Estate Planning

Every estate has a plan. Either the owner of the property left behind will decide how the property is distributed upon his or her death, or the State will decide through its laws of decent and distribution. The only way to prevent someone else from deciding how, and when, your assets are ultimately distributed is proper planning before you die. Such planning not only gives you, and not the state, control over the ultimate distribution of the assets that you worked so hard to accumulate. In addition to giving you control over your assets, estate planning also gives you the ability to put limits on when or how much money particular individuals will receive, and in cases involving very large estate, careful planning can often result in substantial tax savings from federal and state estate taxes. Your estate plan will give you the power to:

• Updating Your Estate Plan
  
• Utilize Techniques to reduce taxes
  
• Utilize Techniques to reduce administrative expenses
  
• Designate a guardian for minor children
  
• Designate an Executor to administer your Estate
  

Estate Planning can take many different forms. Below are some of the more common estate planning tools.