focus areas

A well managed estate will provide the means by which a person may preserve and maintain the benefits of their assets during their lifetime and minimize the delay, taxes, and administrative costs upon the passing of the assets to the person's relatives, friends, or other designated beneficiaries.

 

Estate planning should always begin with a careful consideration of the client's estate. For estate planning purposes, a client's ''estate'' may be regarded as all of the property that the client owns or in which the client has an interest. This definition is broad enough to include all kinds of property, tangible and intangible, real and personal, community, quasi-community, and separate. It includes assets to which the client holds legal title as well as assets in which the client holds only an equitable interest. It includes such obvious items as real estate, automobiles, stocks and bonds, cash on deposit at banks, furniture and furnishings, jewelry, and works of art, as well as less obvious items, such as interests in life insurance policies and the right to receive payments from retirement or pension plans. The client's estate will include items that the client owns outright, as well as items held by trusts in which the client is either an income or a remainder beneficiary.

 

Trusts: Generally provide the means to control the assets during the course of the person's life.  The creator of the trust is called the "Settlor" and the recipient of the benefits the "Beneficiary."  A trust is managed by a Trustee who acts in its fiduciary capacity as the responsible party for ensuring that the assets of the trust are preserved and maintained in the manner desired by the Settlor and as the law requires to ensure that the Beneficiaries interests are protected.  Trust allow the creator to designate assets which will serve to either provide for the creators source of benefits or to ensure that interests in certain assets are divided in the manner that the trust creator desires.

- Irrevocable

- Revocable

- Remainder

- Charitable

- Special Needs

Wills: Most estate planning and drafting of trusts involves the combination of a trust during the life of the creator Wills are one of the primary tools of the estate planner. However, a competent estate planner will not attempt to achieve all of a client's estate planning goals with a will, but in appropriate circumstances will employ trusts, co-owned property, life insurance policies, multiple-party accounts, gifts, and durable powers of attorney to accomplish those goals.

Goals:
The goals of an estate plan should be determined by the client's needs and the legal tools available to meet them. Transferring the client's estate after death to the persons designated by the client is, of course, one of the primary goals of every estate plan. However, many clients will also wish to transfer some property while they are still living. And nearly every client will be interested in arranging his or her affairs in such a way that if the client should ever be incapacitated, his or her property will be properly managed and conserved, both for the client's benefit and for the benefit of the persons to whom the client ultimately wishes to transfer the property.

Taxation: Saving estate, gift, and other transfer taxes plays an important part in most estate plans. Many clients are aware of the substantial burden that estate and gift taxes impose on estates of sufficient value. Some may also be aware of the existence of the generation-skipping transfer tax. Nearly all clients whose estates are large enough to be subject to one or more of these taxes will wish to arrange their affairs in such a way as to minimize the overall tax burden on their estates and heirs. While tax-saving goals are legitimate, however, it is important to keep them in perspective. Taxes should be saved only when it is possible to do so without sacrificing other more important estate planning goals. Providing adequately for the client's own needs while the client is still alive is always more important than attempting to save taxes, either during the client's lifetime or after the client's death. Similarly, a plan that transfers the client's property to persons designated by the client with a minimum of delay and expense is almost always preferable to a plan that saves taxes but deprives the designated persons of some or all of the property that they would otherwise receive, or delays their receipt of the property. Reasonable tax-saving goals are usually compatible with a client's dispositive plans. It is the duty of the estate planner to implement the client's plans in such a way as to achieve both when both are achievable. In every case, of course, all of the options available to the client should be explored and explained, and the ultimate decisions should be the client's to make.

Sayar Fausto understands that preparing your trust and estate requires thoughtful consideration and planning.  For many persons an estate and trust will involve difficult decisions for your family.  We provide thorough review and planning to ensure that you and your family's confidentiality and sensitive matters are protected.