People who earn income by working as an employee have a pretty straightforward financial situation. Though it does take careful planning to be able to finance your retirement years while crafting a robust legacy, you don’t have to ask yourself what is going to happen to your job after you retire or pass away. That is something that your employer has to think about.

If you are the owner of a business things are quite a bit different. You will often hear financial planning attorneys say that it is a good idea to map out a plan for the future early on in your life. This is absolutely true for everyone regardless of what you do for a living.

However, when you are a business owner the decisions that you make today are going to be impacted by your long-term intentions. So it is extremely important for small business owners to set financial goals from the outset because how you intend to exit from the business is going to impact your ongoing decision-making processes.

For example, if you intend to sell the business at some point in time to finance your retirement years you may proceed differently than you would if you are going to leave it to your children. If you want the business to stay in the family over multiple generations you may invest more in the infrastructure than you would if you simply intended to sell the business.

Long-term planning is key when you are a business owner. If you would like some professional guidance as you look toward the future, simply took a moment to arrange for a consultation with a good estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are a lot of good reasons to use a revocable living trust as your primary vehicle of asset transfer instead of a last Will. Perhaps the most compelling motivation would be to arrange for the transfer of assets to your loved ones outside of the process of probate.

Probate comes with a good many pitfalls that you may want to avoid. One of them is the fact that it is a public proceeding and the goings-on are a matter of public record. A lot of people would prefer to keep their final affairs private and confidential for one reason or another.

In addition to the public nature of the proceeding probate is quite time-consuming and the heirs to the estate do not receive their inheritances until the process has run its course. There are also significant costs that go along with the probate process that can shave down the value of your estate considerably as it is being passed along to your loved ones.

If you do choose to use a revocable living trust to direct the transfer of your assets you should still execute what is called a pour-over will. This document will direct any assets that you happen to have personally owned when you passed away into the trust.

There is a lot to take into consideration when you are making plans for the future. The best way to proceed is to sit down and discuss everything with an experienced Estate Planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are some myths that circulate regarding estate planning and it is important to understand fact from fiction when you are making preparations for the future.

First off, let it be said that everyone needs to have an estate plan in place and executing these documents is simply one of the core responsibilities of adulthood. However, if you were to fail to make any preparations and pass away without any estate planning documents, the powers that be would not absorb your assets. This is one of the myths that some people buy into.

Those who die without having executed a last Will or any other documents to direct the transfer of their assets are said to have died “intestate.” If you were to die intestate your property would be distributed to your next of kin according to the laws of intestacy succession that are recognized in the state of Florida.

If you are married, your spouse would be the first person in line and your children would follow. If you weren’t married and had no children, your parents would be considered your next of kin and they would inherit your property.

The problem with the above is that even if you would be okay with your next of kin assuming ownership of your property it would all take a lot of time as the estate went through the probate process. Interested parties would have the opportunity to step forward and make claims against the estate. Probate can also be expensive so essentially you are leaving your family members with a great big mess if you fail to make advance preparations.

The wise course of action is to execute an intelligently conceived estate plan and revise it continually as your life changes. If you are currently unprepared right now would be a good time to pick up the phone and arrange for a consultation with a good Estate Planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

A lot of people find that they would like to give something to charity when they are making long-term financial plans. There is no substitute for the positive feeling that you get when you are able to assist worthy causes and as they say, giving is its own reward.

However, in many cases you will indeed get an additional reward in the form of tax benefits. There are a number of different estate planning instruments that can allow you to satisfy your philanthropic urges while simultaneously providing you with tax efficiency. One of these is the CRUT or charitable remainder unitrust.

The way that it works is you fund the trust and name both a charitable and a non-charitable beneficiary. The non-charitable beneficiary receives annuity payments at least annually from the trust that must equal between 5% and 50% of its value. Most people who create such a trust will act as the non-charitable beneficiary.

You can set it up so that these annuity payments are made to you for the rest of your life or for a prescribed term. At the end of the term, at least 10% of the contributions into the trust must remain and these resources will become the property of the charitable beneficiary.

When you create the trust you are removing those benefits from your estate for estate tax purposes. You are also entitled to a charitable deduction based on some complex IRS rules. And, if you act as the beneficiary there are no gift tax implications.

To learn more about charitable remainder unitrusts simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a good estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

It is no secret that a lot of our elders experience loneliness after their spouses pass away and their children and grandchildren are busy living their own lives. This can lead to depression, and this is of course a very serious mental condition that can have a debilitating effect on your overall well-being.

One possible solution for people who are looking for some company later in their lives can be pet ownership. Pets are great companions that can truly make a difference in your life if you are a senior citizen who is experiencing loneliness.

A pet can give you a renewed sense of purpose as you once again have a dependent in the household, and of course there are few things more entertaining than to witness their antics. They need exercise so you suddenly have a reason to get more exercise yourself. And some pets can even provide you with personal protection.

If you do own a pet as a senior citizen it is important to include provisions for your pet when you are planning your estate. The first step would be to ask around in an effort to find someone who is willing to care for the animal should it become necessary. Most people have a family member or friend who would be a good candidate.

You also have to make sure that the caretaker has the financial resources that he or she will need to provide for the pet’s needs. Many people will simply leave a direct bequest to the caretaker, and the creation of a pet trust is a possibility in the state of Florida as well.

To explore the subject of pet planning with an expert, take a moment to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a good estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

An overly simplistic way of looking at estate planning would be to assume that every family fits some type of cookie-cutter description. You know what we mean by this. You married your childhood sweetheart and have been together all of your lives. You had three children, and you have six grandchildren. None of your children have been divorced, and you have lost no family members who are younger than you.

The reality is that a lot of people go through a different experience and this is why it is important to work with a good estate planning attorney who will give you personalized attention. Different scenarios are going to call for different courses of action, and your attorney will be able to evaluate your unique situation and make the appropriate recommendations.

Whether we like it or not, divorce is very common during our current era. You will see somewhat different figures when you try to find statistics on the subject but it is safe to say that somewhere in the vicinity of 40% to 50% of marriages end in divorce. Most of these people get remarried, and in the majority of these cases blended families are the result.

Estate planning for people who are members of blended families takes specialized expertise. It is important to make sure that children from previous marriages are provided for while you simultaneously make provisions for your new spouse. Your estate planning lawyer will be sensitive to these types of situations, and he or she will listen as you explain your intentions and offer viable solutions.

If you would like to discuss your future with an expert given the unique nature of your family, right now would be a good time to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you want to live on the razor’s edge and take your chances, that is your option. However, what is really not fair is when people take risks that put their family members in jeopardy. This is exactly what happens when you fail to execute the appropriate estate planning documents.

When you pass away your family members are going to be grieving and as you know if you have ever lost anyone it is an extraordinarily difficult thing to handle emotionally. The last thing that anyone needs is to be engaged in some type of legal battle simultaneous to having to cope with the loss of a loved one.

To provide a high profile example the author of the book The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a Swedish man named Stieg Larsson. The book was made into a movie and he was financially very successful, amassing a fortune that was estimated to be at least $40 million when he passed away in 2004.

Larsson was only 50 years old when he died, a victim of a heart attack. Apparently he felt as though he had plenty of time to plan his estate, but he passed away before he got around to it. His live-in girlfriend and his brother and father fought it all out in court and his blood relatives won out eventually, but we will never know what Larsson himself actually would have wanted.

The bottom line is this: An estate plan is essential for all mature, self-supporting adults. If you’re not currently prepared, right now would be a good time to make an appointment to speak with a licensed and experienced estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

While there are some rather complicated estate planning instruments utilized to achieve certain objectives, there are some simple and straightforward ways to transfer assets to your loved ones as well. One of these would be through the utilization of payable on death or transfer on death accounts.

You can set up an account like this at banks or credit unions, and some brokerage will allow for transfer on death options as well. When you set up the account you name a beneficiary who would assume ownership of the resources in the account should you pass away. One of the appeals of this is that the transfer of assets would take place outside of the costly and time-consuming process of probate.

Though the above sounds kind of attractive, there are some pitfalls that go along with payable on death accounts as well. For one, some institutions will allow you to add multiple beneficiaries. However, they may require that you allow for the resources in the account to be split equally among the beneficiaries and this may not be what you want to do.

Another thing to consider is the prospect of incapacitaty. If you were to become incapacitated the funds would not be accessible to the beneficiary and you may prefer to make some other arrangements to provide for your beneficiary in the event of your incapacitation.

Payable on death accounts can seem like a good solution on the surface but when you dig deeper you will find that there may be better alternatives. To explore them, simply sit down and discuss your unique situation with a licensed and experienced estate planning lawyer.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

People are often hesitant to step into uncharted waters, preferring to avoid things that they are not familiar with. This enters into the field of estate planning, and it is something that could wind up costing your heirs a great deal of money.

It is not a good idea to simply assume that you are going to use a last Will to arrange for the transfer of assets to your loved ones without looking into the alternatives. Depending on your exact situation various other options may be preferable.

The above is why it is advisable to work with a good estate planning lawyer from the outset. If you are not an estate planning expert you are certainly among the majority, and there is no reason to feel awkward about seeking out professional guidance and advice.

The thing that many individuals are not aware of is the fact that there are significant sources of asset erosion out there, and people who want to sell you do-it-yourself generic estate planning documents generally are not going to explain them to you.

The estate tax and expenses that go along with the probate process can consume a very significant portion of your assets and impact the financial viability of your family for generations to come. This is why it is so important to work with an experienced legal professional who will evaluate your assets, gain an understanding of the unique nature of your family, and recommend the optimal course of action.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

One of the things to keep in mind when you are making financial provisions for your loved ones is the fact that your estate must pass through the process of probate if you use a last will as your primary vehicle of asset transfer.

Everything has to take place in a transparent manner so that all interested parties have an opportunity to step forward and seek satisfaction from the estate of the deceased. This is going to include creditors, possible claimants, the tax man, and anyone who may want to contest the validity of the will or a portion of its contents.

In addition to the above, the assets that comprise the estate must be inventoried and prepared for distribution to the rightful heirs in accordance with the wishes of the deceased.

The estate is administered in a hands-on manner by the personal representative. Unless you choose a professional representative your administrator is probably not going to understand all of the intricacies of the probate process. This is where your probate attorney comes in.

Probate lawyers have a thorough understanding of the process, and beyond that a local probate lawyer is going to have a particular in-depth comprehension of the way that the local courts operate. A good probate attorney is invaluable as a guide that your personal representative can call upon for professional insight and advice.

Ryan, Hicks, Cumpton & Cumpton LLP is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.