Joseph A Leonard - Wealth Management & Consulting

Estate planning is one of the best decisions you can make for yourself, your property and for your family. Estate planning is simply the process of organizing your assets, bills and wishes so that when you die, everything is planned out. That way, your family does not have to handle the financial management of your estate without being able to know what your wishes are. Further, estate planning helps you to save money.

However, there are many factors that play a role in estate planning to think about. The following 10 tips can help you to make the right decisions about planning your estate.

      

1. Hire an attorney to do the legal work of establishing trusts and management wills for you. While you can do some of this yourself, it is critical to realize that without the proper wording, you are unlikely to have the results you want to have.
2. Monitor estate tax laws and tax laws in general that affect your estate. You will need to come back to your plans from time to time to make changes so that your goals are still met.
3.  Update your will and your estate documents anytime a major change occurs in your life whether that be getting married, divorced, having a child, adopting a child or buying new property.
4. Plan to avoid taxes. Through trusts and other methods, you can safely protect the property you have worked so hard to build from costly estate taxes. In fact, many people can avoid probate altogether.
5. Look over your estate plans each year, especially towards the end of the year. Have you made wise financial decisions and can you make changes now that would be helpful later, such as adding more to your IRA before the end of the year.
6.  Do invest in life insurance. The right type of life insurance is an easy way to provide your family with a near immediate payment that they can live off of while your estate is being probated. Purchase an affordable plan that pays your families expenses for a year, which is the length that probate can hold up your estate.
7. Do more than just take a video message. Did you know that a video message of your will is simply not enough? You need to have a formal document that outlines what your wishes are. Further, you can use the video to explain why you made the decisions you did.
8. Put in place an element in your estate plan for medical emergencies and long term care. You need to have a living will put in place and you should also appoint someone to make key decisions for you, based on your needs, when you cannot.
9. Care for your minor children and disabled children now. Any parent with a child under the age of 18 needs to have a will that outlines what should happen to the children should the parents die. It should also provide for their financial well being if possible.
10. Take the time to put a plan in place. As simple as this estate planning tip sounds, it is the most important piece of estate planning advice. You do have assets and wishes that should be heard.

Ask Joseph Leonard and Coastal Investment Advisors for additional personal finance advice or learn money management tips on financial management by downloading this free financial management guide.