Estate Planning & Wealth Transfer
Overview
You most likely hope to leave a legacy for your family, friends, and charities. That’s why an estate plan is a major component of financial planning, one that also accounts for how and when to transfer wealth during your lifetime.
We will work closely with your estate planning attorney to ensure their legal i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, and to construct an appropriate investment strategy to reduce -- if not eliminate -- estate, gift, and inheritance taxes in order to maximize your legacy for your beneficiaries. We will also assist when the time comes to help heirs through the complex (and often delicate) probate phase.
Lifetime/Annual Gift Strategies
This can be done in the form of lifetime gifts, annual gifts below the exemption levels, donor-advised funds, deed transfers and irrevocable life insurance trusts. All have their benefits, depending on your specific wishes.
Living & Revocable Trusts
Trusts can play an important role in the estate and tax planning process because they offer tax savings plus the guardrails of spendthrift provisions and, furthermore, can help avoid probate.
Charitable Giving Strategies
In addition to the altruistic reasons you support favored causes, charitable giving helps reduce tax impact for you and your beneficiaries. We’ll review and enact estate and overall financial plans that will balance your interests while protecting income for yourself and your heirs now and in the future.
Medicaid Planning Strategies
An often overlooked facet of estate planning focuses on making provisions for long-term illness and end-of-life care. While long-term care insurance is the obvious solution, it can be expensive. There are several other gifting strategies that, if structured properly, may be more cost effective for when and if your loved ones are entrusted with managing your affairs.