Top 12 Estate Planning Mistakes - #3 No Wealth Transfer Plan
One of the more popular speeches that I give is on the Top 12 Estate Planning Mistakes—How to Detect and Avoid Them. In this series of articles, I am going to cover one mistake per newsletter.
Your wealth transfer strategy needs to be tailored to your assets and your family situations. One of the first things I ask clients when they come in to meet with me is tell me about your children. For each child and grandchild, I will ask what do they do for a living and whether they good with money. Then I will ask the same questions regarding their spouses. I will also ask if anyone in the family has a disability. I am looking for issues that need to be addressed in the wealth transfer plan. The wealth transfer plan is then customized to your unique family situation.
Do you want to protect a portion of your assets from creditors and reduce your taxable estate for estate tax purposes, but still have access to this money if you need it? A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust may be the perfect solution for you.
It is a Trust that designates your spouse as Trustee and allows your spouse to control the assets within the Trust. Your spouse and descendants are the primary beneficiary of the Trust. The Trust can be structured to be a completed gift to your descendants for estate tax purposes. Also, provisions can be added to protect assets in your trust from your descendants' creditors, lawsuits and ex-spouses.
Top 12 Estate Planning Mistakes - #3 No Wealth Transfer Plan
