3 Primary Objectives of Estate Planning

Create Peace of Mind

Virtually everyone should consider three important estate documents: a will, a durable power of attorney for health care, and an advanced medical directive, or living will. TAM Financial will work with you to identify your needs and to simplify a difficult process. We recommend a will for anyone who has assets and would prefer that the government not make decisions on how and where they will end up. Most importantly, if you have children living at home, a valid will can help ensure that your wishes regarding your children are fulfilled.

Simplify the Probate Process

In most cases, simplifying the probate process means avoiding it altogether. Why? First, probate can be time-consuming, and can tie up assets in the courts for years. Second, probate is expensive—especially when the process can usually be avoided entirely. Finally, the probate process is very public, and we don't believe that your estate is anyone’s business but yours and your family’s.

Minimize Estate Taxes

Federal estate tax law changed significantly as a result of major tax revisions enacted by the Congress in 2001. First, the estate tax exemption increased to $1.0 million, and then increased again to $1.5 million in 2004. The federal exemption continues to rise through 2009, when it’s eliminated altogether—for one year. At that point, unless the Congress changes the laws again, the exemption drops back to $1.0 million! The complexity of these changes is exacerbated by the revisions that many states have made to their so-called “piggy back” estate taxes. All this leads to one important point: If your will was written prior to passage of the 2001 estate tax law changes, it may be dangerously out of date.

 

 

At TAM Financial, our job is to help ensure that your primary heir is not Uncle Sam. We can help you develop estate planning strategies to protect your assets from the so-called “death tax,” and to work with you to structure your estate so that you can choose exactly how and in what form your estate will be distributed. When you’ve worked hard to achieve a level of financial security for yourself and your family, you want to ensure your family is taken care of when you’re gone…and you may have other ideas regarding the distribution and use of your assets after your death.

Estate tax law is constantly changing, both at the federal and state levels.
For example, the estate tax exemption increased to $1.5 million per person for 2004 and 2005. But did you know that if you have
a will that simply leaves everything to your spouse, you may end up costing your family hundreds of thousands of dollars or more? Understanding estate taxes and anticipating how they can be reduced is one of our top priorities at TAM Financial. Ensuring your assets are transferred as smoothly, as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible is another.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
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