Estate Planning

Depending on how much you own when you die, your estate may have to pay estate taxes before your assets can be distributed. Federal estate taxes are expensive - up to 47 percent now and potentially 55 percent by 2011. Unfortunately, such taxes must be paid in cash, usually within nine months. As a result, assets often have to be liquidated. The good news is that estate taxes can be substantially reduced or even eliminated by planning ahead. Lisa can provide you with a number of techniques and strategies to do just that. Clients appreciate her ability to communicate the important differences between different estate planning tools, as well as the time she takes to clearly inform them of their estate planning options.

There are other estate planning issues much more important than taxes, particularly if you have a spouse or children, especially minor children. For instance, who will take care of your minor children if you die or become incapacitated? If you are incapacitated, who will make medical and financial decisions for you? Do you want to be kept alive on life support, if you are in a permanent vegetative state? If you don’t make these decisions now, a court will make them for you when the time comes.

Even if you have an estate plan, did you know that an incomplete or outdated plan could be worse than no plan at all? Lisa reviews many estate plans and finds the majority of them to be lacking - just like the one her grandmother had. She will be happy to review yours.

A good estate plan is also a way of preserving your family’s legacy - protecting the assets you have left to your children and grandchildren from creditors, predators or, in some cases, from your children themselves. Lisa can set up the proper type of trust that will protect your hard-earned assets from going to anyone other than those you intended.