The basics to estate planning

Recently there has been a surge of investment advisors that calling their clients and helping them with their estates. The recent death of Hollywood actor, Gary Coleman, has shown many people the importance of making sure their estate is properly taken care so there are not issues after their death.

Part of planning your estate comes down to choosing your beneficiaries and making sure they will receive the fair compensation you want them to have. A beneficiary is an individual or institution that will receive benefits from your insurance policy, retirement, trust fund, will, pension plan, or grants. The benefits from your estate will go to this person or institution.You need to assign at least one beneficiary in order to ensure that your will is carried out correctly. Meeting with an attorney can help you properly plan your estate and they will be able to help you get your beneficiaries in order to make sure they will receive the funds or assets after your death.

With estate planning you normally have a primary beneficiary. They will be given the inheritance of your estate usually in the form of assets or cash. If you have life insurance, they will be given monthly allowances from the insurance policy and you can also leave behind tangible assets such as your real estate investment and properties.

Assigning an executor for your estate is another important part of proper estate planning.They are responsible for following your wishes that you lay out in your estate. The executor of your estate can be a close family member or loved one or you can leave it to your attorney to assign an executor.

What happens if you assign the beneficiaries to be your underage children? What will happen with your estate and how can you ensure that your children will receive their inheritance? You will need to assign a trustee to your estate until your child is old enough for their inheritance.The trustee will receive the benefits and they need to use them on behalf of the beneficiaries until they reach the age where they can receive the benefits and control them as they wish.Choosing secondary beneficiaries is another important part of estate planning as these individuals will receive the benefits in the event that the primary beneficiaries pass away.For example, if you name your spouse as the primary beneficiary and you both die in a car accident, who will get your estate? This is where you need to have a secondary beneficiary assigned to your estate in order to make sure it goes to the right person.

A lot of people choose to leave their entire estate to a University or another organization instead of leaving it to their loved ones. Meeting with an estate lawyer will be able to help you determine where you need to leave your estate. A lot of people choose to leave their estate to a school and the money can be set aside as a scholarship fund for their grandchildren or other relatives someday.

There are a number of options to choose from when you are deciding upon a beneficiary for your estate. Just make sure you are reviewing your estate often to ensure that it is going to the right people. There have been instances when a parent left money to their children but during the time after the estate was planned, the child made choices that the parent didn't approve of and the parent threatened to remove them from the will but never did. One true instance happened when a parent left their estate to their child, who used the money to finance their drug dealing business. Always review your estate and make sure it's going to the right parties.