When you start to probe into the subject of estate planning you invariably hear talk about payable on death or transfer on death accounts.These accounts allow for a beneficiary or beneficiaries to assume ownership of the resources remaining in the account after the death of the primary account holder.

On the surface this can seem like a very useful and simple solution when you are planning your estate. However, there are some shortcomings to consider when you talk about payable on death accounts.

One important thing to take into account is the possibility of estate tax exposure. If the overall value of your estate exceeds the estate tax exclusion amount you are going to have to take steps to reduce the taxable value of your estate. When you place resources into a payable on death account you have incidents of ownership and as a result these assets are part of your taxable estate.

Another factor that makes payable on death accounts less attractive is the fact that many financial institutions will not allow you to split the resources among multiple beneficiaries in different percentages. They require you to allow for the assets to be split among the beneficiaries equally, and you may not want to divide the resources in this way.

Payable on death accounts are also not going to address the matter of who handles the assets in the event of your incapacity. Your beneficiary does not have access to the funds until you actually pass away.

POD accounts are not a comprehensive solution. The best way to plan for the future is to sit down and discuss all of your options with a licensed and experienced Central New Jersey estate planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

You have options when you are engaged in the process of estate planning. You are not obligated to utilize a last Will to arrange for the transfer of your assets after you pass away. A lot of people are opting for revocable living trusts these days and they can be a good choice.

When you look at these trusts you see that they are not extraordinarily complicated. You have a grantor or settlor who is the individual who creates the trust, funding it and setting forth instructions in the trust agreement. The grantor has to name a beneficiary who will benefit from the resource placed into the trust and a trustee who will manage the funds.

If you create a revocable living trust you may want to serve as both the trustee and the beneficiary while you are still alive and capable of making your own decisions. You also name successors to step into these roles after your death or incapacitation.

When it comes to the selection of a trustee, a lot of people will select a trusted family member. However, if that is not an option you may utilize a professional entity like a trust company or the trust department of a financial institution. This ensures the appropriate handling of the resources, which can include making investments.

If you are interested in the possibility of creating a revocable living trust, the intelligent first step would be to sit down and discuss your unique situation with a licensed and experienced Somerset County NJ estate planning lawyer. He or she will listen attentively as you explain your wishes and help you to craft a plan that ultimately makes your vision a reality.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you are a pet owner, when you are planning a vacation that is not going to involve your pet coming along you recognize the fact that you are going to need to find someone to “pet sit.” In the same manner, it is important to remember your four-legged friends when you are planning your estate.

One of the reasons why people fail to plan ahead for the well-being of their pets is because they expect to outlive the animals. Of course you may indeed live longer than your pets, but that does not mean that you should not be prepared just in case.

Parents with dependent children are going to have to select a potential guardian for the children in the event of the death of their parents. This is not likely, but you don’t want to leave anything to chance. The same thing is true with your pets.

Pet planning is going to involve a two-pronged approach. First of all you’re going to have to get someone to agree to care for the animal should you predecease it. There are a lot of animal lovers out there so this should not be too much of a problem.

In addition, you are going to have to provide financial resources so that the caretaker can provide for the pet’s needs. This can be done through the creation of a pet trust and this has become a very popular option. Another possibility would be to leave an inheritance to the caretaker earmarked for the benefit of the pet.

If you are ready to make sure that your pets are provided for come what may, simply make an appointment to sit down and discuss the matter with a licensed and experienced central New Jersey estate planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There was once a time when the “Leave It To Beaver” family dynamic was considered to be more or less the only option. We are not in any way attempting to tarnish the value of the family unit as it was depicted in the series, but at the same time these days not every family is of this purely conventional variety.

It may not be the most positive statistic in the world but somewhere in the vicinity of half of marriages that are taking place during our current era wind up ending in divorce. Of course most marriages yield children and the majority of people who do get divorced eventually remarry. Blended families are the result.

Estate planning for blended families can be a bit complicated and require very specialized attention and expertise. Exactly how to proceed is going to vary depending upon the nature of your assets and exactly what it is that you want to accomplish with your legacy.

Other families are headed by same-sex couples and the family dynamic within these families can require a specialized approach as well.

Another possible scenario would be providing for a family member who has special needs. This too is going to necessitate the execution of some very pointed estate planning documents.

The above are just a few examples of some of the various family situations that can exist. Each family is unique, and every individual has a different vision for the future. To get the personalized attention that you and your family deserve, develop an ongoing relationship with an experienced and dedicated Somerset County estate planning attorney that you will feel comfortable working with for the long haul.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

It is very surprising to a lot of people when they find out that a minority of Americans have executed a last Will to direct the transfer of their assets after their passing. When you think about the minimal expense and effort that is involved, there is really no excuse for going through life without an estate plan.

People who do pass away without having executed any estate planning documents at all are said to have died “intestate.” In cases such as this, it is up to the surrogate court to sort through the mess and supervise the administration of the estate.

This is going to start with the appointment of a personal representative who will be charged with the responsibility of completing the hands-on tasks involved. While this process is taking place, creditors can step forward and seek satisfaction, and once the remaining assets have been inventoried they are eventually distributed via New Jersey intestacy laws of succession.

If your children were in line to inherit your assets in a case of intestacy they could disagree about the way that the assets should be liquidated. Of course you can split a pie equally, but we are not talking about a pie here. Your possessions are going to be in various forms and there may be sentimental value attached to many different items and there can be sensitive feelings involved.

In short, intestacy is not an option for any serious minded individual. If you are currently unprepared for the future, right now is the ideal time to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a good Somerset County NJ Estate Planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

You may have a series of things on a checklist that you take care of once a year, and when New Year’s Day comes and goes you are reminded to tend to these responsibilities. If you want to be prepared every step of the way, you would do well to include an estate plan review when you are evaluating your annual “to-do” list.

Most people would never develop an investment portfolio and then if they did, never check on it or make revisions. Estate Planning is a form of financial planning as well and things that take place on an ongoing basis can make your existing estate plan obsolete.

For example, your financial station in life could improve. The total value of your assets may eventually exceed the estate tax exclusion that is in place. If you happen to pass away before you make any steps to gain estate tax efficiency, your heirs could lose a considerable amount of money unnecessarily.

Speaking of the estate tax exclusion, your own resources could remain constant and you could suddenly find yourself in the cross hairs of the estate tax because the exclusion amount changes all the time. In fact, one of these changes is scheduled for 2013 when the exclusion is going to be reduced from $5.12 million to just $1 million.

2012 is here and it’s time to review your estate plan. If you have not already done so, right now would be a good time to take action and arrange for a consultation with a good Central New Jersey estate planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Surprising numbers of people are going through life without a last will or a living will. In fact, the percentage of people who do not have an estate plan in place exceeds that of those who do. This is rather remarkable when you think about it.

Compare this to auto insurance. Of course we are all required to carry insurance, but suppose this requirement did not exist. Only the most irresponsible of people would choose to risk their investments in their automobiles by not carrying insurance. And this is with the knowledge that they are probably not going to total their cars.

Yet, everyone is going to die for sure but most people don’t have an estate plan in place.

You may say that you’re a risk taker and you will get around to it when you get around to it. This is well and good, but if you die without an estate plan or become incapacitated without having executed a living will it is your family who will be paying the price. This is something to keep in mind if you are one to adopt a cavalier attitude with regard to estate planning.

It is really not that difficult to take action and execute these important documents. All you have to do is make a simple phone call to a good Middlesex County estate planning lawyer, set up an appointment, and record your wishes in a legally binding manner for the well-being of those that you love.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you get your first real job you are probably going to be introduced to the basic foundation of estate planning in the form of life insurance. If you are married at that time you will immediately recognize its value as a vehicle of income replacement that would enable your spouse to weather the storm should you pass away unexpectedly.

As your family grows your financial responsibilities will inevitably grow as well. For this reason it is important to keep track of your life insurance coverage and be ready to increase it as this becomes necessary.

Most people are well aware of the use of life insurance as an income replacement vehicle but it has other uses in estate planning as well. Life insurance is utilized when small business partners enter into buy-sell agreements as a succession planning tool. To explain briefly, the partners take out life insurance policies on one another and the proceeds are used to buy the share that was owned by a deceased partner from his or her family.

Life insurance is also used to balance inheritances. If you want to give a very valuable asset that is not liquid to one heir you could make another heir the beneficiary of an insurance policy that has a similar value to balance things out.

Estate planning involves the utilization of many different tools and life insurance is one of them. If you would like to sit down and discuss a comprehensive plan for the future with an expert, take a moment to pick up the phone and arrange for a consultation with a good Morris County NJ estate planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are multiple objectives to be taken into consideration when you are arranging for the eventual passing of your assets to your loved ones after your death. You have to do what is necessary to mitigate your estate tax exposure if you are in taxable territory, and you would also do well to consider the personal proclivities of the people on your inheritance list.

You can get assets from point A to point B in a number of different ways and it is your estate planning attorney’s job to make the appropriate recommendations given your unique situation.

Asset protection is a priority for many people, and one tool that is often utilized to this end is the generation-skipping trust. As the name implies you skip a generation when you name a beneficiary. The beneficiary need only be an individual who is 37.5 years younger than the grantor, so it doesn’t have to be your grandchildren as a matter of law but most people will name their grandchildren as the beneficiaries.

Your children don’t own the assets and they aren’t the beneficiaries so they cannot be targeted by claimants of any kind. Yet, they can benefit from the resources that you placed into the trust throughout their lives.

These trusts provide asset protection, but they are perhaps more commonly utilized as a way to mitigate estate tax exposure. Two generations benefit from the resources, but only one imposition of taxation takes place in the form of the generation-skipping transfer tax.

To learn more about asset protection strategies, simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with an experienced and savvy central New Jersey estate planning lawyer.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Many people take to ruminating when they get serious about planning for the future. Of course you have to take care of the pragmatic hand-to-mouth matter of preparing your assets for eventual distribution to those that you love. However, you may ask yourself how you will be remembered and how you may be able to make an impact even after you are gone. This is what legacy planning is all about.

Depending on your resources and the exact nature of your intentions there are various courses of action that can be undertaken. There are people who start charitable family foundations, but of course these are not practical for a lot of us.

A very viable alternative would be to contribute into a donor advised fund, and this could have positive tax implications as well. The best way to contribute to charitable causes is something that should be discussed with a qualified estate planning lawyer.

There are other possibilities as well, such as establishing a commemorative scholarship or contributing toward some type of building project that aids the community as a whole. This can include a new hospital wing or an addition to an educational facility. If you put your mind to it there is little doubt that you would be able to come up with some ideas on your own that have particular meaning to you.

Crafting a robust legacy can be quite rewarding as you reach the latter stages of your life. If you are interested in finding out how to actualize your own unique vision, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone to arrange for a consultation with a local central New Jersey legacy planning attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.