Is Your Estate Plan Missing Something?

DEWITT, Mich. - Sept. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- If you've already named beneficiaries and completed a transfer on death agreement for your estate, you're at a good point to help ensure your wishes are carried out. Given the complexity of needs you could face in terms of care for your children and your assets as well as decisions about your health, you'll want to consider using additional strategies. Consult your tax and legal professionals on what estate strategies may be appropriate for you. Your Edward Jones financial advisor can help make sure your strategy is consistent with your financial goals.

A good first step in designing your comprehensive estate strategy is to think about your goals. Do you need to provide guardianship or financial support for minors or other dependents? You might want to consider establishing a trust for them, or outlining your plans for their care in your will. These considerations can also impact the type and amount of life insurance you have.

Would you like to support any charities? There are several ways you can accomplish this goal. You might consider outright gifting of cash or assets, or you could make a direct beneficiary designation to charity. You could also set up a charitable trust to handle the distribution of your contributions.

And what about naming someone to make your financial and medical decisions, should you become unable to do so? You might want to have a health care directive in place that lets your loved ones know how you want these critical decisions handled. It also can be a good idea to appoint a power of attorney. That way, one person is in charge of making these decisions, should something arise that's outside of your health care directive.

Another important part of a comprehensive estate strategy is making sure that your beneficiaries can manage the income that comes from your estate, as well as the taxes, in an efficient manner. You could consider making a gift or establishing a trust to help support this goal.

These goals might require additional legal documents and strategies, so it's important not to put off developing an estate plan.

Contact your estate-planning team of professionals today, including your qualified tax and legal professionals, and Edward Jones: Mae Luchetti - Financial Advisor at 517-669-8817 or visit https://www.edwardjones.com/en_US/fa/index.html&CIRN=305702, to ensure the plan you develop remains closely aligned with your goals.