Estate Planning
You know an estate plan is crucial because, without a plan in place, your family could be left with the enormous weight of negotiating the lengthy and often expensive process of settling your estate. Still, creating a well-executed estate plan can involve some difficult decisions and crucial conversations.
Your EWM financial advisor can help you navigate the path for your estate plan and will work with you and your attorney to get everything in proper order.
Estate Planning with Your Financial Advisor:
Consultation: Meeting with your financial advisor to pull the pieces together for your estate plan includes having a meaningful discussion about the legacy you want to create.
Financial Management:
The EWM team helps you to document how you wish your assets to be managed upon your death, which includes determining the appropriate beneficiaries for your investments, properties, ownership of your accounts, and any additional income that you have received.
Beneficiary Appointments:
Our experienced team becomes an integral part of your team, working with your legal counsel (if you don’t have an attorney, we can assist you with referrals) to properly designate beneficiaries.
Estate and Inheritance Taxes:
Having both a financial advisor and tax consultant assist you in creating your estate plan can help you pass on more of your wealth to your loved ones and less to the tax collector.
The inheritance you leave behind for your beneficiaries can have the benefit of being tax-free. However, as of this writing, Jan 2020, the estate tax will be implemented for estates with assets valued over 11.4 million dollars.
Why risk your legacy? Improperly completed or filed documents could expose your beneficiaries to unnecessary tax burdens.
Healthcare & Financial Power of Attorney:
Who do you feel comfortable with making decisions on your behalf? As a part of your comprehensive estate plan, we will talk with you about assigning your healthcare and financial power of attorney. Once you’ve decided who will serve in these roles, we work with your attorney to draft the proper paperwork.
An open conversation can help us see our options, and how our decisions may impact the future for our loved ones. It can happen where the family member people think of first may not have the capacity to fulfill their designated responsibilities. Many people find they have changed their mind about who they’ve assigned as health and financial power of attorney.
Talking with your financial advisor about what will be required of your assigned power of attorney and how that may impact the relationships in your family, can help you make a more informed decision about which you can feel more secure.
Estate planning is not something most people look forward to. Yet it’s worth your time: the wealth you’ve built during your lifetime could slip away from those you love because of an inadequate plan. It is a great feeling to get your estate plan in place and be confident about how your loved ones will be cared for.
Create a legacy you’re proud of. Contact us to schedule a meeting to get started.