Nexus Planning Group, LLC

What is Estate Planning?

It is an essential and highly personalized type of planning designed to ensure the successful creation, preservation and perpetuation of your estate. Proper planning involves a two-pronged approach that addresses the desicions you make during your lifetime as well as critical decisions you must make regarding the transfer of your assets at death. 

We have two primary objectives:

1. Make you aware of some potentially very serious problems .
2. Provide you with the tools and techniques available under the law through legal, tax, financial and insurance planning to achieve successful, cost-effective solutions.

The fact is that without proper planning, your estate may face untold thousands of dollars of loss unnecessarily, depending on the size of your estate.

What are the potential problems?

• Probate
• Death taxes (federal estate tax and in some states, the state inheritance tax)
• Business continuation concerns
• Conservatorship (also known as guardianship in some states)
• Concerns regarding minor or disabled children and other heirs- 1. Guardianship in the event of the parents death. 2. Common errors which leave the rights and benefits of children or disabled heirs unprotected.
• Concerns regarding planning when there are children of previous marriages and you want to protect their interests.
• Pension and/or other qualified retirement plan tax traps.
• Long term care concerns and other healthcare considerations.

 What tools can be used to address these problems?

• Revocable Living Trusts are used to avoid/bypass probate and the expenses and excessive time and agony associated with it. There are single trusts and married or unmarried joint trusts. Marital trusts involving larger estates that would be subject to state inheritance or federal estate taxes can be expanded to include a credit shelter/bypass trust as well as a Q TIP trust so as to minimize the tax implications while maximizing your planning considerations.
• Life Insurance Trust is structured to own a life insurance policy without having the death benefit included in your estate for tax purposes. You may unaware of the fact that when you die, the $ proceeds of a life insurance policy on your life (when the policy premiums have been paid by you) are considered to be owned by you and are included in your estate for estate tax purposes even though the benefits are paid out to a named beneficiary (who receives the money tax free).

Still have questions? Please contact us anytime! We look forward to hearing from you.

THE LAW FIRM OF STEVEN J. SZOSTEK, ESQ.

Affordable estate plannng and asset protection strategies.

Steven Szostek, JD