Estate planning is a means with which to preserve what you have worked to acquire and ensure that your family and loved ones are taken care of after you die. A properly optimized estate plan also protects you if you should become incapacitated and unable to make or communicate decisions for yourself.
Set up a time to communicate your needs and goals to a Las Vegas estate planning lawyer at Cross Law Group. Our trusts & estate attorneys can recommend actions that address your concerns about your legacy and provide peace of mind for your family’s future.
A comprehensive estate plan allows you to manage and preserve your assets during your lifetime, control their distribution after your death, and prepare for unforeseen circumstances. Whether you’re a business owner, a retiree, or a parent of young children, a well-crafted estate plan can provide significant benefits and peace of mind.
For blended families, estate planning is crucial. Without it, you risk unintentionally disinheriting your children or leaving your spouse without adequate support. Let’s say you remarry and want to provide for your new spouse while ensuring your children from a previous marriage receive an inheritance. Without proper planning, your children could be disinherited, and your entire estate could go to your spouse’s children or his/her other family. By using tools like trusts, you can make sure your spouse is cared for and your children receive their inheritance – exactly as you wish.
Estate planning also protects you if you become incapacitated. By creating healthcare and financial powers of attorney, you choose who makes medical and financial decisions for you if you can’t. Without these documents, your family might face a costly, stressful court process to gain authority over your affairs. You can avoid this by planning ahead and naming your own trusted decision-makers.
A well-optimized estate plan takes many assets out of probate and even out of your estate. Avoiding probate limits costs and ensures your loved ones and beneficiaries have access to funds and property without waiting months for probate to close. People with substantial wealth can implement a thoughtful estate plan to reduce the portion of their holdings subject to estate tax and pass property to their heirs with tax-efficiency.
A comprehensive estate plan usually involves several strategies to achieve specific goals. A Las Vegas attorney will discuss your family and financial situation and might propose one or more estate planning vehicles to accomplish your objectives.
A person can place any assets they choose into a living trust, also called a revocable trust. They would then retitle any assets that have a registered owner—such as vehicles, real estate, and bank accounts—into the name of the trust. You can even place unregistered valuables, such as jewelry or collections, into the trust by written directive.
While you are alive, you can be the person who creates the trust (known as the grantor or settlor), the person who manages the trust (trustee), and the person who benefits from it (beneficiary). You would manage and benefit from the assets in the trust just as you did when you owned them in your own name. The trust would name one or more successor trustee(s) to manage the trust when you become incapacitated or die, and would name successor beneficiaries who will receive the property at the designated time.
A revocable trust allows you to maintain full control of the property as long as you are alive and of sound mind. When you die, assets in the trust are not probated and your heirs may have immediate access to them if directed by the trust. You could also draft the trust so your trustee continues to manage the assets for the beneficiaries until they are mature enough to handle their own financial affairs.
There are many other forms of trust that accomplish specific purposes. An estate planning lawyer in Las Vegas could discuss the value of:
Even when most or all your wealth is in trusts, you still need a will. A “pour-over” will directs all of the assets left in your personal name to be transferred to your trust at your death. It’s essentially a back-stop to make sure none of your assets go to the wrong person or persons. Ideally, all of your assets will already be in the name of your trust at your death, so the pour-over will is unnecessary. However, you should still have a pour-over will just in case.
A simple method of keeping assets out of probate, minimizing tax liability for the estate, and optimizing the benefit to future generations is to direct as much wealth as possible into life insurance, long-term care insurance, tax-advantaged retirement accounts, and joint ownership with right of survivorship. A Las Vegas attorney can review your financial profile and point out opportunities to take advantage of these estate planning strategies.
Comprehensive estate planning preserves your financial legacy for the benefit of the people you choose. It is a gift to your loved ones that minimizes headaches and unexpected setbacks.
Talk to a Las Vegas estate planning lawyer about how best to address your concerns and meet your needs for asset preservation. Reach out today to begin working on your estate plan with a knowledgeable legal professional.
