What Do You Need to Create an Estate Plan?

In a number of our posts, we have highlighted how people who take time to create and revise their estate plans can save a great deal of money in state and federal estate taxes. While this may be applicable to those who have estates in excess of $5 million or more, the majority of our readers may not be so wealthy.

Because the tax perseveration strategies may not apply to most of us, you may not feel as if you even need an estate plan. But don’t be misinformed. You certainly do not need to be wealthy in order to benefit from an estate plan. As we have noted before, all you need are assets (no matter how meager) and people you care about. After that, you essentially have the basics for an estate plan.

After all, part of creating an estate plan is to make sure that there are directions to pass on things that you care about to people you care about. This could mean passing family heirlooms and pictures to the proper people or making sure that warring siblings have equal shares of what you intend to pass on. You may even want to make donations to an organization you care about. Again, you don’t need millions in assets to leave your mark on an organization. It could be a collection of rare hats or a set of blankets. Whatever it could be, there should be a plan for donating it.

Thus, a plan should be in place. If you have questions about creating one, an experienced estate planning attorney can help.