Looking to safeguard what you’ve worked for?
Estate planning is not reserved for the ultra-wealthy.
You need an estate plan.
Seriously.
If you own property, have accounts, or want your final wishes to be respected, it’s crucial.
The issues in estate planning are…
Most people dread it, but we can help demystify the process.
Did you know that 55% of Americans have no estate plan? No will. No trust. Nothing.
Millions of people in this country are not protected by an estate plan.
This exposes their family to risk, their estate to probate, and their wishes to be forgotten.
If you don’t plan, your loved ones get stuck fighting red tape.
Your savings are eaten up in fees.
And your wishes are trampled by a system that doesn’t care about your legacy.
Don’t do that to yourself or your family.
Click to learn about some basic estate planning strategies that can help you start building a legacy.
Table of Contents
What you’ll discover:
- Why Estate Planning Is Not Optional
- Why Avoiding Estate Planning Is Risky
- Estate Planning Strategies That Cover the Essentials
- Steps to Begin Your Estate Plan
Estate Planning Is Not Optional
Estate planning was optional…Until recently.
Fact is that emergencies happen to families daily. Now those families who don’t have estate plans face serious repercussions. Working with professionals who understand estate planning in Detroit MI can ensure you make the best possible decisions and have all of your bases covered.
If something happened to you, would your family know what to do? Do they have access to your accounts? What about your medical wishes? Do you have directives in place?
The things we take for granted have massive implications if left unattended.
Avoiding Estate Planning Is Risky
So… What if you have no plan?
No estate plan means your estate goes to probate. This is a court-supervised process of asset distribution that can take months or years. And it’s costly. Probate expenses can range from 3% to 8% of an estate’s value.
We are talking about a $500,000 estate, easily losing $15,000 to $40,000, just to finalizing your estate.
But when you partner with us and prepare an estate plan properly, you skip probate and save your family from that headache.
Estate Planning Covers More Than Just the Basics
Estate planning covers a wide range of issues and scenarios.
It’s more than just a will. When you create an estate plan with one of our trusted planners, you receive coverage for all of the bases.
Your estate plan should cover two things. Who gets what when you pass away and who can make decisions on your behalf in the event of incapacitation.
It’s a two-prong approach that ensures total protection.
Create a Comprehensive Will
One of the most important estate planning strategies is to have a will.
Your will is your legal will to your family about how you want things handled in the event of your passing. This document should lay out, in clear, specific language, where you want your assets to go.
If you die without a will, then your state takes it upon themselves to interpret how your assets are distributed and to whom.
So, think about everything you own right now.
Home. Car. Savings. Jewelry. Clothes. These items have value and you have people in mind to whom you would like them to be distributed. Your will gives you that control. Otherwise, it’s a lottery.
In your will, you can also name guardians for your minor children. If you have children, that should be a primary concern of yours.
This is one of those decisions that you don’t want left up to a judge.
Establish a Living Trust
Trusts are powerful estate planning strategies because they avoid probate altogether.
Assets held in trust transfer immediately to your beneficiaries without any court intervention. Not only does this save time, but it saves a lot of money in attorney fees and keeps your estate private.
With a living trust, you create a trust entity and transfer ownership of your assets into the trust. You, as the creator of the trust, are also the trustee and maintain complete control over your assets during your lifetime.
When you pass, a successor trustee is named, and they distribute the assets per your instructions.
Straightforward, right? Plus, trusts are flexible, and you can make changes to them as needed.
Plan for Incapacity With Power of Attorney
Incapacity planning is another essential part of estate planning.
It covers the situation of you still being alive but unable to make decisions for yourself. Your POAs, or power of attorneys, are the estate planning documents that name an individual to make financial and medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated.
Your financial POA allows an individual to manage your assets, make payments, and take care of financial transactions on your behalf. Your medical POA, also known as a health care proxy, names an individual to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
Your family would need to go to court to get the legal authority to handle your business otherwise.
That’s an expensive, time-consuming process that you don’t want to put your family through.
Update Beneficiary Designations Regularly
Something most people don’t realize is that beneficiary designations overrule their wills.
Accounts that have beneficiary designations, such as life insurance policies and retirement accounts, will transfer to the named beneficiary regardless of your will.
If you’ve ever been divorced and neglected to remove your ex-spouse from your 401(k), then guess what, they still get the assets upon your death, even if your will says otherwise.
Beneficiary designations should be reviewed every year. Life changes and so should your beneficiaries. Marriages, divorces, births, and deaths all necessitate beneficiary review.
Ensure that they match the plans in your will to avoid future confusion and complications.
Don’t Forget Your Digital Assets
Digital assets are part of your estate and should be considered in your estate plan.
Social media accounts, email, cloud storage, online banking, cryptocurrency, and other digital accounts all have value to you and should be addressed in your estate planning.
We recommend creating an inventory of your online accounts and passwords and providing them to your executor upon your death.
Review and Update Your Plan Often
This is critical to your estate plan. Life changes. Your plan should change with it.
Estate plans should be reviewed every 3-5 years. Changes in marital status, births or adoptions, changes in assets or your move, or the death of an individual named in your plan should trigger a review.
Outdated estate plans can create more problems than having no plan at all.
Final Words on Estate Planning Strategies
Estate planning is how you protect all of the things you have worked so hard for in your lifetime.
It’s how you ensure your estate goes where you want it to, it’s how you spare your family from going through a legal headache, and it’s how you have peace of mind in critical decision-making about your healthcare and finances.
Look at it this way. Only 24% of Americans have even a simple will in place. Be in the 76% that is leaving their family’s future up to chance.
Partner with estate planning professionals who understand your wishes and help you avoid probate and protect what you have worked so hard for.
Your future self and your family will thank you for planning and taking action now instead of leaving them to pick up the pieces in the future.
