Thursday, May 20, 2010

Do More Than "Just" Avoid the Estate Tax as Part of Your Texas Estate Planning

It is an all-too-common misconception that smart estate planning in Texas is all about avoiding the “estate tax".And, if that were the case, only the very wealthy would be affected by it--since (until this year, with no current legislation in place) only those with estates carrying over $3.5 million in value were not exempt.

You may fall into that category, but even if you DON'T (and if you do), you should be considering the following questions as a family as part of your overall Texas estate plan. You see, regardless of what is happening in Congress, you should focus your attention on what issues you can deal with now:

• What are your values and goals?
• The key question to ask is, "How do you want your success to affect your children and grandchildren?"

Every family has a different answer to that question, and it is an extremely important--foundational--component of how we work with our client families.  Some planning only takes "money" into consideration. And while that is certainly an important item to consider, the money is really only there to create a specific destiny, and style-of-life that you would want to see carried into successive generations.

And it does not require a lot of "it" [money] for you to be able to pass along your most precious values. I often urge my clients and friends to actually take the time to consider this question, because it may seem obvious on its face...but your answers will often surprise you.

And we are here to provide any kind of support along the way which you might require. We're pretty practiced in helping families cut through the clutter of financial statements--and find the hidden gems of core values and relationships.
And THOSE are the only things which really do last forever.

Let's talk more, if you want to explore these issues. Because regardless of how Congress eventually acts, walking without the right kind of estate plan in Texas can create an even worse mess when the time comes--and it's not just about the money.

With that, I will leave you until next week. But to make the process even easier...well, see below:

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