Estate Planning Helps with Your Financial Affairs and Protects Your Heirs
Estate planning can start when you are young; you don’t need to be super rich to have one. You can learn and benefit from estate planning regardless of age or financial status. The prerequisite? An asset or more to leave behind.
What is an Estate?
An estate is the total assets and liabilities someone holds at their death. Think about that for a few seconds. What do you own? How about real estate (home or land), investments, life insurance, or personal possessions, like a car, boat, furniture, and art?
Two essential terms are:
‘probate estate,’ which is a somewhat familiar term, is the estate of someone who has passed WITHOUT a will, and
‘trust estate’ refers to assets passed into a trust AFTER death.
What is an Estate Plan?
An estate plan is a written record of your wishes and intentions and allows YOU the opportunity to state how YOUR assets (property, belongings, cash, etc.) are distributed; people or organization(s) you care about.
If you somehow don’t indicate in writing your wishes and intentions before your death, then the state steps in and probate courts will make them for you. The end result might not be what you wanted or take care of your family.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we will explore WHY estate planning is important to you and your beneficiaries.
*Disclaimer
The information contained in this specific blog is for general information purposes only. You should not rely upon the material or information as a basis for doing any business, legal, or any other decisions. You are encouraged to consult a professional and investigate to your satisfaction.