Avoid Making Mistakes With Your Estate Plan

Estate planning is essential to ensure that your relatives are cared for correctly after you are gone. From trusts to wills and much more, there are a number of elements that make up effective estate planning. The last thing you want to do is work hard for what you have, only for most of it to be eaten up by the tax man once you have passed.

Effective estate planning will help to ensure your family is well cared for, without the burden of heavy tax dues. When it comes to estate plans there are a number of mistakes people regularly make, which we’ll talk about below.

What Are The Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes?

1. Age – You Are Never Too Young

Young people especially think that they don’t need estate planning. However, although it’s not nice to think about, you never know what is going to be around the corner. If you own a business, property or have a large amount of money tied up in investments, then you should be considering an estate plan.

2. Wills – Not Having One & Not Keeping It Updated

Regardless of your age, you should consider putting a will in place. Things can easily get messy with family and money, when you are no longer around. Wills help to clearly set out your wishes and how you want money to be divided. Without a will people in civil partnerships or those who aren’t married will find it much harder to claim any type of inheritance, if any at all. But even if you have a will you need to make sure that it’s kept updated regularly. If your circumstances change, such as partners or an increase or decrease in assets then you need to change your will accordingly.

3. Trustees and Executors – Who Can You Rely On?

If you’re using trusts and wills, then you’ll need trustees and executors to handle these on behalf of yourself once you are gone, or until the intended person comes of age to benefit from their inheritance. You need to ensure you choose people who are trustworthy and can handle the emotional strain and responsibility after you have gone. If your opinion changes of a person, whether it’s an act they have done or you’ve simply fallen out, then you should change your desired trustees and executors accordingly.

4. Digital – Don’t Forget Your Digital Presence

The online world has become vast in recent years, from crypto currencies to online banking and much more and it’s easy to lose track of these. If you use digital currency, then you need to make sure all of these are recorded, along with easy access to them. Imagine having Bitcoin wallets with thousands in and no one knowing about it, because it’s just something you did on the side. Ensure you keep accurate records or that it’s noted in your will about having one.

5. Choice – It’s Your Choice But Make Sure People Are Aware

At the end of the day, it’s your choice and you can do whatever you want with it. However, money can truly show the bad side of people. So, if you’re going to be leaving money to people or organisations and you know it might not be considered a popular opinion, then make people aware beforehand that these are your wishes or leave a video stating clearly why you are doing this. This could help to resolve any unrest that may be caused by the decisions you make.

Getting Help With Your Estate Plan

If you’re in need of help with your estate plan, then The Lost Coin Financial Planning Ltd can help. We offer dedicated estate planning services that will help you to make the most out of your money. Get in touch with us today and we’d be more than happy to discuss how we can help you.

Categorised in: Inheritance Tax

This post was written by duodigitaluk@gmail.com