Estate Planning 101 Lecture Notes

ESTATE PLANNING 101


1. Estate Planning-What is it?
a. Planning for death, planning for incapacity, gift planning, planning for minors

2. Who needs it?
a. All U.S. Citizens and especially U.S. Citizens with non U.S. Citizen spouses

3. Why?
a. If no planning= taxes, expensive probate fees, expensive guardianship matters (minor and at incapacity), might disinherit those you want to inherit, might be kept on life prolonging technology even though you don’t want it and which will lead to your estate incurring substantial medical expenses.

4. How?
a. Revocable Living Trust, Wills, Power of Attorney, Living Wills, Health Care Surrogate, Pre-Need Guardianship for Minor Children

5. Expenses:
a. Estate planning basics-inexpensive in relation to having no estate plan. The actual costs are usually close to 15% or less of the costs if you have no estate plan.
b. No estate plan costs: 6-8% of value of estate will go to costs, CPA fees, Attorney fees, Court costs, etc. For example a $500,000 estate with no planning could easily incur $40,000 in fees. Furthermore, some estates with no planning in place will incur substantial taxes which could be avoided or prolonged with proper planning.