HIGHVIEW℠ Estate Planning
(For “advanced” estate planning for clients with estates over $11,000,000, please click here).
Estate Planning has changed.
Until recently, a major focus of estate planning was the avoidance of gift and estate taxes. This has changed due to recent increases to the exemptions for gift and estate taxes and generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT). Currently, the individual lifetime exemptions are $11+ million. As a result, estate and GST taxes are no longer a concern for most people. Accordingly, good estate planning now focuses on minimizing income and capital gains taxes (keeping in mind that the U.S. Congress has a habit of changing tax laws every few years).
Do you think your estate plan is in order?
Many people think that, because they have an attorney and an accountant/CPA/EA they work with, the answer is yes. That may not be the case.
The following are statistics about the general public when looking at a group of ten.
- 1-2 will NOT have a Simple Will
- 5-6 will NOT have Durable Powers of Attorney
- 5-6 will NOT have Marital Living Trusts
- 9-10 will NOT have a Family Limited Partnership (FLP)
- 7-8 will NOT have an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)
*Provided by the Wealth Preservation Institute
Many people know their estate plans are NOT in order, but believe they are too busy and will get to the estate plan “when they have the time.” If you have been saying that to yourself, please act now to put an estate plan in order.
Estate planning itself is a very broad topic and cannot be covered in an introduction webpage. Therefore, listed here are a few of the more important topics that are typically not properly dealt with in most estate plans. You are encouraged to click on the links below, as well as the links in the estate planning drop down menu at the top of the page. This site will help you learn more about estate planning. Please contact Highview Wealth to put together an integrated estate plan that covers not only your estate, but also asset protection and financial planning.
