Estate Planning After Death: The Questions to Ask

Practical Tips: The Trickier Questions of Estate Planning

Credit: hafnerfinancial

Understanding how to settle an estate after death can feel like opening a batch of Russian dolls—you find one problem, question or concern after another. SevenPonds has spoken to many estate planning professionals in the past, including attorney of law Nancy Williamson and John O’Grady, as well as mediation specialist and attorney Jason S. Buckingham.

Today, we offer our Practical Tips in the form of questions—three, in fact—that most might avoid during estate planning due to their tricky or uncomfortable nature.

1) Have you gifted anything of considerable value?
According to trusts and estates lawyer Deborah L. Jacobs, you ought to make note of gifts reaching into the territory of $13,000 or more. Even if it’s not taxable, says Jacobs, it’s best to report it.

2) Have you considered beneficiary designations?
Designate your family members as beneficiaries and contingent beneficiaries on important things like retirement accounts.

3) Is your beneficiary too young?
Make sure your beneficiary is over 18. Otherwise, says financial specialist Suze Orman, “you’ve inadvertently messed things up for him or her. No financial institution will release that money, and your child’s guardian will have to jump through legal hoops to wrangle access to the funds to care for your child.”

Most importantly, be unforgivingly persistent in asking questions about estate planning — you’ve got everything to gain!

More SevenPonds Practical Tips:

• Planning a Life Celebration: Memorial Runner
• Estate Planning: How can you ease the uncertainties that can arise with settling an estate?
• Memorial Planning Ideas: The Memory Jar