Estate Planning - Who Gets What and When

Your client’s “estate” includes all the property he/she owns, minus anything owed (assets minus liabilities). The client may find it useful to use a worksheet to make a rough estimate of the dollar value of his/her estate, which can be helpful both for general planning purposes, and to predict whether or not the estate is likely to be liable for estate taxes (doubtful considering the 2013 $5.25 million exemption). The estate will very likely have a different worth upon death, so precise figures are not necessary.

 

For most people, the heart of estate planning is deciding who gets what and when. Your client may have a very clear idea of who should inherit his/her property. Still, there are a number of issues the client may want to consider, from naming alternate beneficiaries to staggered bequests.

 

You cannot leave what you do not own. Ownership rules for single people are simple. Except as limited by contract (e.g., some form of shared ownership), your single client can leave all property owned outright. The fact that some institution has a claim on the property, such as a mortgage on a house or a lien on a car, does not create shared ownership.