The Hard Truth About Estate Tax Planning | Estate Planning TV 030
The Hard Truth About Estate Tax Planning
Believe it or not a lot of people come to me to ask me estate tax advice and I end up telling them to do nothing…
That is the hard truth about estate tax planning (at least the first one).
You would think as an estate planning attorney I’d be all for people wanting to reduce their estate taxes, which, in Washington State, start at just $2.193MM right now (2018).
And I do! I do want people to reduce their estate taxes.
I just don’t want them to do it at the expense of living a fulfilling life, or being able to do everything they want to while they are still here.
The truth is, to reduce your estate tax burden you have to find some way to actually reduce the size of your estate – and the main way you do that is by giving away (or giving up control over) your assets.
Sure, you can set up a situation where you get some income or some benefit spun off of the assets you give away, but if you ever need the principal, if you ever need a big chunk for whatever reason, you are more than likely out of luck.
THAT is the real hard truth about estate taxes.
To plan for estate taxes correctly it’s important to have your current financial house in order to ensure that if you give up control over certain assets you will have enough left in your control to allow you to live the life you want.
There is really only one path to doing that: (1) talking to an estate planning attorney that knows estate tax law and is good enough to tell you to wait; and (2) talking to a financial planner to find out if what you’ve got (and what you’ll end up with) is enough to sustain the lifestyle you want.
Hope this helps!
If you want to talk more, just click the link below and pick a time that works for you (in person or over the phone). I’d love to talk to you.