Residents of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, want their estate plans to be done well in order to ensure that their heirs are in good shape. That requires an understanding of the best approach to estate administration probate. It also requires not cutting corners at the expense of a good plan. In view of that, here are some pitfalls to avoid.
First, don’t skip an expert review. Experts are called experts for a very good reason, which is that they know what they’re doing. It is fine to put together your own drafts of documents like wills based on templates that you find online. However, you should still get the documents reviewed by a qualified professional to make sure that they are as they need to be. If you don’t, your heirs will pay the price for any errors.
Second, don’t leave your business out of your estate plan. Your business, whether you own all of it or part of it, is a critical part of your estate’s value. Your heirs may want to sell it, or they may want to keep it and run it. However, if you don’t include it in your estate plan, none of that can happen, and your heirs may instead find themselves embroiled in a costly battle to determine what happens with the business. When you do include your business in your estate plan, make sure to include all of the details, like its costs, revenue, profit, assets and debts. This way, your heirs can make good decisions about it.
Third, avoid leaving lump sums in cases where trusts would work better. If you are leaving money to a 16-year-old daughter or son who would blow the entirety of a lump sum on a totally radical beach trip, it is better to leave them money in the form of a trust that will provide for reasonable living expenses, tuition, fees and books as they go through college, after which they have the tools to be self-sufficient.
Source: AARP, “4 Costly Estate-Planning Blunders,” G.M. Filisko, accessed March 23, 2018
