CIS Estate Planning
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Some people would rather have a root canal than an Estate Plan done. Some of the wealthiest and most successful people have done no estate planning. I’ve heard all of the excuses… I don’t need it, I already have some insurance, I want it to be a sad day for everybody when I die...

Estate Planning is the one thing you don’t do for yourself. You do it for everyone else. You do it for your heirs. You’re not going to have to pay the taxes, they are.

It encompasses some of the simplest strategies and some of the most complicated. But a well-constructed plan can save your heirs a fortune. If not done, as much as 75% of the estate can go to taxes.

We at Cornerstone are not attorneys. We do not give legal advice. But we have over 130 combined years of experience in the business and we have seen our share of good plans and very, very bad ones.

We’ve seen family trusts set up with the donor’s social security number instead of a tax id number. We’ve seen people worth millions have no plan except a small GI insurance policy. We’ve seen assets go to the wrong heirs because the will wasn’t updated properly.

We’ve also seen the thrill and relief in a Grandmother’s face when she finished signing the paperwork to set up her estate plan.

Strategies as simple as re-titling assets can save money on estate taxes. Switching ownership of insurance policies between husband and wife takes it out of the estate.

Yes, many times a good estate plan includes insurance. We’ve seen situations where an insurance payment of $10,000 per year will give the heirs $500,000 of death benefit to pay the taxes. Sure, if the insured lives 50 years, the insurance isn’t such a good deal, but this was for a 60 year old. Living another 50 years is usually not expected. Another 30 years yes, 50 - no. There is nothing we can do for someone’s portfolio that can turn $10,000 into $500,000 overnight.

There are all sorts of strategies that can be employed to save money currently, (like having your company buy your insurance and take a tax deduction for the premiums paid.)

There are a number of links on this page that will give you more information about Estate Planning. Our role is that of facilitator. We put together the proper professionals to create your plan. We have a number of attorneys to whom we refer clients. We review a client’s estate and give them an overview of what they should be looking to do and then work with the attorney to put it in place. Clients can use our attorneys or their own, our concern is that the plan is done properly, so we like to review plans before they are finalized.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Financial Planning

Money Management

Retirement Planning

Estate Planning

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