disposition of property after you die. The goals of
your estate plan should include the following:
• Avoiding confusion when it comes to your final
wishes.
• Protecting your loved ones by ensuring that they
receive your assets.
• Ensuring that your children have the legal
guardian of your choice.
• Helping to reduce or avoid conflict among family
members.
• Wealth preservation for your intended
beneficiaries.
• Minimizing taxes and legal expenses associated
with your estate.
You might be wondering: what is included in
your estate? Well, your estate includes everything
you own: your house, any other real estate like a
farm, royalty interests, autos, jewelry, collections of
antiques, coins, stamps, etc. and your possessions
(heirlooms). It also includes your intangible
property: bank accounts, annuities, stocks, bonds,
mutual funds, retirement plans, life insurance and any
businesses you may have. Once you add up all of
those items, you will have an idea of the approximate
size of your estate, which is important for tax
purposes.
One very good reason to have an estate plan is to
minimize the amount of federal taxes that are owed
when someone dies. An estate tax is a tax on the
transfer of property to others, usually the children of
the deceased. This is separate from probate expenses
and final income taxes owed on any income the
deceased earned or received in the year of death.
Estate taxes also are separate from inheritance taxes
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