You’ve worked hard for your money and your lifestyle. When you travel, take luxury vacations or buy the newest tech, you don’t think about how “lucky” you are. Luck had nothing to do with it. You put in the work and you’ve reaped the rewards.
You want to pass those rewards on to your children. This requires a comprehensive estate plan that can deal with your complex assets. As you make that plan, you need to work hard to avoid these common mistakes:
Failing to plan for a potential disability
People sometimes assume that estate planning just means planning for what will happen to their money when they die. The reality, though, is that many people end up with a disability through injury or illness in the later years of their life. Estate planning can address this with long-term care savings, advance medical directives, powers of attorney and much more. You need to plan for every possible outcome.
Not updating the plan when necessary
Just making your estate plan is not enough. Life changes. You need to update your plan to reflect it. Maybe your company bought out another and your assets increased. Maybe you got divorced. Maybe you sold that vacation home you were going to leave to your daughter, so now you want to leave her money instead. No matter the case, just update your plan annually.
Failing to address taxes
If you don’t have the right estate plan in place, how much of your money is going to the government in taxes? You need to know, and you also need to know how to avoid it. Common tactics include creating trusts, giving away gifts outside of the estate plan and taking other steps to lower the amount of taxes levied on your estate.
Moving forward
These are just three of the most common mistakes, but there are many more. Be sure you know how to avoid them and what steps to take. An experienced legal firm can help you prepare properly.