| Estate planning is anticipating and arranging for the management and disposal of your estate during your life, at and after death, while minimizing gift, estate, generation-skipping, and income tax. A trust and supporting will are typically part of a good estate plan. Depending on the situation, as estate planners, we may recommend tools such as trusts, pass-through entities, and/or life insurance to accomplish your estate planning goals.
For many, under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, estate planning is not about avoiding estate tax, as it now applies only to those exceeding the tax exemption.
Yet estate planning remains critical to:
- Pass property to intended beneficiaries
- Alleviate the burdens of surviving family members
- Protect the estate assets from unintended recipients
- Deciding who will raise your children
How Does This Impact Your Family?
Increased tax exclusion amounts may affect your estate plan, and cause you to consider needing to redraft some important documents, including trusts and wills. It’s also important to remember the exemptions are set to fall back to their previous amounts in 2026, and there are no guarantee lawmakers won’t reduce the exemption amounts further. These factors make it increasingly important to review your estate planning documents or get an estate plan in place if you haven’t done so.
A good start for your Plan is our handy and secure online Estate Planning Worksheet that you can fill out today.
Please call me if you wish to discuss how many changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could affect your tax, estate, and family business planning situation. We are pleased to help you frame and implement the planning you might consider in response.
Best Regards,
Rob |
