Some people hear about the concept of comprehensive estate planning and they are not sure about what this entails. Depending on the size and scope of your assets and the exact nature of your intentions, the specific details are going to vary family to family. But there are some basic rudiments that comprise the anatomy of the modern estate plan, and we would like to take a look at them here.
Asset Transfers
The first thing that is going to come to your mind when you’re planning your estate is probably going to be the transfer of assets to your loved ones. Of course the most common vehicle of asset transfer is the last will, but you have other choices. Many people opt for revocable living trusts because they enable the efficient transfer of assets outside of the process of probate. There are a number of other types of trusts that can be appropriate under certain circumstances. You can also transfer assets directly outside of probate through the creation of pay on death accounts or by engaging in the practice of tax-free gift giving.
Planning For Incapacity
People are living longer than ever, and when you reach your 80’s, the possibility of incapacity becomes a very real one. If you want to be comprehensively prepared you would do well to execute durable powers of attorney naming representatives of your choosing to make decisions for you should you become unable to do so due to incapacity at some point in time.
A Living Will
The third component to the typical holistic estate plan would be a living will. This document is used to express your wishes regarding health care procedures. The issue that is central to living wills for the most part is that of whether or not you would want to be kept alive via the use of life support measures if you were to fall into an irreversible terminal condition.
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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