At StateTrust, when you sit down with your estate planning team, you will find a group of professionals whose goal will be to create a custom-tailored estate plan that addresses your special needs while considering your family structure and financial assets. You will have to examine whether you need only the most basic advice, specific advice on certain investments or property holdings, advice related to guardianship of minor children, care for elderly or disabled dependents, or if you need comprehensive planning services that will address a number of specific concerns.
Determining the right estate planning tool requires you to balance advantages and disadvantages when comparing the different choices you may have to help you achieve your goals. Depending on your age group and family situation, you will have a different set of priorities, which the right estate plan will reflect:
You are young and single: You may not have a need for an estate plan at all—you are still in the process of building your assets and have no direct beneficiaries. Nevertheless, at this stage, you might want to start developing a comprehensive financial plan.
You've got a life partner, but are not married: A Will is important to ensure that your partner is not left out from the distribution of your estate. This legal tool means direct protection for your partner, should you have joint assets and decide to allocate your share for him/her to inherit assets. Be aware that without a Will, the law (Distribution Act 1958 as amended by the Distribution Act 1997) will dictate where your assets go after your death, and your partner might receive nothing. Instead, usually spouses, children and parents will inherit the totality of the estate. Furthermore, this stage in life should be the time to start thinking about Trusts.
You are married and have young children: Again, you should have a Will. It is the legal and formal document that specifies the distribution of your estate and also an arrangement of the guardianship and custody of your young children. In the event of a calamity, where both the parents are gone, the appointed guardian will take over the custodianship of the children and be responsible for their daily welfare. If you fail to name a guardian, the court will designate someone to act in the child’s best interest while the process to appoint the guardianship of the child runs its course.
You have a significant net worth: You have spent 30 or 40 years of your life working hard to have an important amount of assets and investments. Thus, you will want to protect the value of your estate and decide on what you want to leave behind for your beneficiaries, what you want to remain in control of and to whom you want your wealth transferred to in case of death.
Depending on your goal, size of estate, family relationships, minor or disabled children, and charitable intentions, you may want to consider creating a Trust in your estate plan. If you have a large estate, a living trust may be the right option for you. This is an instrument that can be designed to manage your assets, if stated in the trust deed, in the event you are disabled or incapacitated. If you own a business, whether as a sole proprietor, partnership or private limited company, you should consider a business continuation plan. In the event of retirement, illness or death, a proper funding solution and legal arrangement ensuring the continuity or smooth transfer of your business is an important consideration.
You are elderly: This is a crucial time to take specific steps to review and establish an estate plan if you still do not have one. Many of us believe that should disability strike us, our spouse, parents or close relatives will automatically act on our behalf. This is not what the law mandates. If you have not prepared for this, a judge may have to appoint someone to make such decisions for you. At this moment in life, you need to know three important legal tools and take action according to your personal and financial situation:
- Review your Will or update it.
- Examine a trust as a serious option.
- Determine whether a Power of Attorney is a good option. It works when an authority is given by one person (the Donor) to another (the Attorney/Donee) to act in his behalf should the donor be absent.
Objectives-Estate Planning
