Estate Planning
Preserving wealth from one generation to the next can be complex and time-consuming. Guidance from a competent, experienced advisor can go a long way toward helping make sure your financial success is shared with your family, friends and the charitable organizations you may want to designate.
However, the first step in effective estate planning is to insure your basic financial and healthcare advance directives are in place:
- Wills
- Power of Attorney for Finances
- Power of Attorney for Health Care
- Living Will
- Proper registration and beneficiary designations of your insurance policies and financial holdings
- And, in some cases, some form of a trust
These advanced directives, with the exception of a trust, are generally inexpensive, easy to implement, and should be considered essential estate planning tools for all individuals, regardless of age or financial standing.
In the absence of such documents, court intervention involving a great deal of time, expense, and possibly stress to your family, may be necessary to carry out your legal, financial, and health care wishes at precisely the moment when timeliness and ease of action are of the greatest importance.
Once the appropriate advanced directives are in place, we can help you articulate your longer term estate planning goals; then we will work closely with you and your tax and legal advisors to ensure your financial plan reflects your estate planning needs.
For more information, check out these helpful documents: