As an attorney who concentrates in wills, estates and trusts, I have written many wills for many clients over the last 17 years. Often, these wills were written in a rush for couples with children who did not have a will and were taking a vacation without their children. Although better late than never, this is not the ideal way to draft such an important document. Everyone has an estate whether you know it or not. Why not make a plan for how that estate will be distributed at your death.?
IF YOU DIE WITHOUT A WILL:
- If you die without will, you die "intestate". In that case the State determines where your property goes-whether you like it or not! A rigid set of rules will determine where your property goes depending on which of your relatives survives you.
- you have no control over your assets.
- you must use cumbersome and expensive court procedures in order to accomplish what a will could do. For example, without a will you will be required to:
- (a) obtain Court approval for payment of funeral expenses greater than $3,500.00; (b) have your personal representative or executor to file bond with Court before handling estate; (c) have your spouse to file bond and report to Court as long as children under 18 and spouse administers money that passes to kids; (d) have the Court appoints personal representative or executor, not you; and (e) have the Court appoint a guardian of your children, not you.
- No tax savings devices can be used to reduce Federal estate tax and inheritance taxes.
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH WILL?
- Instead of the state deciding where property goes, you decide who gets what and under what circumstances
- You can give specific bequests of property; divide estate into shares--specific bequests-
- Leave property to those who need it
- You choose who you want to be personal representative of your estate, instead of the Court
- You can provide for your minor children's support, education and welfare by creating a trust
- You can appoint guardian for children instead of expensive court proceedings to do so--guardian for children
- Arrange for payments of debts and funeral expenses
- Take steps to help save death taxes
- Inheritance tax, US estate tax how much lineal/collateral rate
For those of you who already have a will, If you already have not reviewed it recently, do it now . Tax laws are constantly changing. Changes in your family or your business may make an existing will out of date or obsolete. An old will may not meet your current needs. For example, beginning in January 1999, the unified credit (amount of assets which passes free of Federal estate tax) rose from $625,000.00 to $650,000.00.
Due to limited space it is impossible to do more than generally discuss wills in this article.
If you would like more information regarding wills or estate planning, including a confidential estate planning survey form, please contact me.