What does the phrase “estate planning” mean to you?

Communicating and explaining is am important as actually doing in my business.  To be able to explain better, I need to understand what people are thinking and how they are viewing things.  To assist in this process, I asked people the question on Linkedin (login required):  When you hear the phrase “estate planning” what comes to your mind? Check out the answers to the question below.

To me estate planning means determining where, how & to whom my stuff & money are distributed to. but i’m typically wrong when it comes to legal jargon.

Planning for retirement, planning for death, trusts, wills, taxes and probate. 🙂

Paperwork. Tons and tons of paperwork.

Preparing your physical, financial, and emotional assets and liabilities to be distributed and dismissed according to your wishes after your imminent demise in a manner that distracts and burdens your loved ones as little as possible.

The overall planning of a person’s wealth is estate planning. All of the assets owned or controlled by a decedent and the debts that were the responsibility of the decedent at the time of deceased’s death are included in estate planning. Estate planning includes the preparation of a will and the planning for taxes after the individual’s death. In order to meet a person’s goals with respect to preparing for incapacity and death, numerous factors such as financial, estate law, insurance, investment, and tax implications must be taken into consideration.
Usually, estate planning includes;
1. creation of a will;
2. limiting estate taxes by setting up trust accounts in the name of beneficiaries;
3. appointing a guardian for living dependents;
4. appointing an executor of the estate to oversee the terms of the will;
5. making funeral arrangements; and
6. establishment of annual gifting to reduce the taxable estate.

Fully and seamlessly providing for my family when I become incapable to do so in the future.

Preparing for the future…

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."

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