in place and your need for advanced estate planning has been addressed, if your foundational estate plan includes a revocable living trust, you will need to finance your property in the trust. An estate plan can also include who takes care of your affairs if you lose the ability to make wise decisions later in life, where your retirement is going, and more. Being prepared with an estate plan could go a long way in avoiding such disagreements should family members need to divide assets among themselves or make other difficult decisions on their behalf. For help developing a comprehensive estate plan that covers all the necessary matters, it is generally recommended that you seek independent legal advice.Estate planning can be a complex process and there could be legal and tax implications if you don't set things up correctly and don't understand the fine print. Whether you should hire a lawyer or estate tax professional to help you create your estate plan usually depends on your situation. And, regardless of your net worth, you'll need to assess your overall need for an estate plan by looking at your family situation. Once your will is finalized, signed, testified, and notarized, you'll want to make sure your estate manager receives a copy.
