IS IT TIME TO SIMPLIFY YOUR ESTATE PLAN?

     If you worked with an attorney several years ago to prepare estate planning documents for you and your spouse, your estate plans may consist of a separate trust and will or even a will that contains complicated trust provisions.  Even though you might have by no means considered yourself wealthy at the time, your documents may have been structured with attention toward the avoidance of federal estate taxes, and trusts would have been utilized to meet that goal.  If this is the case, now is an excellent time to review your estate plans to insure they are still appropriate.  Recent changes in the federal estate tax laws have increased the amount of wealth that an individual can own without incurring federal estate tax.  Presently, the exemption is $3.5 million, where most experts agree it will remain.

    If your estate plan contains complicated trusts designed to avoid federal estate taxes, you should re-examine your assets and their value to see where you fall with respect to the current federal estate tax exemption.  If your assets are below or near the federal estate tax exemption, a simpler estate plan may be right for you that leaves your entire estate to your spouse rather than incurring the complications (and expense) of leaving your estate to a trust.  We would be glad to review your current plans and offer other appropriate alternatives.

Timothy K. Babcock
DALE & HUFFMAN
Revised February 2009

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