Firms that offer professional legal services usually cater to things like wills and estate planning needs. Estate planning services consist of more than just powers of attorney, trusts, and wills to effectively carry out activities related to trust and estate planning.
Trust and estate planning services typically include the following:
- Analyzing wills and trust instrument
- Assisting in trust and estate litigation support and beneficiary disputes
- Preparation and review of formal (judicial) and information fiduciary accountings for executors and trustees
- Assisting fiduciaries, beneficiaries and attorneys in various aspects of Trust and Estate Administration
- Estate, gift & charitable tax planning
- Preparation of estate, gift and fiduciary income tax returns
- Serving as executors and trustees
- Assisting in minimizing estate, gift and income tax exposure
- Testifying in court with respect to fiduciary accountings and the applicable laws
- Providing valuation services
What is a Trust?
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that lets a trustee (a third party) hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary. There are different kinds of trusts and they specify when and how assets are to be passed to the beneficiaries. Assets in living trusts do not go through probate (a court supervised process used to authenticate the last will and testament of the deceased), so beneficiaries usually gain access to the assets faster than they would have access to if the assets were transferred using a will.
Not going through probate helps to save court fees, time, and reduces estate taxes. Irrevocable trusts may not be considered part of a taxable estate and so fewer taxes may be incurred upon one’s death.
What is Estate Planning?
Estate planning refers to the process of putting in place and arranging for the management and transfer of an individual’s estate in the event of their death or incapacitation. The transfer of the estate is typically done according to a will left behind by the deceased which is a document with instructions that dictate how he desires the assets to be distributed after death.
Attorneys knowledgeable in estate law help to make the plans that result in the transfer of assets to beneficiaries and the settlement of estate taxes.
Estate plans must have the following:
- Power of attorney
- Will/trust
- Letter of intent
- Beneficiary designations
- Guardianship designations
- Healthcare power of attorney
Trust and estate planning services or tasks consist of creating a will, naming beneficiaries and an executor, setting up trusts, making funeral arrangements, and making charitable donations. Creating trusts and making charitable donations both help to limit the taxes incurred on an estate.
A person’s estate could consist of houses, artwork, pension, life insurance, debt, stocks, and cars. People have different reasons for planning an estate before their death. Such reasons could be to fund the education of their children or grandchildren, to ensure that a cause they are committed to continues to receive funding, providing for families left behind, or just keeping wealth in the family.
Writing a Will
With a will, an individual is able to put in writing how they desire their estate to be distributed after they are deceased. It is a legal document with instructions on what to do with their property upon an individual’s passing. In it, a trustee or executor that will fulfill their wishes is named and it is specified whether or not a trust should go into effect when they are alive (a living trust) or after they die (testamentary trust).
The first thing to be done is a legal process called probate, whereby it is determined whether or not the will is authentic. When a person dies, whoever is in custody of the will must either take it to the executor that was named in the will or to the probate court within 30 days of the testator’s death.
A probate court determines the authenticity of the will in a court-supervised process in order to validate and accept it as the actual last testament of the departed. When this is done, the court then appoints the executor already named in the will, giving such person the legal power to act on behalf of the deceased.
Conclusion
Trust and estate planning services should be taken advantage of as soon as possible considering the amount of work that estate planning entails. Changes can be made to an estate plan as goals, circumstances and desires change. Ensuring that you plan well could help reduce the amount of financial burdens you would be leaving to family in terms of estate taxes.
