With the end of 2020 in sight, a few last minute estate planning considerations provided by JD Supra can help you close out this turbulent year with confidence and a clean slate:

1. Make gifts of cash to public charities to take advantage of tax laws;

2. Have discussions regarding your estate plan with your family over the holidays;

3. Review and update your estate plan every few years or after a major life event such as a birth, death, or marriage;

4. Check account ownership and beneficiary designations to make sure they still reflect your wishes;

5. Make sure your family knows how you would like your affairs to be handled in the event of your incapacity and where all pertinent documents (powers of attorney, living wills, advance directives, etc.) are stored;

6. Investigate life insurance options for the benefit of your dependents or loved ones; and

7. Finalize or pledge charitable gifts that qualify for 2020 tax purposes.

Wishing you joy and happiness this holiday season, and a safe and bright start to a brand new year!

With the holiday season upon us, especially this year, care and concern for family and loved ones takes on particular importance. Although contemplating what will happen to our assets should we lose capacity or pass away is not a typically joyful holiday pastime, thinking broadly about your main goals for your estate plan can provide a positive starting point. To help you get started, below are some of the most common estate planning objectives:

• Provide financially for oneself, spouse, children, or other friends and family members

• Minimize estate and income tax consequences

• Appoint a guardian for children

• Give to charities, churches, or other organizations

• Contribute to educational costs of loved ones

• Protect assets from creditors

• Appoint representatives in the event of incapacity

• Simplify the process of asset transfer for family members

• Give specific items of personal property to family or friends

• Avoid the probate process

Taking the time to consider what you wish to accomplish with your estate plan can make the process seem less daunting and provide a clear roadmap for developing your plan. For more information on ways to meet your estate planning objectives, take a look at this recent piece from Forbes.

While many will be utilizing free time this month to vacation or escape the chaos of the holidays, you may be taking advantage of some time off to work on your New Year’s resolutions. Consider adding an estate plan to your list of goals for the coming year. To get you started, Kiplinger’s recently published a comprehensive list of the ten most common estate planning mistakes. These ten considerations provide a good starting place if you hope to address your estate plan in the year to come.

The top 10 estate planning mistakes according to Kiplinger’s:

1. No “real” plan.

2. Failure to update.

3. No disability/long-term care plan.

4. Disregarding estate tax liability.

5. Improper asset ownership.

6. Lack of liquidity.

7. Overlooking beneficiary income tax implications.

8. Leaving out measures for minor children.

9. Forgetting to consider charitable gifts.

10. Ignoring the impact of beneficiary designations on retirement accounts.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020!

Wondering what to give your loved ones this holiday season? An estate plan is the gift that keeps on giving! Planning provides direction and clarity to your loved ones both while you are alive and after you pass away. Though planning can seem stressful, by failing to plan, we unfairly pass this stress onto loved ones who are left to make difficult decisions for us. Estate planning really does not have to be painful. Often, the hardest part is getting started. To help out, NerdWallet provides 7 simple steps to getting started with your estate plan:

1. Take inventory of your tangible and intangible assets.

2. Contemplate how you would like to utilize your assets and estate plan to protect your family.

3. Select individuals to manage your personal and medical decisions should you become incapacitated.

4. Check beneficiary designations on insurance policies as well as retirement, investment, and other accounts.

5. Understand how and if estate taxes may apply to your situation.

6. Consider hiring a professional to assist with your plan.

7. Plan for the present, but expect to revise in the future.

Though joy and estate planning are unlikely synonyms, the holidays are the perfect time to think about protecting and honoring our loved ones. Best wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Wondering where to start as you consider creating an estate plan? Thinking through this short and sweet checklist will give you a solid foundation for your estate plan:

• Beneficiaries: Who will get your assets when you pass away? Friends, family, charities?

• Specific Gifts: Do you have any special items such as family heirlooms or jewelry that you would like certain individuals to receive after you pass away?

• Trustee: Who will manage assets on behalf of your children if you pass away while they are young?

• Executor: Who do you trust to distribute your assets as you have spelled out in your will?

• Financial Representative (POA): Who should make decisions regarding your finances and other personal business if you become incapacitated?

• Health Care Representative (POA): Who should make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated?

• Living Will: If you are in a terminal state as determined by a physician and unable to make decisions on your own, would you like to receive life-prolonging care, or would you prefer to receive comfort care only?

Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season to you and your family!

Looking for some reading material to pass the time as you travel this holiday season? Kiplinger’s comprehensive guide to estate planning provides a solid base of information for those thinking about creating or updating an estate plan. Consider discussing some key topics from Kiplinger’s guide with family and friends over the coming months:

• Does your existing estate plan still makes sense given your present situation in life and the current climate of estate tax law?

• Should you utilize a trust to handle asset distribution, protect your privacy, or avoid the probate process?

• What type of information could you share with your family members regarding your estate plan to ease tension and establish expectations?

• How should your assets be divided (equally or unequally) among your loved ones and when should those distributions be made?

• Should you make lifetime gifts to decrease the amount of assets you hold at the time of your death and to take advantage of the annual gift tax exemption?

Safe travels, and happy planning!

You have surely heard about the new tax legislation signed into law by President Trump at the end of 2017, but what does it mean for your estate plan?  Below are a few key changes to the tax law that can impact estate planning:

• The annual federal gift tax exemption increases to $15,000 this year, to be adjusted for inflation each year thereafter.  This means that each individual can give up to $15,000 in gifts to as many individuals as they would like in 2018 without touching their lifetime exclusion amount.
• The lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion amount increases to $11,200,000 for each individual as of January 1, 2018, and will increase with inflation each year through 2025.  This means that each individual can pass assets worth up to $11,200,000 during life and/or at death without incurring federal gift or estate taxes.
• The lifetime exclusion amount is still portable, meaning a deceased individual's unused portion can be utilized by a spouse.  As such, the exclusion amount for a married couple for 2018 is effectively $22,400,000.
• On January 1, 2026, the lifetime exclusion amount will drop back to the 2017 level ($5,490,000 adjusted for inflation) per individual.
• The federal estate tax rate remains 40% for those who exceed the lifetime exclusion amount.

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy 2018!

Whether you are planning a wedding this year, or you have been married for 50 years, this helpful article from A Practical Wedding outlines four major planning discussions you should have with your spouse.  Writing your wills, purchasing life insurance, preparing living wills, and documenting various aspects of life can go a long way toward making an unexpected situation much simpler for your spouse or other loved ones to manage.

Thank you for a wonderful 2016, and best wishes for a safe and happy 2017!

Looking for a last minute gift idea for your family and loved ones this holiday season?  How about putting together an effective estate plan to protect them in the future?  The gift of a solid estate plan can save your family and loved ones time, money, and headaches down the road.  It is important to put in the time now to make sure your affairs are in order as mistakes in your estate plan can have devastating consequences after your death.  A piece on the website Financial Planning highlights ten major celebrity estate planning mistakes to avoid:

• Appointing an untrustworthy trustee or executor
• Failing to clarify intent
• Putting off estate planning until it is too late
• Making verbal promises outside of the plan
• Failing to fund a trust
• Failing to make documents accessible to loved ones
• Creating unenforceable documents
• Failing to update estate planning documents after major life events
• Creating "do it yourself" estate planning documents
• Failure to establish an estate plan at all

Wishing you a happy and safe holiday season and all the best in the new year!