Estate Planning

We will work closely with your estate planning attorney to create an effective estate plan for you and your family.

The essential estate planning documents are:

  • A Will
  • Power of Attorney
  • Health Care Proxy
  • Perhaps a Trust

Your will and trust agreement, if you have one, directs who gets your ‘stuff’ and when. The Power of Attorney will allow someone else to act on your behalf if you become incapacitated. The Health Care Proxy allows someone else to make end of life decisions on your behalf. These documents will need to be revisited periodically. Why? Well, everything changes. Marriage, having children and divorce affect many. Your estate planning documents need to reflect where you are at in your station in life.

Estate planning is for everyone, not the just the affluent. The federal estate tax exemption is $11.4 million per person in 2019. A married couple can use so-called portability and combine their exclusions and therefore exclude $22.8 million from federal estate tax. With the exclusion being so high, very few people will be subject to the federal estate tax.

Just because you likely won’t be subject to a federal estate tax, doesn’t mean you don’t need an estate plan. Everyone needs an estate plan. Regrettably, it is estimated that more than half of Americans don’t have a will.

One reason you need an estate plan is even though you may not be subject to the federal estate tax, you might be subject to state estate tax. For example, in Connecticut the estate tax exclusion in 2019 is only $3.6 million.

Contact us today at (860) 645-1515 to schedule an appointment to get started with your estate planning.

Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional.