Estate planning is an ongoing process. You must not only develop and implement a plan that reflects your current financial and family situation, you also constantly review your current plan to ensure it fits any changes in your circumstances.
Of course, with the probability that more estate tax law changes will occur soon, reviewing your estate plan regularly is now more critical than ever. Plus the estate tax repeal could cause your estate plan to have unintended consequences. You’ll also want to update your plan after any of the events in Planning tip 9.
Where Do You Go From Here?
Remember, estate planning is about much more than reducing your estate taxes; it’s about ensuring your family is provided for, your business can continue and your charitable goals are achieved. So regardless of what happens with estate taxes, you’ll want to have an up-to-date plan in place.
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Planning tip 9
4 More Reasons To Update Your Estate Plan |
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To this end, use the estate planning checklist on the next page to identify areas where you need more information or assistance. Or jot down a few notes about things you want to look at more closely and discuss with a professional advisor. It may be easy for you to put off developing a detailed estate plan — or updating it in light of changes in tax law or your situation. But if you do, much of your estate could go to Uncle Sam — and this could be very hard on your family.
So please call your estate planning advisor with any questions you have about the strategies presented here or how they can help you minimize your estate tax liability. He or she can discuss your situation and help you develop and implement an estate plan that preserves for your heirs what it took you a lifetime to build.
Estate planning worksheet
If you have any questions about the topics covered in this guide, or if you want more information on how they relate to you, please fill out this worksheet and mail or fax it to your estate planning advisor, or call to discuss your estate planning needs.
Medical breakthroughs and healthier lifestyles are enabling us to live longer than we ever could have hoped for — even fifty years ago. That’s good news! But the bad news, the other side of the coin, is that living longer also poses a number of challenges to us as we age. Think about these questions:
- Will I outlive my money?
- How can I preserve my assets?
- How can I leave the most to my children and grandchildren without losing control of my finances?
- What sorts of legal strategies can protect me and my assets?
- What happens if I get sick?
- What happens when I die?
The answers to these and numerous other important questions can only be answered on an individual basis by an attorney whose practice is concentrated on estate planning. Having an estate plan is critical if you want to control your wealth while your are alive, if you get sick, and when you pass away. Even if you have an estate plan in place, it is important to revisit it periodically to incorporate changes in your life and the law.
Attorney Jan Copley offers a continuous improvement program — called “Lifetime Services” — that recognizes that estate planning is not a package of static documents, but a process and a commitment that must be revisited regularly. Her Lifetime Services program provides her clients with an opportunity to review their plans on a regular basis.
Please call our office for the date of our next public seminar or for a consultation. You will be treated with the courtesy, respect and care that are the trademarks of our legal practice.
