Estate Planning

Estate planning is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself and plan ahead for when you pass away. Unfortunately, many people do not revise their estate plan after major life changes occur which can lead to problems in distributing assets. With an estate planning lawyer in Howard County, you can make sure that your estate plan is up to date and fits your and your loved one's needs.

Estate tax planning has taken a turn for the better for the very wealthy – new changes signed into law regarding Estate Taxes temporarily double the exemption amount for estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes (from 5 million to 10 million). This benefits anyone with over $11 million in assets, as it protects this money from taxes when it is given as a gift or transferred at death. As it stands now, very few individuals will be subject to a federal estate tax.

Any estate planning lawyer located in Howard County, MD is going to be faced with this question from their clients: How many times should I review my estate planning documents? Now an unscrupulous lawyer would answer “annually” but realistically a client should review their estate plan every five years or thereabouts. I would add that if a person goes through some life changing event such as divorce or the death of a loved one, they should also review their documents.

What documents go into an estate plan? Every attorney “sells” a will, a power of attorney and an advance directive to their client. But what else do they sell? Most probably leave it at that. I go a step further and add a HIPAA waiver and a final disposition.

The term estate plan is, I believe, marketing terminology used by estate planning attorney to attract clients with money. I also believe that this terminology makes estate planning unattractive to most people since they do not have large “estates” and are just looking for a will. When I first heard the term “estate” in law school over a decade ago, I pictured a palatial estate with fountains and manicured lawns.

One of the areas of estate planning often looked over is what is popularly called "business succession." Business succession pertains to business owners primarily, or those who might inherit a business.