Estate Planning After the Recent Tax Law Changes

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.

By Larry Heller via Iris.xyz

Iit’s very easy to get caught up in the complexities of estate planning. Often, we can miss the most fundamental planning techniques.

Fundamentals

Let’s get the basic pieces of your estate plan in place.

1. Power of Attorney

This is typically a standard document and a term I hope many of you are already familiar with. If not, the basic break down of a Power of an Attorney is you name someone, a trusted person, to step into your shoes and act on your behalf while you’re living. This addresses situations where someone is temporarily incapacitated and are unable to attend to immediate concerns like paying bills. This role can be as narrow or as broad as you see fit, allowing for various amounts of control.

A power of attorney is crucial to have, because if something were to happen without a power of attorney named, you immediately must begin a guardianship proceeding in the courts. And until that is resolved, your situation is sitting at a standstill. Before moving forward with anything in your estate plan, this is your inexpensive and pivotal foundation piece.

2. Health Care Proxy

This role differs from the Power of Attorney as it pertains solely to a person’s health and wellbeing. This agent is named by a client to make his or her medical decisions in the event that the client is unable to.

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