By Steven Muller
Planning the way in which your estate is distributed after your death is an important matter that must be addressed. Contacting a lawyer of a Certified Public Accountant is the first step that one needs to take in this planning process. Probably the biggest benefit of planning early is the tax benefits that come along with it. Too many times an individual’s life work of gaining assets get taxed heavily because that individual didn’t take the necessary steps to plan for it. In the end the person’s beneficiaries only get a fraction of what they should’ve received from the estate holder.
Common in failure of estate planning is the estate ending in probate. This is when a court decides how and what assets should be divided according to a will or up to their own discretion if there isn’t a will. This whole process takes up a lot of time and can become very costly. Having a lawyer or a CPA set up trusts in your name and beneficiaries name is the way in which you can avoid having your estate end up in probate. As you can see there are many benefits and cost that come with planning or not planning how your estate will be handled after death. Being irresponsible and neglecting to deal with this will leave you assets at the hands of the government who don’t know how you want you estate to be handled.
Sources:
http://www.deadwoodtodove.com/?p=172
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/24/Lifetimes/Estate_planning_takes.shtml
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