Estate Planning

Because you’ve worked hard to create a secure and comfortable lifestyle for your family, you’ll want to ensure that you have a sound financial plan that may include trusts and estate planning. With some forethought, you may be able to minimize or reduce gift, inheritance, and estate taxes while preserving more of your assets for those you care about.

Our experienced financial professionals can help assist you to minimize taxes and maximize gains for your heirs, while assisting in creation and preservation of estates and trusts. You can bring this four-part checklist to your initial meeting to discuss how to make your plan comprehensive and up-to-date.

Part 1: Communicating Your Wishes

• Do you have a will?
• Are you comfortable with the executor(s) and trustee(s) you have selected?
• Have you executed a living will or health care proxy?
• Have you considered a living trust to avoid probate?
• If you have a living trust, have you titled your assets in the name of the trust?

Part 2: Protecting Your Family

• Does your will name a guardian for your children if both you and your spouse are deceased?
• If you want to limit your spouse’s flexibility regarding the inheritance, have you created a Q-TIP trust?
• Are you sure you have the right amount and type of life insurance for survivor income, loan repayment, capital needs, and all estate settlement expenses?
• Have you considered an irrevocable life insurance trust to exclude the insurance proceeds from being taxed as part of your estate?
• Have you considered creating trusts for family gift giving?

Part 3: Reducing Your Taxes

• If you are married, are you taking full advantage of the marital deduction?
• Are you making gifts to family members that take advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion?
• Have you gifted assets with a strong probability of future appreciation in order to maximize future estate tax savings?
• Have you considered charitable trusts that could provide you with both estate and income tax benefits?

Part 4: Protecting Your Business

• Do you have a management succession plan?
• Do you have a buy/sell agreement for your family business interests?

Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by Financial Communications or its sources, neither Financial Communications nor its sources guarantees the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or availability of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. In no event shall Financial Communications be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages in connection with subscriber’s or others’ use of the content. LPL Financial Representatives offer access to Trust Services through The Private Trust Company, N.A., an affiliate of LPL Financial.