Cornerstone Companies

Estate Planning

Simply stated, the primary objectives of estate planning are to (1) give you the maximum benefit from property ownership during your lifetime and (2) plan for the orderly disposition of assets in accordance with your desires during your lifetime and at death – with a minimum amount of taxation.

Estate planning involves a variety of techniques, which may include:

		The creation and/or coordination of wills and trusts for disposition of property.
		The development of a lifetime gifting strategy to remove assets and appreciation from the estate.
		Using various tax minimization strategies, such as the marital deduction and the credit equivalent exemption.
		Charitable giving — utilization of charitable trusts and bequests.
		Generation-skipping planning for grandchildren.
		Removal of property included in the estate through the use of irrevocable trust techniques such as a Grantor Retained Annuity or Unitrust.
		Sale of assets during your lifetime to remove appreciation from the estate to the next generation.
		Creation of Family Limited Partnerships to provide a mechanism for; effectively transferring assets at a discount to family members providing asset protection for the partners providing investment income to children in a lower tax bracket.

If the estate contains closely-held business interest(s), effective Business Continuation Planning also needs to be coordinated with your estate plan to ensure the effective transfer of these business interests.

Meet our Estate Planning/Advanced Design Team