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Why everyone needs Estate Planning?

Do you have children?  You need a plan.

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Do you own real estate?  You need a plan.

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Do you own a business?  You need a plan. 

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Do you want a say in who takes care of you if you

become incapacitated?  You need a plan.

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Do you care about your family and what they will

be going through when you die?  You need a plan.

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Estate Planning is designing and implementing a plan 

for the management and transfer of an individual’s

estate during lifetime, upon incapacity, and on death.

Our strategy sessions include advice on the income, gift, generation-skipping and death tax considerations directed to achieve tax savings. Additionally, we counsel our clients  on the use of powers of attorney, living wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and court guardianship proceedings.

 

Estate Planning also integrates both the family and business concerns of our clients into the estate planning process through the preparation of family partnership and limited liability company agreements, shareholder buy-sell agreements, and marital agreements.  We help clients understand and accomplish what is necessary for keeping the business in the family, despite the death or disability of family members who are active in the business. We develop and implement various kinds of agreements and compensation arrangements for business owners, including agreements for the economic participation of family members who are not active in the business.

The Simple Plan:  This is to ensure that your wishes are followed during your lifetime when you cannot speak for yourself and after your death.

Last Will & Testament

Revocable Trust and/or a Florida Land Trust

Health Care Surrogate Designation

Living Will

Durable Power of Attorney

 

 

The Sophisticated Plan:  This is about ensuring that the assets you have worked hard to acquire continue to benefit your heirs after your death.

Last Will & Testament

Revocable Trust

Florida Land Trust

Health Care Surrogate Designation

Living Will

Durable Power of Attorney  

 

Plus these options:

 

Qualified Personal Residence Trust

You can transfer your home to a trust for a set number of years.  The gift-tax value of the house can be a fraction of what the value would be for estate tax purposes if it had remained in your name until death.

 

Grantor Retained Annuity Trust

You can transfer an investment property to a trust for a set number of years.  The trust pays you an annuity each year.  At the end of the term, any property left in the trust passes to your family free of gift or estate tax.

 

Generation-Skipping Trust 

Currently, you can leave $5.43 million to grandchildren (or more remote descendants) free of the estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax.  With this trust, you can make this amount available to your spouse and children during their lifetimes, and ultimately transfer such property to your grandchildren.  

 

Children and/or Grandchildren's Trusts

Currently, you can leave up to $14,000 each year to children and grandchildren (or any other person), free of gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax.  Usually grandchildren are too young to handle large sums of money, which is why establishing a trust for them is beneficial.

 

Family Partnership or Limited Liability Company

Family LLC's or partnerships can be created with a wide variety of assets.  In effect, you create a family business that allows younger generations to participate in the management of the family wealth.  

 

Buy/Sell Agreements

A buy/sell agreement should be in place for every family business.  These agreements restrict transfers of interest in the business.  The agreement establishes a mechanism for owners, or the business itself., to buy out the share of a deceased owner.  

 

Charitable Remainder Trust

With these trusts, instead of leaving money to charities in your Will, you transfer property to the trust and the trust pays you a fixed percentage of the trust each year for the rest of your life.  This allows you to claim an income tax charitable deduction during your lifetime for assets that will pass to a charity at your death.  The trust can also liquidate appreciated stock without capital-gain tax.

 

Life Insurance Trust

This is an irrevocable, non-amendable trust which is both the owner and the beneficiary of one or more life insurance policies.  Upon the death of the insured, the Trustee invests the insurance proceeds for one or more beneficiaries.  If the trust owns insurance on the life of a married person, the non-insured spouse and children are often the beneficiaries of the trust.  If the trust owns "second to die" insurance which only pays when both spouses are deceased, the only beneficiaries of the trust are the children.