Introduction: The true purpose of an estate plan is to accomplish a number of goals. Your estate plan will depend upon your particular circumstances. In planning your estate, your goals and wishes are given the highest priority. In addition to your goals and wishes, you should also consider your family and their needs, as well as the nature and extent of your property.
To be able to properly achieve the purpose of estate planning (to be prepared), you will need to answer a number of important questions. A major question will concern who will receive your property upon your death and the manner in which the property will be distributed.
Depending on your circumstances you will determine:
* Who will administer your estate after your death
* Who will be the guardian of your children
* How federal estate (death) taxes and other taxes can be minimized
* How your executor or trustee will pay for death taxes if any are due
* How you and your spouse should hold title to assets
* If you cannot care for yourself, who will take care of you
* If you cannot manage your estate, who will do so on your behalf
* Who will receive the proceeds of your insurance and/or retirement benefits
In answering many of these difficult questions, you will be able to see the true purpose of estate planning; the effects of these decisions are too important to leave them up to the courts.
Randy Baxter received his BS in education from the University of Tennessee in 1977 and taught elementary school and college for six years. He entered the financial services industry in 1983 with the New York Life Insurance Company and began work as the training supervisor of the East Tennessee offices in 1985. His status as the go-to person for product knowledge and plan design helped him realize that to help the most people, it was best to work as an independent trainer with agent responsibilities and specialize in estate planning design. In 1987, he opened Asset Positioning Services, an independent estate planning organization.
