Roughly half of all adults in Ohio and throughout the nation do not have a will. While failing to create an estate plan is not uncommon, it can cause headaches for family members after the estate owner's death.
Selecting an executor
An Ohio resident should consider many factors when choosing an executor for their estate. When managing an estate, the executor will have many responsibilities, such as inventorying assets, verifying liabilities and submitting the necessary legal documents to courts. Additional duties often include the filing of tax returns, the valuation of assets and acting as an arbitrator during family disagreements.
Estate planning the right way
According to a Wells Fargo survey, 40 percent of older individuals in Ohio and the rest of the nation have not completed all of the necessary legal documents that should be included in their estate plans. People who do not have all of the necessary estate planning provisions in place may be susceptible to individuals taking financial advantage of them when they are older.
Estate planning and special needs beneficiaries
People in Ohio who are primary caregivers to relatives with special needs can develop an estate plan that will provide the support their relative with a disability may need. In order to create the most effective estate plan for a loved one with special needs, it is important that the caregivers are able to wade through the complicated eligibility rules for government benefits and are knowledge about the health care professionals, services and therapies that will be needed to provide a disabled person with support throughout their life.
How to properly structure a trust
When properly structured, a trust can be an effective estate planning tool for Ohio residents. By putting an IRA or a life insurance policy into a trust, beneficiaries gain access to an asset that can continue to grow either tax-free or tax-deferred. Individuals who create a trust can benefit because they determine how distributions are made. In some cases, distributions from a trust can change as a beneficiary ages or in other ways to meet its goals.
