When you think about it, everybody – whether you’re single, widowed, divorced, or a married couple or unmarried couple – has the same four objectives or reasons for doing estate planning.
Distribution
You want your lifetime’s hard-earned assets to pass to the right people at the right time, when it’s most appropriate based on age, maturity, abilities, needs and circumstances. And you want to make it difficult for the wrong people, like in-laws of spouses or other greedy relatives, to fight over or contest your estate. You don’t want to leave these important, personal decisions up to a court or some other third party.
Management
You want to assure that your financial, personal and medical affairs will be properly handled, by the person or persons of your choosing, when you become too ill or disabled to act for yourself. When you pass away, you may want financial management, by your chosen person or persons, for your loved ones who may require such management.
“My husband and I set up a Living Trust with Kavesh, Minor & Otis. Our main reason was to save inheritance taxes. It’s given me peace of mind knowing everything is taken care of. I know what to do in case something happens to my husband… and my children know what to do if something happens to the two of us.” – Diane G.
Preservation
You want the maximum amount of your lifetime’s hard-earned assets to pass to the people you want to have them. And you want to do this with the least amount going to court fees and attorneys’ fees, while avoiding the expenses, delays, publicity, headaches and aggravation. This also means minimizing income and capital gains taxes while you’re living and estate taxes after you’re gone; protecting your assets from divorce, lawsuits, creditors and bankruptcy during your lifetime and after you’re gone; and preserving your access to government benefits, such as Medi-Cal nursing care benefits, for you and your loved ones, should you need them.
