Good estate planning is often NOT good tax planning!
Too often the estate planning process short-circuits because the testators have never asked themselves, “WHY do I own what I do?” and, “WHAT should I do with it?” Having never understood their motives but only the mechanisms, they never put their estate plan into effect.
They pay the attorney for perfectly good documents, but because they are afraid (rightly) that the documents don’t actually reflect their desires, they never sign them or never fund the structures the documents are meant to create.
And so we return to the truism we hear over and over again: don’t build a house before you have a solid plan. And in this case: don’t try to create an estate “plan” without first defining and understanding your objectives (your objectives, not the attorney’s!). Read the rest of this entry »
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estate planning, estate planning decision pyramid, legacy planning, tax planning
