Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog
Updating your estate plan is as important as having one. Many find it easy to procrastinate about updating their estate plan because they do not want to spend the money on a Florida estate-planning attorney. However, a lot of money can be lost through missed estate planning opportunities and family legal battles over out of date estate planning documents. Therefore, updating your estate plan can actually save money in the long run. Many Florida estate-planning lawyers, including the Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC, will actually review your current estate plan free of charge. When updating your estate plan, consider the following points.
- Consider whether you need a trust: A trust can be very helpful to achieve your goals, even if you do not have a lot of assets. In numerous situations, a trust or series of trusts in conjunction with other documents can be the best option for even those with modest means. Trusts are often used for the following reasons
- Protect your assets from creditors
- Provide for the car of your family and yourself financially in case you no longer are able to handle your own affairs.
- Provide for children of a previous marriage in the case of your death.
- Avoid probate, keep your assets private, and save money for your beneficiaries
- Protect money for minors, so they cannot spend the money in the trust immediately on thing you may consider unnecessary.
- Protect assets from a future ex son or daughter-in-law.
- File an estate tax return if you lost your spouse: A surviving spouse has the option of adding any unused tax exclusion of the deceased spouse to her own $5 million exclusion. This option is known as “portability”. You may thin that you will never need this additional exclusion, but they laws could change and significantly reduce the amount of portability in the future. Portability is not automatic. To get portability, the executor of the estate of the decedent spouse must file an estate tax return, even if no estate tax is due.
- Consider whether to give away some of your assets now to save taxes: If you have enough money for retirement, it might be in your best interest to transfer some of it now to save some taxes. If you have a lot of assets, it is a good idea to seek an estate planning attorney to discuss the option of using leveraging techniques that can allow you to give away a large part of your assets gift-tax free.
- Update basic estate planning documents: If you have not revised your estate plan in more than five years, then you should have someone look at your current estate plan to make sure it still reflects your intent and is flexible enough to accommodate present uncertainties. Consult an estate planning attorney to discuss whether your current estate plan needs some arrangements.
- Prepare for a time when you may not be able to think for yourself: Notwithstanding your present age or health it is important to prepare for the possibility of becoming physically or mentally incapacitated. To prepare for this possibility, you should select someone to be a durable power of attorney for health care as well as financial decisions.
- Chose a guardian for your children that are minors or have special needs: Even if you are married it is important to select who will take care of your children if you pass away so that a court is not making this decision on behalf of your children. This can be done by appointing a guardian in your will.
- Use beneficiary designations or style accounts to assure you or your spouse has enough money to cover immediate expenses in case one of you suddenly passes away. It is wise to maintain a joint account designated for these types of emergencies because when a spouse dies, the surviving spouse generally does not have immediate access to the decedent spouse’s private bank account. These issues can also be dealt with in various types of Trust documents.
An estate planning attorney can review your current estate plan to assure that your intent has not been frustrated with circumstances arising after the creation of your estate plan. New laws or unconsidered circumstances can easily frustrate at least part of your estate plan’s purpose. For an estate planning attorney in Florida, call the Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC at (904) 685 – 1200 or click the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the page.