Is a feeling of bewilderment or unfamiliarity holding you back from estate planning? For many, a leading cause of procrastination in planning for the future is being intimidated by the terms associated with this area of law. Even the concept of ‘estate planning’ can sound ambiguous. In this article, we’ll break down estate planning in real world terms.

An ‘estate’ is the assets that a person has in their name at death. These assets could include money, property, securities, insurance policies, business interests, and more. Estate planning, then, is the devising of a strategy to handle the distribution of these assets after death. This is particularly important, since there is a federal estate tax for assets over a certain monetary threshold (and in some states, an additional estate tax applies at the state-level). To simplify the distribution of assets and minimize tax liability, an attorney can help you assess your situation and develop an estate plan. This estate plan will ensure that your assets end up where you intended them – with as little tax liability to your beneficiaries as possible.

A qualified estate planning attorney should be able to keep things simple and help you understand a recommended course of action – but a little advance knowledge doesn’t hurt either! Stay tuned next week to learn some of the most common terms that you are likely to hear when it comes to estate planning.