Making an “estate”-ment, planning for the future!

Add comment December 7th, 2007

 Richard A. Bennett, CFSC, CFP®, AIF® 

Having spent 22 plus years in the financial services industry, one of my greatest challenges has been to get clients to complete their estate plan.  The development of an estate plan usually involves an attorney drafting a will or living trust to direct the disposition of individual’s assets upon death.  I don’t know if it is the cost of having a plan drafted (usually between $500 -$1,000 for a will or $2,000-$5,000 for a living trust) or that it forces us to consider our own final demise but most people are reluctant to get the plan done.    

The problem is that if we die without a will, the State of Illinois will make one for us.  Often the State’s version does not direct the inherited assets to the people or places that we might have wished.  An example would be for a married couple with two children where one of the spouses dies.  Any assets that were held in the deceased spouses name alone will be divided one half to the surviving spouse and one half being split among the couple’s children.  Most attorney-drafted estate plans pass all the assets to the surviving spouse directly or to the spouse using a trust.  Then the kids would receive the assets at the second spouse’s death.  This structure helps insure the financial security of the surviving spouse. 

You spend a lifetime accumulating your personal wealth.  It is extremely important to make sure you have a plan in place that will carry out your final wishes.  Make getting your estate plan done your new year’s resolution.