You are never too young for a Will. A will is a document that lets you tell the world who you want to get your assets. Die without one, and the state decides who gets what, without regard to your wishes or your heirs’ needs.
In the past, we’ve advised married clients to divide their assets between their revocable trusts in such a way as to “equalize” their estates. The reason for this was that we could not know who would pass away first and we wanted to be sure that each spouse could maximize his or her individual exemption allowed under the law. In December 2010, President Obama signed the new tax law to take effect for January 2011 through December 31, 2012, which provided that married couples could elect to combine their individual $5 million exemptions to a $10 million joint exemption for the couple, so that a surviving spouse could apply the predeceased spouse’s unused exemption upon the survivor’s death.
We frequently have clients whose health is deteriorating and whose finances are becoming strained, but who have strong feelings regarding staying in their homes. Perhaps they do need round-the-clock nursing care brought into their home, or they may fear becoming isolated if they leave their neighborhoods, churches or friends to move into a facility.
Clients often ask me whether they need a Will or not. Although the answer is different for everyone, I am a strong believer that not everyone needs a Will or even a Trust.
When clients come to my office to prepare an estate plan, we will meet initially to create the strategy and determine what the client wants in their plan, whom they want to provide benefit for and how.
When Mary learned that her husband of 56 years was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she was faced with the reality that John had a terminal disease that is currently the sixth leading cause of death in the United States*1!
Estate planning is primarily about how to pass your property on after your death to the recipients of your estate with a minimum of fuss, expense and taxes. But, it is about a lot more as well.
Many people think that estate plans are for someone else, not them. They may rationalize that they are too young or don’t have enough money to reap the tax benefits of a plan; however, estate planning is for everyone, regardless of age or net worth.