Estate Planning: It's Never Too Early

When should I start estate planning?

Estate planning involves both the management of assets during your life and the dispersal of those assets after your death. Early estate planning ensures a smooth and efficient transition of assets in the event of accidental death, and reduces your exposure to estate taxes, related costs, and even the forced sale of a home.

Getting your estate plans in place is especially recommended for those who are married and/or have children. A basic estate plan will involve a will, the appointment of an executor and power-of-attorney, and ideally a living will and health care proxy or surrogate.

Benefits of early estate planning

At present, only 2 percent of Americans pass on estates large enough to require an estate tax. But even if you're in the 98 percent tax-free majority, drawing up a will guarantees dispersal of your assets in the manner you wish and to the people you wish.

For most estates, a personal attorney should be able to help you with any estate documents.

If your total assets exceed the current tax-exempt figure of $2 million ($4 million for married couples), we recommend consulting an estate planning attorney with trust-writing experience. He/she will be able to help you reduce or even eliminate the tax bill on your estate.

Early estate planning can also enable you to take advantage of the gift-tax exemption.

During your lifetime, you and your spouse are entitled to separate $1 million gift-tax exemptions.

In addition, you can also make $12,000 tax-free gifts annually to as many people as you like without those monies subtracting from your lifetime $1 million exemption.

More information on wills and estate planning