Now more then ever it is important to try and plan for the future. There is not telling when and if this financial crisis is going to end soon so, what better idea then to plan ahead so that next time you are not in as much trouble as you think. It is also important to not only look at your estate planning as an individual but also if you own closely-held businesses. You should try and do your estate planning when there is a lower fair market value. We are in what has been called a recession and there is no doubt about it that the value of these closely-held businesses are loosing value because they are getting harder and harder to sell.

One should consider using the Estate Planning technique called GRAT. This stands for the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust. This should be used and is helpful for closely-held businesses because the tax exemption is at a high of $3.5 and will revert to $1 million next year. Real Estate, Securities and closely- held businesses are also extremely low so there really is no better time to start to really plan for the future. The GRAT is just one of many different techniques that can be used for Estate Planning.

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WRITTEN BY LEE RUTH