King & Wood, P.A.

How to Get Your Estate Plan Started

“You’re not too young, you do have enough assets and don’t you want to make things easier for your loved ones after you pass away?”

Estate planning involves deciding what you want to occur when you die and which of your trusted contacts may be empowered to manage those assets when you aren’t here. However, there are many misconceptions about estate planning, reports a recent article from Kiplinger, “It’s Estate Planning Week: Here’s How to Get Started.” Let’s set the record straight.

An estate plan can be as complicated or simple as you wish. For some, an estate plan may require a last will and testament to describe how you want your assets distributed upon death. If you have a large estate with many assets and complex goals, you could use a trust or a combination of trusts to administer assets after death.

For example, if you want to leave money for grandchildren but don’t want them to be able to access the funds until they reach a certain age or milestone, you could have a specific trust created for each beneficiary with descriptive language to explain what has to happen before the assets are distributed.

For married spouses, an estate plan typically leaves the assets to the surviving spouse and then, at the second spouse’s passing, includes instructions on who receives the assets. If there are no children, or you don’t want family members to inherit assets, you can use your estate plan to designate a charity or charities to receive gifts of cash or other assets.

Creating an estate plan involves creating an up-to-date balance sheet listing assets. How much you leave to heirs depends on whether you’ve spent your assets before you die or have significant liabilities.

You’ll need to name trustees to manage the assets if you establish trusts. You’ll also want to name successor trustees who can take over if the original trustee cannot serve. Talk with your trustees and successor trustees to be sure they are willing to take on the responsibility, since they will be in charge of the assets and need to make important financial decisions.

If your estate plan relies on a last will, you’ll need to name an executor who manages the estate, distributes assets, pays taxes and more. This person should be someone you trust implicitly. If you fail to name an executor, the court may appoint a representative.

An estate planning attorney will be familiar with any state-specific estate tax issues as well as federal estate tax issues. You’ll want to include your financial advisor and CPA to ensure that the estate plan works with all aspects of your life.

The estate plan isn’t completed until all documents have been signed and notarized and all assets are titled correctly. If assets are to be placed in a trust, your estate planning attorney will help you title assets to be sure the trust owns them and not your estate. If assets aren’t re-titled correctly, you may lose the benefit of the estate planning process. Check-in with your estate planning attorney every three to five years to be sure your estate plan still works. Family relationships and tax laws change, so estate plans need to be reviewed regularly. For example, the current federal estate tax exemption is $12.92 million for an individual, but unless Congress acts, this will sunset in 2025, when the exemption will revert to $5 million per person.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 16, 2023) “It’s Estate Planning Week: Here’s How to Get Started”

How to Use Qualified Charitable Distributions in Estate Planning

“A qualified charitable distribution is a direct transfer of traditional IRA funds to a qualified charity.”

Assets held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are unquestionably the best assets to gift to charity, since IRAs are loaded with taxes. One way to relieve this tax burden is by using the IRA for charitable giving during your lifetime, says a recent article, “Giving funds in IRAs to charity with QCDs,” from Investment News.

Most people who give to charity don’t receive the taxable benefit because they don’t itemize deductions. They instead use the higher standard deduction, which offers no extra tax deduction for charitable giving.

Older taxpayers are more likely to use the standard deduction, since taxpayers aged 65 and older receive an extra standard deduction. In 2022, the standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly when each of the spouses are 65 and older is $28,700. The exceptions are couples with large medical expenses or those who make large charitable gifts.

Here’s where the IRA for charitable giving comes in. IRAs normally may not be given to charity or anyone in the owner’s life (except in the case of divorce). There is one exception: giving IRAs to charity with a QCD.

The QCD is a direct transfer of traditional IRA funds to a qualified charity. The QCD is an exclusion from income, which reduces Adjusted Gross Income. AGI is the most significant number on the tax return because it determines the availability of many tax deductions, credits and other benefits. Lowering AGI with a QCD could also work to reduce “stealth” taxes–taxes on Social Security benefits or Medicare premium surcharges.

QCDs are limited to $100,000 per person, per year (not per IRA). They can also satisfy RMDs up to the $100,000, but only if the timing is right.

There are some limitations to discuss with your estate planning attorney. For instance, QCDs are only available to IRA owners who are 70 ½ or older. They can only be made once you turn age 70 ½, not anytime in the year you turn 70 ½. The difference matters.

QCDs are not available from 401(k) or other employer plans. They also aren’t allowed for gifts to Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and private foundations, and they can’t be made from active SEP or SIMPLE IRAs, where contributions are still being made.

Appreciated stocks can also be gifted to qualified charities and itemized deductions taken for the fair market value of the stock, if it was held for more than one year. There’s no tax on appreciation, as there would be if the stock were sold instead of gifted.

There are some tax traps to consider, including the SECURE Act, which allows traditional IRAs to be made after age 70 ½. However, it pairs the provision with a poison pill. If the IRA deduction is taken in the same year as a QCD, or any year before the QCD, the QCD tax exclusion could be reduced or lost. This can be avoided by making Roth IRA contributions instead of tax-deductible IRA contributions after age 70 ½.

Speak with your estate planning attorney about whether using a QCD makes sense for your estate planning and tax situation.

Reference: Investment News (Dec. 9, 2022) “Giving funds in IRAs to charity with QCDs”

No Inheritance Tax for King Charles III

“King Charles III has ascended to the U.K. throne, but he won't have to pay the U.K.'s inheritance tax on the massive wealth he inherits from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. That's because of a deal the royals made with the government nearly 30 years ago.”

British citizens must pay a standard 40% on any part of an estate valued at more than about £325,000 pounds—about $374,000, says the article “No, King Charles III won’t pay any inheritance tax on his massive gain” from National Public Radio. There are exceptions, such as money left to a charity of a spouse.

An agreement was reached between the government and the monarchy in 1993 stating that assets passing from a sovereign to their successor aren’t subject to the inheritance tax. The exemption was part of a broader tax deal when then-Prime Minister John Major stated the danger of the monarch “being salami-sliced away by capital taxation through generations” would change the nature of the English monarchy.

Around that time, both Queen Elizabeth II and Charles agreed to pay a personal income tax after reaching out to the government to ask how they might voluntarily pay taxes. Prime Minister Major said the queen would pay taxes in the same way as every other taxpayer, but a hereditary monarchy required a special arrangement for an inheritance tax.

In addition to becoming King, Charles inherits two properties that generate millions in income annually: the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, which transfers from Charles to Prince William. These two portfolios stand apart from the queen’s personal fortune, estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Duchy of Lancaster includes prime real estate in London, ten castles, vast farmlands and an airfield. The monarchy forcibly seized most of the land hundreds of years ago. The Duchy of Cornwall includes assets of about $1.2 billion, and $26.4 million in distributable surplus for the financial year ending March 31, 2022.

However, that’s not all. The Sovereign also receives millions annually through an annual grant from the Crown Estate, a massive property portfolio including much of Regent Street of London. It belongs to the reigning monarch but isn’t their private property.

The complex holdings and secrecy surrounding the monarchy’s wealth is complicated. Their identities and livelihoods are intertwined with official, state-supported roles.

At a time when England is facing an energy crisis, soaring food prices and challenges to the health care system, this kind of private wealth under the name of royalty is coming under scrutiny. With both a new king and a new prime minister, it will be interesting to see whether the new King will maintain the old ways or look towards the future.

Reference: National Public Radio (Sep. 15, 2022) “No, King Charles III won’t pay any inheritance tax on his massive gain”

What Can I Do Instead of a Stretch IRA?

“Leaving behind a huge tax bill for your heirs with the stretch IRA scuttled? Here are some ways around it as lawmakers consider an updated SECURE Act.”

The idea of leaving a large inheritance to loved ones is a dream for some parents. However, without careful planning, heirs may end up with a large tax bill. When Congress passed the SECURE Act in December 2019, one of the changes was the end of the stretch IRA, as reported by Kiplinger in a recent article titled “Getting Around the Stretch IRA Block.”

Before the SECURE Act, people who inherited traditional IRAs needed to only take a minimum distribution annually, based on their own life expectancy. The money could grow tax-deferred for the rest of their lives. The tax impact was mild, because withdrawals could be spread out over many years, giving the new owner control over their taxable income. The rules were the same for an inherited Roth IRA. Distributions were based on the heirs’ life expectancy. Roth IRA heirs had the added benefit of not having to pay taxes on withdrawals, since Roth IRAs are funded with post-tax dollars.

After the SECURE Act, inherited traditional and Roth IRAs need to be emptied within ten years. Heirs can wait until the 10th year and empty the account all at once—and end up with a whopping tax bill—or take it out incrementally. However, it has to be emptied within ten years.

There are some exceptions: spouses, disabled or chronically ill individuals, or those who are not more than ten years younger than the original owner can stretch out the distribution of the IRA funds. If an underage minor inherits a traditional IRA, they can stretch it until they reach legal age. At that point, they have to withdraw all the funds in ten years—from age 18 to 28. This may not be the best time for a young person to have access to a large inheritance.

These changes have left many IRA owners looking for alternative ways to leave inheritances and find a work-around for their IRAs to protect their heirs from losing their inheritance to taxes or getting their inheritance at a young age.

For many, the solution is converting their traditional IRA to a Roth, where the IRA owner pays the taxes for their heirs. The strategy is generous and may be more tax efficient if the conversion is done during a time in retirement when the IRA owner’s income is lower, and they may be in a lower tax bracket. The average person receiving an IRA inheritance is around 50, typically peak earning years and the worst time to inherit a taxable asset.

Another way to avoid the stretch IRA is life insurance. Distributions from the IRA can be used to pay premiums on a life insurance policy, with beneficiaries receiving death benefits. The proceeds from the policy are tax-free, although the proceeds are considered part of the policy owner’s estate. With the current federal exemption at $12.06 million for individuals, the state estate tax is the only thing most people will need to worry about.

A Charitable Remainder Trust can also be used to mimic a stretch IRA. A CRT is an irrevocable split-interest trust, providing income to the grantor and designated beneficiaries for up to twenty years or the lifetime of the beneficiaries. Any remaining assets are donated to charity, which must receive at least 10% of the trust’s initial value. If the CRT is named as the IRA beneficiary, the IRA funds are distributed to the CRT upon the owner’s death and the estate gets a charitable estate tax deduction (and not an income tax deduction) for the portion expected to go to the charity. Assets grow within the charitable trust, which pays out a set percentage to beneficiaries each year. The distributions are taxable income for the beneficiaries. There are two types of CRTs: Charitable Remainder Unitrust and a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust. An estate planning attorney will know which one is best suited for your family.

Reference: Kiplinger (March 3, 2022) “Getting Around the Stretch IRA Block”

How Does a Charitable Trust Help with Estate Planning?

“In general, the best reason to establish a charitable trust, is if you would like to create a long-standing form of charitable giving.”

Simply put, a charitable trust holds assets and distributes assets to charitable organizations. The person who creates the trust, the grantor, decides how the trust will manage and invest assets, as well as how and when donations are made, as described in the article “How a Charitable Trust Works” from yahoo! finance. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you create a charitable trust to achieve your estate planning goals and create tax-savings opportunities.

Any trust is a legal entity, legally separate from you, even if you are the grantor and a trustee. The trust owns its assets, pays taxes and requires management. The charitable trust is created with the specific goal of charitable giving, during and after your lifetime. Many people use charitable trusts to create ongoing gifts, since this type of trust grows and continues to make donations over extended periods of time.

Sometimes charitable trusts are used to manage real estate or other types of property. Let’s say you have a home you’d like to see used as a community resource after you die. A charitable trust would be set up and the home placed in it. Upon your death, the home would transfer to the charitable organization you’ve named in the trust. The terms of the trust will direct how the home is to be used. Bear in mind while this is possible, most charities prefer to receive cash or stock assets, rather than real estate.

The IRS defines a charitable trust as a non-exempt trust, where all of the unexpired interests are dedicated to one or more charitable purposes, and for which a charitable contribution deduction is allowed under a specific section of the Internal Revenue Code. The charitable trust is treated like a private foundation, unless it meets the requirements for one of the exclusions making it a public charity.

There are two main kinds of charitable trusts. One is a Charitable Remainder Trust, used mostly to make distributions to the grantor or other beneficiaries. After distributions are made, any remaining funds are donated to charity. The CRT may distribute its principal, income, or both. You could also set up a CRT to invest and manage money and distribute only earnings from the investments. A CRT can also be set up to distribute all holdings over time, eventually emptying all accounts. The CRT is typically used to distribute proceeds of investments to named beneficiaries, then distribute its principal to charity after a certain number of years.

The Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) distributes assets to charity for a defined amount of time, and at the end of the term, any remaining assets are distributed to beneficiaries. The grantor may be included as one of the trust’s beneficiaries, known as a “Reversionary Trust.”

All Charitable Trusts are irrevocable, so assets may not be taken back by the grantor. To qualify, the trust may only donate to charities recognized by the IRS.

An estate planning attorney will know how to structure the charitable trust to maximize its tax-savings potential. Depending upon how it is structured, a CT can also impact capital gains taxes.

Reference: yahoo! finance (Dec. 16, 2021) “How a Charitable Trust Works”

Singer’s 15-Year Estate Battle Is Wrapping Up

“The family of entertainer James Brown has reached a settlement ending a 15-year battle over the late singer’s estate, an attorney involved in the mediation said Friday.”

The fighting over Brown’s estate has been going on since he died 15 years ago on Christmas Day at age 73. A series of bizarre events followed, says the Associated Press in the article “Family of James Brown settles 15-year battle over his estate.” They included photos of a woman who claimed to have been married to Brown being locked out of his home, sobbing and rattling the iron gates to his estate.

James Brown was known for his flashy performances and iconic chart-topping hits, like “I Feel Good,” “A Man’s World,” “Pappas Got a Brand-New Bag,” and many more. Unfortunately, he was plagued by drug problems and mismanaged finances, which shrank his estate.

More than twelve lawsuits were filed by people trying to establish claims to his assets. Courts estimates of his net worth range from $5 million to more than $100 million.

The battle was gruesome from the start, since it wasn’t just about money. Brown’s family fought over what was to happen with his body. His remains, inside a gold casket, were in a funeral home in cold storage for more than two months, until this issue was resolved.

Brown was eventually interred in Beech Island, South Carolina, at the home of one of his daughters. The family had plans to create a shrine to him, using Elvis Presley’s Graceland as a model, but the idea never became reality.

In 2020, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Tommie Rae Hynie, the woman who claimed to be his wife, had never been legally married to Brown and had no claim on his estate. Justices also ordered a circuit court to proceed with probating Brown’s estate, following the directions of his estate plan.

Brown’s estate plan outlined plans for a trust to be created to use his music royalties to fund educational expenses for children in South Carolina and Georgia.

There had been a 2009 settlement plan that would have given almost half of his estate to a charitable organization, a quarter of his estate to Hynie and the rest to be divided among his adult children. That settlement was overturned in 2013, with a judge saying the settlement did not follow Brown’s wishes for most of his money to go to charity.

A professional manager had been brought in to take control of Brown’s assets from the estate’s trustees to settle his debts.

Reference: Associated Press (July 23, 2021) “Family of James Brown settles 15-year battle over his estate”

What Is a Holistic Estate Plan?

“No one can predict the future—and navigating that reality is precisely what makes estate planning so complicated.”

Estate planning is more than a tax strategy. It’s about creating a legacy and protecting your family for the short and long term, explains the article “Create A Holistic Estate Plan Now For Bigger Payoffs In The Future” from Forbes. The process begins with as much disclosure as possible. That means talking with your estate planning attorney about the challenges your family faces, as well as the assets to be left for loved ones.

One change to the tax code can disrupt decades of careful planning and leave people scrambling to protect loved ones. Market tumult can require assets to be sold to meet cash flow needs. Charitable contributions may also need to be reviewed and possibly changed, if the family’s asset level changes.

There are three aspects to consider when creating an estate plan: a lifetime spending strategy, a charitable legacy and bequests. All of these are impacted by taxes and need to be reviewed as a whole.

Lifetime spending strategy. These questions are centered on your goals and plans. Where do you want to live during retirement and how do you wish to live, travel and entertain? Will you stay in place and focus on charitable organizations, or travel throughout the year? It’s good to set a budget and stress-test it to see what different outcomes may arise.

A family that owns businesses or large real estate holdings may benefit from strategies, like family limited partnerships. A sale of the business to an outsider or a family member could create many different options, and all should be considered.

Charitable gift planning. Estate planning offers a way to clarify charitable giving goals and create a road map for how gifting can be transformed into a legacy. A well-planned charitable gift strategy can also minimize estate taxes and maximize the future of the gift, for both the family and the charities you favor.

A Charitable Remainder Trust is used to provide an income stream during your lifetime and reach gifting goals at the same time. One way to accomplish this is to transfer an asset, like highly appreciated stocks or bonds, into an irrevocable trust, thereby removing the asset from your taxable estate. The trustee may then sell the asset at market value and reinvest, creating a lifelong income stream for you or a beneficiary.

Leaving assets, not estate tax bills, for heirs. Families who own multiple properties in their own names or in a single LLC can lead to a lot of administrative headaches when the owners die. One simple fix is to place each property into a separate LLC, which increases the availability of strategic tax savings.

Another way to minimize estate taxes is through the use of life insurance. This is a strategy to do while you are still relatively healthy, as it becomes increasing difficult to obtain once you turn 60 or 70.

All of these strategies take knowledge and time to set up, so creating an estate plan and working through the many different strategies is best done with an experienced estate planning attorney and before any trigger events occur.

Reference: Forbes (April 6, 2021) “Create A Holistic Estate Plan Now For Bigger Payoffs In The Future”

What Qualifies as a Qualified Charitable Distribution?

“Qualified Charitable Distributions, which allow Individual Retirement Account holders in their 70s and older to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity while reducing their federally taxable income, are back after a 2020 hiatus.”

Qualified charitable distributions allow individual retirement holders to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity, reports a recent article “A tax break for retirees is back. Here’s how to use it–and what to avoid,” from The Washington Post. Known as QCDs, they were not a big deal until 2017, when a change in the tax law changed the number of people itemizing deductions, including charitable contributions, from 31 percent to 11 percent, according to the IRS.

Tax laws let you put tax-deductible money into “defined contribution” accounts, including IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s, until you reach age 72, when you are required to start taking withdrawals—federally taxable Required Minimum Distributions–from the accounts.

The size of the distribution depends upon the year-end retirement account balances and your age. If you had $100,000 in a retirement account last December 31 and turned 75 this year, the RMD is about $4,370. For an 80-year-old, the number would be around $5,350, and at 85, it would be $6,760.

In 2020, QCDs were of little interest because the CARES Act cancelled any RMD requirements. You could still use a QCD, but there was no tax advantage of reducing taxable income by offsetting required distributions.

In 2021, RMDs are back, and QCDs are worth doing again. To make a QCD, you ask the IRA administrator to send a check made out to a registered charity. You are permitted to donate as much as $100,000 per year. Let’s reinforce the message: the check must be made out to the charity, not to you. You also may not send the money to your own donor-advised fund.

IRAs can be used for QCDs, but not 401(k)s or 403(b)s.

You will need to keep track of the QCDs yourself. Do not expect the IRA custodian to do that for you. The retirement plan does send a tax form, the 1099-Rs, to the IRS that shows your total distributions for the year. The QCDs are subtracted from your 1099-R income by you or your tax preparer.

It sounds great, but there is a problem, created by the SECURE Act of 2019. That law let people aged 70½ and older make tax-deductible contributions to their IRAs. However, if you make a tax-deductible contribution to your IRA that you use for a QCD, it triggers a reduction in the amount of the QCD that you can deduct from your federally taxable income.

Do not make QCDs from the same IRA to which you are making tax-deductible contributions. You can set up a solo 401(k) if you are self-employed or use a SEP-IRA to make deductible contributions.  Here again, trouble lurks; do not make a QCD from a SEP-IRA in the same year you are claiming an income tax deduction for contributing to the SEP-IRA.

Reference: The Washington Post (March 18, 2021) “A tax break for retirees is back. Here’s how to use it–and what to avoid”

Can a Charity Be a Beneficiary of an Estate?

“Ever since a group of philanthropists created the Giving Pledge in 2010, taxpayers have expressed greater interest in potential estate planning strategies that would allow them to leave a significant portion of their assets to charity upon their death.”

The interest in charitable giving increased in 2020 for two reasons. One was a dramatic increase in need as a result of the COVID pandemic, reports The Tax Advisor’s article “Charitable income tax deductions for trusts and estates.” The other was more pragmatic from a tax planning perspective. The CARES Act increased the amounts of charitable contributions that may be deducted from taxes by individuals and corporations.

What if a person wishes to make a donation from the assets that are held in trust? Is that still an income tax deduction? It depends.

The rules for donations from trusts are substantially different than those for charitable contribution deductions for individuals and corporations. The IRS code allows an estate or nongrantor trust to make a deduction which, if pursuant to the terms of the governing instrument, is paid for a purpose specified in Section 170(c). For trusts created on or before October 9, 1969, the IRS code expands the scope of the deduction to allow for a deduction of the gross income set aside permanently for charitable purposes.

If the trust or estate allows for payments to be made for charity, then donations from a trust are allowed and may be tax deductions. Otherwise, they cannot be deducted.

If the trust or estate allows distributions for charity, the type of asset contributed and how it was acquired by the trust or estate determines whether a tax deduction for a charitable donation is permitted. Here are some basic rules, but every situation is different and requires the guidance of an experienced estate planning attorney.

Cash donations. A trust or estate making cash donations may deduct to the extent of the lesser of the taxable income for the year or the amount of the contribution.

Noncash assets purchased by the trust/estate: If the trust or estate purchased marketable securities with income, the cost basis of the asset is considered the amount contributed from gross income. The trust or estate cannot avoid recognizing capital gain on a noncash asset that is donated, while also deducting the full value of the asset contributed. The trust or estate’s deduction is limited to the asset’s cost basis.

Noncash assets contributed to the trust/estate: If the trust or estate acquired an asset it wants to donate to charity as part of the funding of the fiduciary arrangement, no charity deduction is permitted. The asset that is part of the trust or estate’s corpus, the principal of the estate, is not gross income.

The order of charitable deductions, compared to distribution deductions, can cause a great deal of complexity in tax planning and reporting. Required distributions to noncharitable beneficiaries must be accounted for first, and the charitable deduction is not taken into account in calculating distributable net income. The recipients of the distributions do not get the benefit of the deduction. The trust or the estate does.

Charitable distributions are considered next, which may offset any remaining taxable income. Last are discretionary distributions to noncharitable beneficiaries, so these beneficiaries may receive the largest benefit from any charitable deduction.

If the trust claims a charitable deduction, it must file form 1041A for the relevant tax year, unless it meets any of the exceptions noted in the instructions in the form.

These are complex estate and tax matters, requiring the guidance of an experienced estate planning attorney for optimal results.

Reference: The Tax Advisor (March 1, 2021) “Charitable income tax deductions for trusts and estates”

Preparing for an Estate Planning Meeting

“While most initial meetings with an estate planning attorney will result in some questions you likely have never considered, there are many ways in which you can prepare for a thoughtful and productive estate planning conference that will result in a better understanding of your goals and more efficient use of time with your attorney.”

Preparing to meet with an estate planning attorney for the first time is an opportunity to get organized and think about your wishes for the future. If you meet with your accountant every year to prepare tax returns, this may be a familiar process. It’s a chance to step away from day-to-day activities and focus on your life, as described in a recent article “Preparing for an Estate Planning Consultation: 10 Items to Consider Before Meeting Your Attorney” from The National Law Journal.

Minor Children Need Guardians and Conservators. In most states, families with minor children need a last will to designate one or more guardians to raise the children in the event both parents die. A successor should be named in case the first named guardian is unable or unwilling to serve. Discuss your decision with the people you are naming; don’t leave this as a surprise. Choosing these people is a hard decision. However, don’t let it be a reason to delay creating your estate plan. It’s better that you name a guardian, rather than let the court make that decision.

Agents, Trustees, and Power of Attorney. With a Durable Power of Attorney, your assets can be managed by a named agent, if you become incapacitated. The person who manages your estate after death is the executor. They are named in your last will. If you have trusts, the documents that create the trust also name the trustees. It is possible for one person to act as a fiduciary for all of these roles, although the tasks can be divided.

Living Will and Patient Advocate Designation. If you are incapacitated, a Patient Advocate can make medical decisions on your behalf, including following the instructions of your Living Will.

Personal Property. Any items of personal property, whether their value is sentimental or monetary, should be specified in the will. A list of items and who you want to receive what, may spare your heirs from squabbles over your personal effects, large or small. If you own a business or real estate, they also need to be addressed in your will.

Charitable Donations. If you are charitably minded, your will is one way to make bequests and build a lasting legacy. Charitable donations can also be made to gain tax benefits for heirs.

Beneficiary Distributions. The beneficiary designation is the unsung hero of the estate plan. By managing beneficiary designations while you are living—updating beneficiary designations, assigning beneficiary designations to all accounts possible—you take assets out of your probate estate and smooth the asset distribution process. However, there are some wrinkles to consider.

Minor children may not receive assets until they become of age—18 in most cases. Do you want your children (or nieces or grandchildren) to receive an inheritance, while they are still in their teens? Proper estate planning includes trusts created, so a responsible adult can manage the trust on their behalf. Your trust can also be structured so the money may only be used for college expenses, or when the children reach certain ages.

Surviving Pets. You can plan for your pet’s care, if you pass away or become incapacitated before they die. Most states permit the creation of a pet trust, an enforceable means of providing assets to be used for the care and well-being of your pet.

Your estate planning attorney will be able to provide you with a list of the documents she will need to get started on your estate plan, but these are the major issues that you will be discussing at your first meeting.

Reference: The National Law Journal (Feb. 23, 2021) “Preparing for an Estate Planning Consultation: 10 Items to Consider Before Meeting Your Attorney”