Basic Estate Planning
The purpose of estate planning is to arrange your financial affairs for the convenient use of your assets during your lifetime and the efficient transfer of those assets to your intended beneficiaries upon your death, The ultimate transfer of your assets may be accomplished by any number of methods, i.e. wills, trusts, joint ownership, and beneficiary designations. The effective use of these various methods of transfer can result in the conservation of your estate by minimizing estate taxes as well as administrative costs associated with your estate.
To help you better understand the process of estate planning, we have included in the text below a basic discussion of how the estate tax system works and various estate planning strategies, which can be used to minimize estate taxes.