Estate Planning

Develop a sound estate that will protect the ones you love from loss of income, high debt and taxes.

Your steps towards planning an estate are first to think about your goals and objectives in creating your estate plan:

• Who are your beneficiaries?
• How will you divide your assets among them?
• How will the assets be distributed, i.e. in a lump sum, either right away or at a later date or through payments from a trust?
• How will you deal with significant assets, such as a family business or a second residence?

Once you know your net worth and you know what you want to do with it. Your next step is to create a plan of action to achieve your objectives and this is where it can make sense to get professional advice.

Along with a will, you should also consider estate planning as a way of protecting your assets during your lifetime, while ensuring that they are distributed according to your wishes after your death. Some common estate planning tools include wills, trusts, life and long-term care insurance.

Due to the complex nature of tax and estate laws, it is strongly recommended that you obtain professional legal and tax advice when doing your estate planning. And remember to update your estate plan whenever you have a major life change such as a marriage, divorce, birth or death in the family.