Introduction to Estate Planning
Estate planning is the process of preparing for the transfer of your wealth and assets after your death.
Estate planning includes many key elements, including creating a will, establishing trusts, and deciding how your assets and property will be handled when you die. You can also make tax-deductible gifts of your property and assets to achieve your charitable giving goals.
We help you structure all your assets and liabilities, including investments, savings, insurance, pensions, real estate, vehicles, personal items, etc., and list out all debt and other financial obligations to smoothen the execution of transfers to your beneficiaries.
We help you create a strategy to ensure your assets will go to whoever you decide will inherit them and ensure it will be done under the terms and conditions you set.
Definition: What is Estate Planning?
We help you structure, preserve, manage and distribute your assets to ensure you and you’re loved ones are taken care of and reap the benefits of the hard work you have put in.
Our planning framework also includes a process for providing gifts and bequests to your heirs and minimizing the taxable estate.
At Capital Elements, we DO NOT provide legal services or undertake the drafting of estate documents. We have a comprehensive estate planning tool to structure your estate planning needs as a part of a holistic financial plan.
Once you understand your estate planning needs, we will work with you and your attorney and make our secure online platform available to smoothen and speed up the documentation process.
Once the process is completed, we will ensure ongoing monitoring of your estate needs to fulfill your legacy wishes.
- Revocable Living Trusts
- Pour Over Wills
- Durable Powers of Attorney
- Advanced Healthcare Directives
- Certificates of Trust
- Real Estate Transfers
- Life Insurance Trusts
- Minor’s Trusts
- Charitable Remainder Trusts
- Special Needs Trusts
Estate Planning Checklist
Structure
1. Once your financial planning process is done, we help you document the estate planning needs as a part of its process.
2. All documents related to the process, including our checklist and observations, are set up in your portal to be shared with your attorney.
Preserve
1. This is the implementation stage, and we can coordinate with your attorney to finalize estate plan documents (referrals available upon request)
2. Once your plan has been signed, digital copies of documents can be stored in your secure client portal vault for ease of future access.
Manage
1. We serve as a resource and, as part of our planning services, provide advice to ensure that your family and other names beneficiaries (such as charities) receive maximum benefit from your legacy plan.
Distribute
1. Understand the postmortem estate distribution process and guide the decisions your executor needs to make.
Who should be appointed to execute your estate plan?
You need to designate someone to act on your behalf if you are unable to do so. Such appointments include
- The executor of your will
- Trustee for your assets
- Legal guardian for your dependents
- Personal representative/power of attorney if you become incapacitated
The persons appointed for the above roles should have the knowledge and capability necessary to administer your estate.
Make sure that your fiduciaries are aware of and agree to their appointments. They know where to access your original estate planning documents.
Family members, friends, or hired professionals such as attorneys or corporate trustees can be considered for such roles. For complex trusts, we encourage you to look at professionals who understand estate planning regulations and the fiduciary duties and responsibilities imposed under trust law.
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