Estate Planning
Estate planning comprises a meticulous process that undertakes planning for situations where a person wouldn’t be able to make their own decisions due to a disability or in the case of their passing. The term estate refers to the property one might own; both tangible and intangible. Your property could be hard cash, bank accounts, property, cars, jewelry, insurance, retirement, investments, savings, etc.
Bequeathing assets to heirs / beneficiaries or an institution and planning for incapacity remain main reasons for planning. However, that’s not all estate planning is limited to. Under this umbrella term, there are various other details that can be defined and elaborated.
Estate planning allows you to:
- Protect assets
- Medicaid planning
- Designate a guardian for a minor child
- Designate a healthcare proxy that can make medical decisions on your behalf
- Use it for Medicaid planning for long-term care
- Document end-of-life preferences
You also decide on a power of attorney that can make financial decisions and carry out tasks such as paying bills, settling debt, legal or business decisions, and manage an investment portfolio. When carried out with an estate planning attorney, it can be used to reduce or eliminate taxes.
Here you’ll find yourself perusing through a plethora of articles that could be your resource when you’re learning what planning is all about. You can begin by understanding the bare bones of planning and make your way up, studying different types of planning tools, what mistakes to avoid, what myths to not believe, and more.
Trusts are fundamentally considered as a commitment between two people where the trustee holds the principal’s estate in the trust’s name, for the latter’s benefit. However, this simple definition has become much more elaborate as the concept has changed over time. However, when you come down to the basics, the whole concept involves a grantor…
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When an individual becomes incapable of making their decisions due to one or more personal reasons that might include poor health, some kind of injury or other unfortunate situations, one can put a power of attorney (POA) into place that can assist their loved ones in making difficult and necessary decisions and judgments on their…
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When we talk about the most obvious difference between two common tax types; inheritance taxes and estate taxes, it mainly comes down to the payee of the tax. When an individual dies, these two terms are often interchanged. However, these are two entirely different kinds of death taxes. The calculation of inheritance taxes is usually…
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Death is inevitable and no one in this world can live forever. Planning for the future of the next generations is important for everyone. Estate planning helps people prepare for the future and make arrangements for their loved ones. Inheritance trusts are an important part of estate planning and these trusts are drafted to ensure…
Scenario Andrew has been in perfect health since I knew him, but a month ago he called me from his hospital bed and the person I met there was a shadow of the Andrew I’m used to. He was pale and had lost a lot of weight. Story goes that he had a growth in…