Protecting Your Family

Generally speaking, estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging the management and disposal of a person’s estate during the person’s life and after death, while minimizing taxes. Estate planning includes planning for incapacity as well as a process of reducing or eliminating uncertainties over the administration of a probate. It also includes maximizing the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. The client’s specific goals are as simple or complex as the client’s wants and needs dictate.

At the bare minimum, estate planning involves a will or trust and powers of attorney, specifically the durable financial power of attorney and the power of attorney for healthcare. Beneficiary designations, property ownership (joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, tenancy in common, etc.), and gifting need to be frequently considered as well.

Wills are a common estate planning tool and are usually the simplest device for planning an estate’s distribution. It is important that a will be created and executed in compliance with the laws of the jurisdiction where it is created. However, a validly executed will in Nebraska will be recognized in all of the other states and vice versa.

A trust may be used as an estate planning tool to direct the distribution of assets after the person who creates the trust, usually called the settlor, passes away. Trusts may be used to provide for the distribution of funds for the benefit of minor children or developmentally disabled children. For example, a spendthrift trust may be used to prevent wasteful spending by a spendthrift child, or a special needs trust may be used for developmentally disabled children or adults. Trusts typically offer a high degree of control over the management and disposition of assets.

An estate plan almost always includes creating several power of attorney documents – documents that direct what will happen to a person’s estate in relation to their personal care if the person becomes legally incapacitated. For example, an estate plan would include a durable power of attorney for financial and legal matters and a healthcare power of attorney for all medical decisions, including an advance directive for end-of-life decisions.