Something that many people tend to overlook is the issue of estate planning. You may be thinking about your next vacation or car purchase, but not considering your estate planning could be detrimental, as it prevents you from distributing your estate among their kin in the way you choose. This tends to create a rift among family members, who are bound to fight over what’s left behind. This is especially dangerous for family businesses, as this rift may cause the business to collapse. So, how important is estate planning exactly?

It Protects Beneficiaries

The purpose of estate planning is to ensure that your properties are given to your designated heirs. Whether it’s an investment asset or a real estate property, if you don’t designate an heir, the court will do it for you. The problem with this is that nobody knows their heir in the way that a testator does. The court cannot reliably determine who among the heirs was responsible and who shouldn’t receive access to assets.

It Spares Heirs From Major Inheritance Taxes

Another prime objective of estate planning is to mitigate the inheritance tax that heirs are going to be obliged to pay before they can acquire ownership of the testator’s properties. 

This is achieved by dispersing the taxable properties over a period of time. One common misconception on estate planning is that it is simply the designation of assets to heirs. 

While this is indeed an integral part of estate planning, the differentiating aspect between Estate law and Succession law is that estate planning involves the element of time, insofar that properties are distributed over a period of time; whereas in Succession law, the stipulations of a will take effect only upon the death of the testator.

It Helps Prevents Feuds Between Heirs

Most of us have heard the horror stories revolving around how families that devolve into quarreling over who gets what. This can easily be avoided through estate planning. It’s important to take control of your finances, both in life and in death. It’s for this reason that many people hire estate planning experts like the ones from Alberston and Davidson to ensure a smooth turn over of properties.

You don’t have to be extremely wealthy to plan how your assets are going to be distributed. In fact, it is highly encouraged that most people plan the way that their assets are distributed to ensure that their heirs get what they deserve.