Financial planning typically focuses on acquiring assets and building up your estate. Your financial planning, however, should not occur in a vacuum. At some point, the goals of your financial plan with become entwined with the goals of your estate plan which will likely include ensuring that your assets are available to provide for loved ones when you are gone. At Stivers Law, our experienced financial planning assistance attorneys can help you better understand the legal, tax, and probate implications of your financial plan as well as how to incorporate that plan into your comprehensive estate plan.
What Is Financial Planning?
Financial planning often begins when you start your first “real” job as an adult. Initially, it may consist of nothing more than budgeting your money and socking away a small amount from each paycheck for a rainy day. As both your income and your family grow, however, financial planning will become more important. Parenthood, the need to plan for retirement, and the desire to pass assets down to future generations will all make financial planning more complex as well. Knowing the tax and probate consequences of your financial plan will be crucial to ensuring that it works in harmony with your estate plan. By the same token, understanding how the goals of your estate plan interact with your financial plan will also help both plans succeed.
How Can a Financial Planning Assistance Attorney Help?
An experienced financial assistance planning attorney can help by making sure the decisions you make in your financial plan do not adversely affect your overall estate plan and vice versa. The overlap between the two plans means you need to consider things such as:
- Tax consequences. Acquiring assets is important; however, protecting those assets is equally important. Proper planning can protect you (and your estate) from paying unnecessary taxes both during your lifetime and after you are gone.
- Probate. If you plan to pass down assets to loved ones after you are gone, you probably want those gifts to be available immediately. You also want to avoid losing some of the value of your estate to Uncle Same. Probate avoidance strategies can help accomplish both goals.
- Asset protection. Your assets may be at risk in ways of which you are unaware. Incorporating asset protection strategies into your estate plan can protect your assets from loss related to business and personal debts, long-term care expenses, and spendthrift beneficiaries.
- Incapacity planning. If you become incapacitated, someone will need to take over control of your assets. Proper financial planning, therefore, must include incapacity planning to ensure that someone of your choosing takes the helm.
Contact Us
The financial assistance planning attorneys at Stivers Law can help you protect your assets while you are alive as well as ensure that assets intended for loved ones are successfully passed down when you are gone. Contact our office today by calling (305) 456-3255 or filling out our online contact form.
