Effective estate planning can save your Pennsylvania beneficiaries from probate costs, and help you take care of them for years, even decades to come. For example, you can ensure the protection of your minor children if you die before they reach adulthood and set up trusts to help pay for their education. We often help clients create a plan that allows them to safeguard assets and ensure their heirs get the most benefit from their inheritance.
According to Kiplinger, an estate plan can be as straightforward or as complex as you need it to be. It evolves over time with life changes, from births and deaths to divorce and philanthropic goals.
Changing strategies
Reviewing an estate plan every five years or after a major event can help it stay current. For individuals in their 20s and 30s, the focus is often on protecting their spouse and children. By the time you reach your 50s and 60s, it is more about legacy planning and advanced health care directives. Many states have changed their estate tax laws. This allows you to focus more on what you would like to accomplish with your money, rather than avoiding taxes.
Adding a trust
A trust enables you to specify which heirs get their inheritance, when and how you wish it used. By doing this, not only do you maintain control, but the contents also avoid probate. A special needs trust can benefit a disabled child without putting their eligibility for government benefits at risk. Dynasty trusts can provide for your family for generations and protect the assets it contains from creditors and liability from lawsuits.
Estate tax laws frequently change as do your needs. Matching estate documents as your goals change can help reduce the burden on your family and allow you to care for them long after you have passed.
