Because you love your family a great deal, you undoubtedly do not want to place them in a difficult position unnecessarily. However, if you do not create an estate plan or do not consider possible issues with your plan, you may end up leaving your family to deal with conflict after your death.
3 estate issues and how you can prevent them
Appointing the right people in an estate plan
When North Carolina residents start the estate planning process, they should pay close attention to who is appointed to various roles in the estate. There are a number of different responsibilities associated with these documents. For example, there may be an agent who is responsible for making a person's health care decisions. There is usually an executor who is in charge of the will and other estate planning documents. If there is a trust, there will also be a trustee.
Good trust advice
North Carolina residents who want to incorporate trusts into their estate plans should be wary of whose advice they use. Some professionals may provide advice that is not complex enough to address the goals of a particular estate plan, or the advice provided may be rooted in obsolete strategies. In order for professionals to provide pertinent estate planning advice, they will have to determine how the goals of their clients may have evolved due to the tax-related changes in 2017.
The benefits of a spendthrift trust
North Carolina residents who are concerned about keeping their money safe for future generations may benefit from creating a spendthrift trust. Such a trust could help prevent creditors from making claims against that money. It can also prevent a beneficiary from spending money unless a trustee makes a distribution. This is ideal in the event that a parent believes a child or grandchild has poor money management skills.
How interest rates can affect trust decisions
Trusts can be an important part of financial and estate planning for many people in North Carolina, and the decision about what type of trust to create can be influenced by changing interest rates. Interest rates are on the rise after 10 years of low rates, which means that some types of trusts could be useful now in different ways than in the recent past. For people choosing other types of trusts, they may want to act quickly to make a decision, given that rising interest rates could lead to a less advantageous tax situation for the future.
