FULFILL YOUR LEGACY WITH AN ESTATE PLAN

In doing so, you can increase the likelihood they will choose your practice as they develop careers, portfolios, and advice needs of their own. Just as your client’s financial plan is crucial to controlling investments while they are living, an estate plan is crucial to ensure control of their legacy upon their death or incapacitation. Use our expert resources to help advise clients on the best way to preserve their wealth and legacy, while minimizing the impact of estate taxes on future generations. We are a committed group of financial planners who continuously strive to provide financial planning to our respective clients with excellence. Join a national community of engaged professionals for advanced education, meaningful peer connection, and conversations that move the profession forwar

EP Wealth Advisors may cover some or all of the costs of preparation of foundational estate planning documents for select clients when using one of the independent attorneys we have contracted with for estate plan

Pasadena estate planning attorney Christopher B. Johnson works with clients across Southern California to create revocable living trusts that provide family members and loved ones with the promise of a more financially secure futur

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It’s quite common to own property jointly with a spouse or business partner, whether it’s having both of your names on your home or business property. There are several estate planning measures you can take to avoid probate. While having a will does not entirely avoid probate, it can simplify the process and ensure that your wishes are honored.

When you structure your estate to bypass the probate process, you ease the administrative burden on your family and give them peace of mind during a difficult time. To avoid probate, it’s critical to transfer title to all your assets, now and in the future, to the trust. Indeed, for larger, more complicated estates, a living trust (also commonly called a "revocable" trust) generally is the most effective tool for avoiding probat

Your financial advisor can work with your tax, legal and estate-planning professionals to help ensure you have an estate plan that matches your goals. Irrevocable trusts can be used to provide for a spouse and children from a prior relationship, help ensure that your heirs manage and use funds wisely and minimize federal and state wealth transfer taxes. This pre-meeting assessment for clients helps you determine how much they, their life partners, and their heirs know about investments, other financial tools, and the principles of building and protecting retirement income planning for guaranteed income wealth. Frequent communication about values the family considers important helps to reinforce those values and ensure their understanding by future heirs. We work with you to determine the best way to preserve, manage, and distribute your assets during your life and after death, including providing gifts and bequests to your heirs, while minimizing your estate taxes.

Education

To help ensure your estate goals are met, consider working with a financial advisor. Trusts are useful for achieving specific estate planning goals, like avoiding probate, retirement income planning for guaranteed income providing privacy. Proper estate planning helps ensure your assets are accessible and accurately distributed without unnecessary fees and taxes. Estate planning helps protect your family and your legacy with a plan for what happens in the event of your death or incapacitatio

By holding property jointly with another person, the property automatically passes to the surviving owner when one owner dies. Gifting also allows your loved ones to benefit from your assets before you pass. This option is only available in Missouri for certain types of property and can be an excellent tool for avoiding probate. A transfer on death deed allows real estate property to pass directly to a beneficiary when you die, without the need for probate. A straightforward yet effective way to avoid probate is by designating beneficiaries for your financial accounts and assets.

Probate may result in family disputes

By using probate-avoidance tools, for example, a living trust, more of your assets can go directly to your heirs instead of being eaten up by fees. Avoiding probate allows your loved ones to receive their inheritances much more quickly. The timeline can be extended even further if disputes arise among heirs or if the estate includes complex assets. Probate is a legal procedure in which a court establishes the validity of your will, determines the value of your estate, resolves creditors’ claims, provides for the payment of taxes and other debts, and transfers assets to your heir

As your clients develop an estate plan, they will inevitably encounter tax consequences. Many clients will require sophisticated and highly customized guidance to navigate the rules of wealth transfer. This assessment can affirm the ability of clients and their partners to respond to emergencies or can reveal gaps in their preparedness that you can help them address. In the event of emergency, it serves as a quick-reference guide for clients' loved ones or other survivors. While the goal of each meeting is to facilitate collaborative discussion and come to a mutual understanding and consensus, each meeting should be shaped to the needs of your client’s family. Structured meetings can help you open a dialogue about important issues, strengthen family harmony and trust, and educate and prepare your client’s heirs for future responsibilities.

Why a Financial Planner is a Key Player in the Estate Planning Proce