The primary benefits of revocable trusts only are available if a revocable trust is FUNDED during life. Unfortunately, experienced estate planning attorneys often have clients who delay the funding of their revocable trusts until it is too late and miss many of the benefits that these trusts provide.
A primary benefit of using TOD/POD designations is that assets held in the account will pass automatically to the beneficiary without having to go through probate.
A last will and testament is essential for every adult. It establishes one’s wishes for distributing their property, whether real or personal, after death.
Non-probate assets are those assets which do not go into an estate when the owner dies.
When you set up your estate plan it is important to coordinate the legal planning documents that you or you and your attorney create with the document provided by your retirement account custodian and/or your life insurance carrier called a ‘Designation of Beneficiary.’
If you’ve ever spent time working through your estate plan, you know how important it is to select and update your beneficiaries.
Whenever you open a financial account, you’re almost always asked to name a beneficiary. Simply stated, a beneficiary of the account is someone who is entitled to the benefits of the account, typically, on the death of the account holder. If you’ve purchased life insurance, for example, you name a beneficiary who receives the benefits of the policy when you pass.
Beneficiaries of a trust typically pay taxes on the distributions they receive from the trust’s income, rather than the trust itself paying the tax. However, these beneficiaries are not subject to taxes on distributions from the trust’s principal.
Estate planning involves making a plan for the transfer of your property upon your death or incapacity. Your estate is all of the property you own, which can include cash, jewelry, cars, houses, clothes, land, retirement, investments and savings accounts. The goals of estate planning are to make sure most of your estate is transferred to your beneficiaries, you pay minimal taxes on the estate and children are assigned guardianship.
The elimination of the Stretch IRA is a game changer, especially for parents who were considering bequeathing savings in IRAs to their children.
