Estate Planning for Your Long Term Needs
Comprehensive estate planning may consist of a team of professionals such as specialized attorneys and a financial planner to help you with many estate planning and long-term care concerns.
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Estate Planning Basics: Planning Ahead for Long Term Needs
There are two common elements lacking in the estate planning process regarding long term needs. The first is not planning ahead for an orderly distribution of your assets when you die, and the second is failing to leave instructions for family members as to what to do when you can no longer manage your own affairs.
Estate planning from a qualified estate planning attorney can help provide you with the written documentation to ensure that your assets and property will be transferred over to the next generation according to your wishes. With wills and living trusts, you can plan ahead for concerns surrounding everything from estate planning taxes, income taxes, real estate capital gains, business succession, and even an unexpected illness or disability. Because life often throws us curves and because we're all living longer, it's important to plan ahead.
Estate planning for the long haul
Today's estate planners understand the need to become more involved in the planning process for the long term. Recognizing this need, a qualified estate planning attorney will typically work with other professionals who can provide you with a complete and comprehensive plan that includes long term care and end-of-life issues. This “team” may include more than one specialized attorney, a care manager and/or a financial planner. Together, they can help you with a multitude of estate planning concerns such as:
- Tax advice regarding your estate
- Probate services
- Designing charitable gifting programs
- Drawing up powers of attorney and other health consent documents
- Drawing up wills and trusts
- Creating trusts or partnership programs to save on estate and/or gift taxes
- Designing charitable gifting programs
- Options to help pay for estate taxes
Estate planning encompasses many different elements. Be sure that the professional(s) you work with to design your individual plan, consider planning ahead for all of your long term needs.
For more information on estate planning, visit the Protective Learning Center.