Michigan Estate Planning Blog

Top Benefits of Estate Planning

Despite the hard lessons learned during the COVID pandemic, surveys repeatedly show most Americans still don’t have an estate plan in place. According to the article “Five benefits of estate planning” from The Aspen Times, a comprehensive estate plan ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes when you die, minimizes taxes on your estate and protects your loved ones, especially those who depend on you financially. In addition, estate planning protects you while you are living and ensures that your wishes are followed, if you become incapacitated.

Protect Yourself and Your Assets During Your Lifetime. No one likes to consider themselves at risk of incapacity. However, this happens. If you become mentally or physically incapacitated during your lifetime, you might not be able to earn income, or make decisions for yourself. Part of an estate plan includes documents to address these risks to protect yourself, your family and your assets.

Designating a health care proxy and a power of attorney gives people you choose the ability to make decisions on your behalf. Otherwise, the responsibility for your medical, legal and financial decisions may go to someone you don’t even know.

Asset Distribution. Without a last will, your home state’s laws govern the distribution of your assets. Your intentions to care for certain individuals won’t be relevant, as the law itself decides who gets what. A last will is used to state exactly how you want assets to be distributed. Your last will should be updated as your financial situation and/or family dynamics change. You should also review designated beneficiaries on investment accounts and insurance policies regularly and especially after any major life changes.

Minimize Transfer Taxes. While there’s no way to predict what taxes will take effect in the future, it’s safe to assume there will be taxes on your estate. If you hope to leave wealth of any size to your family, proper estate planning is crucial. There are many different strategies to minimize taxes on inherited wealth, including life insurance, Roth IRA conversions, lifetime giving and trusts. Your estate planning attorney will be able to create a plan suited for your unique situation.

Protect Family Wealth. As people accumulate wealth, they often become the targets of frivolous lawsuits. For this reason, placing assets in certain types of trusts can ensure efficient wealth transfer, as well as protecting assets from predators and creditors.

Create and Continue a Legacy. Legacy planning is part of the estate planning process. Many people donate money or assets on their death to causes they supported during their lifetime. These goals can be achieved by contributing to a donor advised fund, creating a family foundation or setting up a philanthropic trust.

Creating an estate plan is also a useful tool for having candid discussions with the family about the future, avoiding future conflicts and making your estate administration easier for loved ones.

Reference: The Aspen Times (Jan. 24, 2023) “Five benefits of estate planning”

Top Benefits of Estate Planning

Despite the hard lessons learned during the COVID pandemic, surveys repeatedly show most Americans still don’t have an estate plan in place. According to the article “Five benefits of estate planning” from The Aspen Times, a comprehensive estate plan ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes when you die, minimizes taxes on your estate and protects your loved ones, especially those who depend on you financially. In addition, estate planning protects you while you are living and ensures that your wishes are followed, if you become incapacitated.

Protect Yourself and Your Assets During Your Lifetime. No one likes to consider themselves at risk of incapacity. However, this happens. If you become mentally or physically incapacitated during your lifetime, you might not be able to earn income, or make decisions for yourself. Part of an estate plan includes documents to address these risks to protect yourself, your family and your assets.

Designating a health care proxy and a power of attorney gives people you choose the ability to make decisions on your behalf. Otherwise, the responsibility for your medical, legal and financial decisions may go to someone you don’t even know.

Asset Distribution. Without a last will, your home state’s laws govern the distribution of your assets. Your intentions to care for certain individuals won’t be relevant, as the law itself decides who gets what. A last will is used to state exactly how you want assets to be distributed. Your last will should be updated as your financial situation and/or family dynamics change. You should also review designated beneficiaries on investment accounts and insurance policies regularly and especially after any major life changes.

Minimize Transfer Taxes. While there’s no way to predict what taxes will take effect in the future, it’s safe to assume there will be taxes on your estate. If you hope to leave wealth of any size to your family, proper estate planning is crucial. There are many different strategies to minimize taxes on inherited wealth, including life insurance, Roth IRA conversions, lifetime giving and trusts. Your estate planning attorney will be able to create a plan suited for your unique situation.

Protect Family Wealth. As people accumulate wealth, they often become the targets of frivolous lawsuits. For this reason, placing assets in certain types of trusts can ensure efficient wealth transfer, as well as protecting assets from predators and creditors.

Create and Continue a Legacy. Legacy planning is part of the estate planning process. Many people donate money or assets on their death to causes they supported during their lifetime. These goals can be achieved by contributing to a donor advised fund, creating a family foundation or setting up a philanthropic trust.

Creating an estate plan is also a useful tool for having candid discussions with the family about the future, avoiding future conflicts and making your estate administration easier for loved ones.

Reference: The Aspen Times (Jan. 24, 2023) “Five benefits of estate planning”

10 Steps To Giving On Purpose Mid-Michigan

Can your philanthropy do more than just help the cause or causes important to you? Yes, as many well-to-do but generous Americans can attest. If you are philanthropically inclined and have an appreciation “for things that matter most,” then why not bless your family as well as your charities as part of your legacy. To make philanthropy a part of your legacy, you do not have to be a Carnegie to have your name put on this or that building. For most of us, our family is our most important and lasting legacy. Consequently, philanthropy can be what binds a family together and passes down real enduring values to the younger generations, all while doing tangible good today. This is not automatic. It requires more than estate planning, or even charitable gift planning, but what is called legacy planning. To give you a quick run-down and even a guide, you might consider the ten steps that formed the basis of a recent Private Wealth magazine article titled “10-Step Legacy Planning.” The ten by title alone are: 1. Identify What Inspires 2. Create A Giving Mission Statement 3. Review Giving History 4. Engage The Next Generation 5. Research Non-Profit Organizations 6. Form A [Family] Focused Team 7. Decide Where To Give 8. Build The Strategy 9. Present Customized Recommendations 10. Implement The Strategy Be sure to read the original article for the details on these ten steps. In the meantime, there is no time like the present to get started on the first step. So, what “inspires” you?

Reference: Private Wealth (January 7, 2014) “10-Step Legacy Planning

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com

 

Legacies, Like Gardens, Take Time And Planning Saginaw, MI

What is a “Legacy”? That can be hard to define with any certainty. We kind of know it when we see it. There are those monuments, those legends, and those gifts about which there is no question. Whether it is in the name of a particular family or a community, it is unquestionably a legacy. So it is with a garden created roughly a century ago by members of the Morris family in Pennsylvania. For those with high ambitions to leave a legacy, consider a recent meditation in the form of a Barron's Penta article titled “A Lesson in Family Legacy.” It is the story of that Morris family garden. The garden is no patch of soil, either at its start or in the present day. No, it is the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, a famous landmark still giving to the public and the University. However, it was not always that way, nor was it as pretty as the article describes. In fact, the Morris family of Pennsylvania, namely siblings John and Lydia Morris, raised the garden from the soil and left their name in place long after their own passing or the passing of their house through the form of an endowment. While not every garden can be a monument, or every gift a legacy, it does require a unique perspective when it comes to coordinating your assets, goals and values. What will be your legacy?

Reference: Barron's Penta (October 4, 2013) “A Lesson in Family Legacy”

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com

 

 

So, What Will Be Your Legacy? Saginaw, MI

Sometimes it can be easy to see the trees, but miss the forest. This is true when it comes to planning for your estate. You can get mired in the tax laws, the tricks and the tools, and even some petty family squabbling. Then again, there are those planners who find direction in an old axiom: “Don’t just leave an estate. Leave a legacy.” An estate is just so much stuff, figuratively or literally. However, a legacy is so much more. Whether a beloved memory or even a contribution to those around you. Usually, we seek to leave behind an estate for the good of our family, and we work to protect this gift from what problems may lie in wait. When you are considering this notion of your “legacy,” take time to think through what you are trying to achieve. So how do work out your legacy? Fortunately, a recent article in Forbes titled “4 Smart Ways To Leave A Legacy” can help get you started. Certainly, there is no one way to leave a legacy, or even a single way to guarantee it. In the end, it is your call when it comes to the legacy you wish to leave.

Reference: Forbes (August 1, 2013) “4 Smart Ways To Leave A Legacy”

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com

 

 

Racing the Clock on 2012 Mega Gifts

When it comes to 2013 taxation, the future may be catastrophic for estate tax planning. As each day of 2012 passes us by, incredible wealth transfer opportunities are dwindling away. Can you beat the clock before time runs out? These last few months are either a time to seize the unprecedented gifting opportunity of a $5.12 million gift tax exemption, or a time to run out the clock on this opportunity perhaps for the rest of your lifetime. The gift tax exemption is scheduled to return to $1 million. If you are looking to seize the opportunity in 2012, then you will find encouragement in a recent Forbes article titled “Romney Wants No Estate Tax - Case For 2012 Mega Gift Remains Compelling.” In short, the article notes that there are ways to give now without spoiling future opportunities, if you think carefully about the right kinds of assets to give. The author of the article calls such strategic assets “legacy assets,” and offers this quote from an attorney comrade: Legacy assets are ideal for the “megagift” for several reasons: 1. art, real estate, family business interest and other Legacy Assets are secular investments, that is held for more than 10 years, and so the gifting of an asset does not substantially reduce the lifestyle or disposable financial wealth of the client, 2. The financial value of Legacy Assets is not correlated to the investment market, 3. The personal and social value of legacy assets is both real and significant, 4. Since there is both a financial and a social value to the ownership of legacy assets, they work well with charitable split interest trusts that can significantly leverage the Unified Credit, and 5. There are techniques that can be used with legacy assets that cannot be used for investment assets. In terms of a Mega Gift, legacy assets are definitely worth considering. Remember, the time is now to act on these amazing wealth transfer opportunities. Don’t wait until it’s too late and the ball is already dropping in Time’s Square.

Reference: Forbes (October 14, 2012) “Romney Wants No Estate Tax - Case For 2012 Mega Gift Remains Compelling”

Estate Planning for your Family Intangibles

Giving a gift is one thing, giving a lesson is another entirely. With a gift, you may make another happy, but with a lesson, you may make another wise. Interestingly, intangible gifts such as wisdom and values are of rising concern with baby boomers. This concern is evidenced by the findings in a recent survey, as reported in an article in TIME Magazine’s Moneyland. In the article, titled “How to Give Heirs What They Most Want (It Won’t Cost Much),” more and more people consider “family stories” to be their greatest legacy, along with the lessons behind them. In fact, a whopping 86% of boomers named “family stories” as the most important part of their legacy, even if they also had complex assets to leave or a family tradition of wealth to continue. Against this backdrop, the question today, as it has always been, is about how to instill or commemorate such values and heritage. The article concludes with this thought: “It takes reflection to understand what is most important in your life and how you might get that message to heirs. But it won’t be a waste of time. Sometimes a scrapbook is worth more than an investment portfolio.” For more ideas on this subject, be sure to consult the original article and speak with your estate planning attorney for creative approaches other clients have taken in the past.

Reference: TIME Moneyland (June 12, 2012) “How to Give Heirs What They Most Want (It Won’t Cost Much)”

Charitable Giving – Leaving A Lasting Legacy

At some point in your life, there comes a moment when it becomes important – vital, in fact – to focus your energies on a cause and give to charity with all the passion that went into amassing your worth. But what drives so many generous givers to this moment? A recent Wall Street Journal article points out that it’s the age-old, if hackneyed, idea: legacy. Beyond a doubt, there are certain tax advantages to well-timed and well-planned charity; the tax code is designed for this. But also it is important to realize that there is a history to the tax code. Regardless however convoluted the reason, many a tax advantage exists beyond the lobbying of non-profits and the work of those set to take advantage for fiduciary reasons. No, such advantages exist to recognize the urge to provide a legacy. Planning for your estate and your wealth, in life and after death, is usually about “legacy” in one form or another. Your family is part of your legacy, that is oftentimes a give, but the missions you held dear in life are just as much a part of your legacy. In fact, they are an extension of your ideas, dreams and hopes for the world, or some small corner of it. The original article goes as far as to say that legacy, in broad terms, is why we give to charity in the first place. So, what will your legacy be, and what do you want to leave for the world? If there is something that you care about, perhaps it is worth acting upon, either in life or as a bequest.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2012) “Why the Rich Give to Charity”

Charitable Giving – Leaving A Lasting Legacy

At some point in your life, there comes a moment when it becomes important – vital, in fact – to focus your energies on a cause and give to charity with all the passion that went into amassing your worth. But what drives so many generous givers to this moment? A recent Wall Street Journal article points out that it’s the age-old, if hackneyed, idea: legacy. Beyond a doubt, there are certain tax advantages to well-timed and well-planned charity; the tax code is designed for this. But also it is important to realize that there is a history to the tax code. Regardless however convoluted the reason, many a tax advantage exists beyond the lobbying of non-profits and the work of those set to take advantage for fiduciary reasons. No, such advantages exist to recognize the urge to provide a legacy. Planning for your estate and your wealth, in life and after death, is usually about “legacy” in one form or another. Your family is part of your legacy, that is oftentimes a give, but the missions you held dear in life are just as much a part of your legacy. In fact, they are an extension of your ideas, dreams and hopes for the world, or some small corner of it. The original article goes as far as to say that legacy, in broad terms, is why we give to charity in the first place. So, what will your legacy be, and what do you want to leave for the world? If there is something that you care about, perhaps it is worth acting upon, either in life or as a bequest.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2012) “Why the Rich Give to Charity”