We have all heard the famous quote from Benjamin Franklin's 1789 letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy where he wrote:  "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes".  Then another was Margaret Mitchell's line from Gone With the Wind in 1936:  "Death, taxes, and childbirth!  There's never a convenient time for any of them."

There is some truth in those well-known quotes.  While taxes are indeed a reality and are significantly impacted by the births and deaths of our loved ones, with proper and attentive planning, the negative impact of them can be greatly reduced.  In fact, you can actually achieve a positive result for your estate and your legacy by engaging in thoughtful, well-reasoned, and professional estate planning.   We can assist you in understanding the current tax code, help you to anticipate future code revisions, and to know your risks of an estate diminution. 

A number of methods are available to insure a minimization of estate taxes.  Some of the basics include:

• Wills.   It is critically important that all persons, regardless of anticipated estate size, have a current will.  Devastating results can come from a person dying intestate (ie., without a valid will) and not only monetarily.  Intestate decedents often leave behind a family burdened with the task of dealing with the moral equities of dividing the estate.  Such a circumstance can lead to derision among the family members that could have been avoided with the existence of a will.
  
• Trusts:  Allows a successor trustee to step into your shoes and handle your affairs should you become incapacitated for any period of time due to illness or injury.  Establishing a trust also avoids having to go through probate court to administer your assets making the process much quicker and less burdensome on your heirs.
  
• Family Limited Partnership:  Provides a vehicle to hold various similar and dissimilar assets to facilitate gifting portions of the entire group without having to gift portions of each separate asset.   This is an evolving area that is receiving a great deal of scrutiny from the IRS regarding valuation discounts.
  
• Planned Bequests:  Provides the comfort of knowing that your wishes are met regarding where specific assets are passed to and helps avoid family disputes.
  
• Charitable Trusts:  Can provide a current charitable contribution to reduce your income taxes, provide you with a cash flow for a specified period of time or for the remainder of your life and provide a benefit to the charitable institution of your choice.  The best benefit is provided by using assets that have a current value significantly greater than what you paid for the asset.  Especially assets that may require ongoing costs to hold such as having to pay real estate taxes on land held for investment.  No gain is recognized on the contribution but you still get the benefit of a charitable contribution that is based on the current value.
  
• Life Insurance:  Provides the liquidity to pay estate taxes and expenses without having to sell assets or place a burden on your family.  A life insurance trust can be set up that can exclude the proceeds of the life insurance from the estate and allow for annual gifts to pay the premiums that can also be excluded from gift tax.
  
• Planned Gifting:  While making a gift to family and friends does not provide an income tax deduction, it removes the assets from your estate and takes advantage of the annual exclusion from gift tax thereby avoiding any transfer tax on that portion. In addition the future increase in the value of the asset has also been removed from your estate which can often be the greatest benefit.

Estate planning can help reduce the portion of your assets that goes to pay taxes, provide liquidity to pay the taxes that are required and maximize the assets that you are able to leave to family and friends. These are just an introduction to some of the options available to help keep Uncle Sam’s hands off of your hard earned assets, assure that your wishes and desires are met, ease the burden on your heirs and maintain family harmony.