It’s not enough to simply know they exist and to know strategies to minimize them. When it comes down to it, you need to plan how you and your family will eventually pay them.

THE ESTATE TAX DILEMMA

Estate taxes are generally due nine months after the date of death. And they are due in cash. In addition to estate taxes, there may be final expenses, probate costs, administrative fees, and a variety of other costs. How can you be sure the money will be there when it’s needed?

ESTATE TAX OPTIONS

There are four main sources of funds to pay estate taxes. First, your current savings and investments. You or your survivors can use savings and investments to cover the costs of estate taxes, probate fees, and other expenses. This is often a sound alternative. However, sometimes savings and investments may not be sufficient. And if those savings were earmarked for other financial goals, you may need to rethink how you will achieve those goals.

Another option would be to borrow the money. Unfortunately, with this option you not only have to pay the estate taxes, but you or your survivors will be forced to pay interest on the amount borrowed to pay estate taxes. Remember to consider how your family’s credit standing will be affected by a death in the family.

The third option involves liquidation. If estate taxes are larger than the cash available to pay them, you or your heirs may have to sell valuable assets such as the family home, the family business, or other assets. Hopefully, they will sell for what they’re worth. In many cases, however, they don’t.

The fourth option — one that is often a prudent way to pay estate taxes — is life insurance.

WHAT CAN LIFE INSURANCE PROVIDE?

Life insurance can provide a timely death benefit, in cash, that can be used to pay estate taxes and other costs. And it will be paid directly to the beneficiary of the policy, without being subject to the time and expense of probate.

Granted, life insurance does require premium payments. However, if appropriate to your situation, life insurance premiums can be looked at as a systematic way of funding future estate taxes. You get guaranteed liquidity and a death benefit that is generally free of federal income taxes. Indeed, the financial protection provided by life insurance can be invaluable to those who have the burden of paying estate taxes — your loved ones.


The cost and availability of life insurance depend on factors such as age, health, and the type and amount of insurance purchased. Before implementing a strategy involving insurance, it would be prudent to make sure you are insurable. As with most financial decisions, there are expenses associated with the purchase of life insurance. Policies commonly have mortality and expense charges. In addition, if a policy is surrendered prematurely, there may be surrender charges and income tax implications. Any guarantees are contingent on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing company. Before you take any specific action, be sure to seek professional advice.


Coping with estate taxes may be a difficult proposition for you or your survivors. When it comes to paying them, life insurance may be a strategy worth considering, and overlooking it could be costly.
An irrevocable life insurance trust can be used to keep the insurance proceeds from being subject to estate tax at your death. There are costs and expenses associated with the creation and operation of a trust.

The information in this newsletter is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions. © 2018 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc.

There are a number of ways your estate can be distributed to your heirs after your death. Each allows a different degree of control over distribution, and each poses different challenges and opportunities. If you haven’t taken steps already, it’s important to consider planning now for the distribution of your assets.

INTESTACY
If you die without a will, it is called dying “intestate.”

In these situations, the probate court will order your debts paid and your assets distributed. Unfortunately, your assets will be distributed according to state law. Since the state doesn’t know your preferences, the probate court may not distribute your assets according to your wishes.

Because intestacy is settled in the probate court, your heirs may have to endure a long, costly, and public probate process that could take six months to a year or more. They will have to wait until the probate process is over to receive the bulk of their inheritance.

And depending on the state, probate fees could be very expensive.

WILLSA
will is your written set of instructions on how you want your estate to be distributed. While using a will guarantees probate, it is a more desirable alternative than intestacy.

In a will, you can name a “personal representative” of your estate. This person or institution (e.g., a bank or trust company) will act as the executor and will be appointed to carry out your wishes according to your testament. You can also nominate a guardian for your minor children and their estates. Without such a nomination, the court can appoint a guardian based on other information, often depending upon who volunteers.

A will can also set forth the trust terms, including who you have named as trustee to manage the assets for the benefit of your beneficiaries. This is often referred to as a “testamentary” trust because it is created as part of the last will and testament and takes effect at the probate of the will.

TRUSTS
A trust is a legal arrangement under which one person, the trustee, manages property given by another party, the trustor, for the benefit of a third person, the beneficiary. Trusts can be very effective estate planning tools.

Trusts can be established during your life or at death. They give you maximum control over the distribution of your estate. Trust property will be distributed according to the terms of the trust, without the time, cost, and publicity of probate.

Trusts have other advantages, too. You can benefit from the services of professional asset managers, and you can protect your assets in the event of your incapacity. With certain types of trusts, you may also be able to reduce estate taxes.

If you use a revocable living trust in your estate plan, you may be the trustor, trustee, and beneficiary of your own trust. This allows you to maintain complete control of your estate.

While trusts offer numerous advantages, they incur up-front costs and ongoing administrative fees. These costs reduce the value of future probate savings.The use of trusts involves a complex web of tax rules and regulations. You might consider enlisting the counsel of an experienced estate planning professional before implementing such sophisticated strategies.

JOINT OWNERSHIPAnother way to distribute your estate is through jointly held property — specifically, joint tenancy with rights of survivorship. When you hold property this way, it will pass to the surviving co-owners automatically, “by operation of law.” Because title passes automatically, there is no need for probate.

Joint tenancy can involve any number of people, and it does not have to be between spouses. “Qualified joint tenancy,” however, can only exist between spouses. In common law states, this arrangement is generally known as “tenancy by the entirety.” Qualified joint tenancy has certain income and estate tax advantages over joint tenancy involving nonspouses.

How you hold title to your property may have substantial implications for your income and estate taxes. You should consider how you hold title to all of your property, including your real estate, investments, and savings accounts. If you’d like to know more about how the way you hold title may affect your financial situation, consult a professional.

CONTRACTS
The fifth and final way to pass your property interests is through beneficiary designations.
If you have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, an IRA, life insurance, or an annuity contract, you probably designated a beneficiary for the proceeds of the contract. The rights to the proceeds will pass automatically to the person you selected. Just like joint tenancy, this happens automatically, without the need for probate.

It is important to review your employer-sponsored retirement plan, IRA, life insurance, and other contracts to make sure your beneficiary designations reflect your current wishes. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

MANY CONSIDERATIONS
A variety of considerations will determine the distribution methods that are appropriate for you. For example, you must consider your distribution goals. By examining your situation and understanding how your assets will pass after your death, you may be able to identify the methods that will help you achieve your goals most effectively.

Likewise, the larger your estate, the more you may want to use a trust to help guide your estate distribution. In addition, you will have to consider any special situations you may have — such as a divorce or a disabled child. All these are important factors to think about.

The information in this newsletter is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions. © 2018 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc.

Building an estate can take years of diligent saving and investing. Once you have built up an estate, you’ll want to make sure that you preserve its value for your heirs. You can also add to or create a valuable estate by using life insurance.

WHY CREATE AN ESTATE?

Premature death can result in financial difficulties for your survivors. By using life insurance to protect against this outcome, you can rest assured that your heirs will be cared for financially in your absence.

If you wish, you can also ensure that other financial goals are achieved. Because the premature death of a breadwinner could make college savings or mortgage repayment impossible, steps should be taken to prepare for these possibilities. Life insurance provides a cost-effective way to guard against the threat of interrupted financial goals.

A CASE STUDY

The following example illustrates the concept of estate creation.

Paul Pringle, a 40-year-old computer programmer, would like to begin a savings program. He and his wife, Pam, have two children, ages 10 and 8. He feels he can afford to save about $3,000 per year.

Among his options, he could choose to invest in a traditional IRA. His contributions would be fully deductible and would grow on a tax-deferred basis. This could help provide a respectable retirement nest egg. However, it would not be accessible for most other purposes without penalty before he turns 59½.

For the same annual amount, he could choose to purchase a whole life policy. He could choose a fixed premium, and his cash value would be allowed to grow tax-free, under current tax law, just like in the IRA. Unlike IRA contributions, however, whole life policy contributions are generally not tax deductible.

Paul would have penalty-free access to the cash value through policy loans or withdrawals.* And in the event of Paul’s premature death, his family would receive the policy proceeds free of income tax. The proceeds would help to maintain his family’s standard of living, and it could ensure a college education for both of their children.

FINANCIAL LEVERAGE

In the unfortunate event that Paul dies prematurely, his policy could generate a significant amount of wealth. For a potentially low premium investment, Paul can create an estate that might take 20 to 30 years to accumulate in an IRA.

LIFE INSURANCE: A CLEAR ADVANTAGEThe security provided by life insurance, combined with the opportunity to create an estate, makes this choice a logical one for many families. Consult an advisor to see how you can help provide financial security for your family.
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* Access to cash values through borrowing or partial surrenders can reduce the policy's cash value and death benefit, increase the chance that the policy will lapse, and may result in a tax liability if the policy terminates before the death of the insured. Additional out-of-pocket payments may be needed if the actual cash dividends or investment returns decrease, if you withdraw policy values, if you take out a loan, or if current charges increase. The cost and availability of life insurance depend on factors such as age, health, and type and amount of insurance purchased. Before implementing a strategy involving life insurance, it would be prudent to make sure that you are insurable. Any guarantees are contingent on the claims-paying ability of the issuing company. As with most financial decisions, there are expenses associated with the purchase of life insurance. Policies typically have mortality and expense charges. In addition, if a policy is surrendered prematurely, there may be surrender charges and income tax implications.


The information in this newsletter is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions. © 2018 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc.

Living trusts enable you to control the distribution of your estate, and certain trusts may enable you to reduce or avoid many of the taxes and fees that will be imposed upon your death.

A trust is a legal arrangement under which one person, the trustee, controls property given by another person, the trustor, for the benefit of a third person, the beneficiary. When you establish a revocable living trust, you are allowed to be the trustor, the trustee, and the beneficiary of that trust.

When you set up a living trust, you transfer ownership of all the assets you’d like to place in the trust from yourself to the trust. Legally, you no longer own any of the assets in your trust. Your trust now owns these assets. But, as the trustee, you maintain complete control. You can buy or sell as you see fit. You can even give assets away.

Upon your death, assuming that you have transferred all your assets to the revocable trust, there isn’t anything to probate because the assets are held in the trust. Therefore, properly established living trusts completely avoid probate. If you use a living trust, your estate will be available to your heirs upon your death, without any of the delays or expensive court proceedings that accompany the probate process.

There are some trust strategies that serve very specific estate needs. One of the most widely used is a living trust with an A-B trust provision.  The purpose of an A-B trust arrangement (also called a "marital and bypass trust combination”) is to enable both spouses to use the applicable estate tax exemption upon their deaths, which shelters more assets from federal estate taxes.

Before enactment of the 2010 Tax Relief Act and the higher federal estate tax exemption (which increased to $5.49 million in 2017 as a result of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012), some estate planning was involved to ensure that both spouses could take full advantage of their combined estate tax exemptions. The latest major piece of tax legislation is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law on December 22, 2017. This Act doubled the federal estate tax exclusion to $11.18 million in 2018 (indexed annually for inflation). In 2026, the exclusion is scheduled to revert to its pre-2018 level. Typically, it involved creation of an A-B trust arrangement. Now that portability is permanent, it’s possible for the executor of a deceased spouse’s estate to transfer any unused exemption to the surviving spouse without creating a trust.

Even so, 18 states and the District of Columbia still have their own estate and/or inheritance taxes, many have exemptions or exclusions of less than the federal exemption amount, and only one (Hawaii) has a portability provision.1 By funding a bypass trust up to the state exemption amount, you could shelter the first spouse’s exemption amount from the state estate tax.

Thus, A-B trusts may still be useful, not only to preserve the couple’s state estate tax exemptions but also to shelter appreciation of assets placed in the trust, protect the assets from creditors, and benefit children from a previous marriage. In most cases, however, when couples have combined estate assets of $22.36 million or less in 2018, they might be better off just leaving everything outright to each other.

A living trust with an A-B trust provision can help ensure that a couple takes full advantage of the estate tax exemption for both spouses. When the first spouse dies, two separate trusts are created. An amount of estate assets up to the applicable exemption amount is placed in the B trust (or bypass trust). The balance is placed in the surviving spouse’s A trust (or marital trust), which qualifies for the estate tax marital deduction. This then creates two taxable entities, each of which is entitled to use the exemption.

The B trust is included in the taxable estate when the first spouse dies. But because it doesn’t exceed the estate tax exempted amount, no estate taxes will actually be paid. The surviving spouse retains complete control of the assets in the A trust. He or she can also receive income from the B trust and can even withdraw principal when needed for health, education, support, or maintenance.

Upon the death of the second spouse, only the A trust is subject to estate taxes because the B trust bypasses the second spouse's estate. If the assets in the A trust don’t exceed the applicable exemption amount, no estate taxes are owed. At this point, both trusts terminate and the assets are distributed to the beneficiaries, completely avoiding probate.
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While trusts offer numerous advantages, they incur up-front costs and ongoing administrative fees. The use of trusts involves a complex web of tax rules and regulations. You should consider the counsel of an experienced estate planning professional and your legal and tax advisors before implementing such strategies. 
 Source: 1) Forbes, 2017


The information in this newsletter is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions. © 2018 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc.

By taking steps in advance, you have a greater say in how these questions are answered. And isn’t that how it should be?

Wills and trusts are two of the most popular estate planning tools. Both allow you to spell out how you would like your property to be distributed, but they also go far beyond that.

Just about everyone needs a will. Besides enabling you to determine the distribution of your property, a will gives you the opportunity to nominate your executor and guardians for your minor children. If you fail to make such designations through your will, the decisions will probably be left to the courts. Bear in mind that property distributed through your will is subject to probate, which can be a time-consuming and costly process.

Trusts differ from wills in that they are actual legal entities. Like a will, trusts spell out how you want your property distributed. Trusts let you customize the distribution of your estate with the added advantages of property management and probate avoidance. While trusts offer numerous advantages, they incur up-front costs and ongoing administrative fees. The use of trusts involves a complex web of tax rules and regulations. You should consider the counsel of an experienced estate planning professional and your legal and tax advisors before implementing such strategies.

Wills and trusts are not mutually exclusive. While not everyone with a will needs a trust, all those with trusts should have a will as well.

Incapacity poses almost as much of a threat to your financial well-being as death does. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you cope with this threat.

A durable power of attorney is a legal agreement that avoids the need for a conservatorship and enables you to designate who will make your legal and financial decisions if you become incapacitated. Unlike the standard power of attorney, durable powers remain valid if you become incapacitated.
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Similar to the durable power of attorney, a health-care proxy is a document in which you designate someone to make health-care decisions for you if you are incapacitated. The person you designate can generally make decisions regarding medical facilities, medical treatments, surgery, and a variety of other health-care issues. Much like the durable power of attorney, the health-care proxy involves some important decisions. Take the utmost care when choosing who will make them.

A related document, the living will, also known as a directive to physicians or a health-care directive, spells out the kinds of life-sustaining treatment you will permit in the event of your incapacity.The decision for or against life support is one that only you can make. That makes the living will a valuable estate planning tool. And you may use a living will in conjunction with a durable health-care power of attorney. Bear in mind that laws governing the recognition and treatment of living wills may vary from state to state.

Estate Planning Tip
Keep all your important financial and legal information in a central file for your executor. Be sure to include:
 • Letters of instruction
• Medical records
• Bank/brokerage statements
• Income and gift tax returns
• Insurance policies
• Titles and deeds
• Will and trust documents


The information in this newsletter is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions. © 2018 Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc.