Spring Cleaning 2016 – Time to Review and Renew
Tax season is over! Spring has FINALLY sprung! It’s time to “review and renew.” Each spring, we at Berwitz & DiTata LLP encourage our clients, friends and “would be” friends to focus on estate planning, refresh those resolutions and stop procrastinating. We call it our annual “Review and Renew” program.
If you have never created an estate plan, now is the time. Although estate planning is rarely a topic people look forward to addressing, we are dedicated to helping clients identify and implement their estate planning objectives with ease and efficiency.
We believe that our success is founded on this fundamental commitment to communicate with our clients in a caring and responsive manner. Those who have met with us in a one-on-one consultation know that we believe that everyone can benefit from estate planning regardless of personal income or net worth. Everyone has concerns regarding the future. For instance: How can I avoid probate or the dissipation of my assets to estate taxes? How can I avoid losing control of my assets if I become disabled? How do I protect myself and my family from devastating nursing home costs? Can assets still be protected if a loved one is already in a nursing home? How can I protect my minor children? How can I protect my disabled child or the assets that he or she may one day inherit? In designing strategies to effectuate our clients’ goals, we offer detailed advice and a high level of technical expertise. Now is the time to achieve estate planning peace of mind! Ask those questions, explore the options, get it done.
If you created your estate plan, or reviewed it last, more than 3 years ago — now is the time. Are your documents up to date? Have there been changes in the law or in your life that should now be considered? The documents that address the needs of a single person are frequently insufficient when he or she marries. If a couple has children, the appointment of a guardian should be a key factor in estate planning. Those documents that were created when the kids were small may no longer reflect their parents’ wishes now that the kids have grown and flown. Indeed, once your child reaches the age of 18, he or she should have a valid and enforceable Health Care Proxy empowering you or another to make health care decisions. The “sandwich generation” is discovering that the joy and responsibility of raising children is all too frequently overshadowed by the illness of parents. The need for estate planning takes on new meaning as one approaches retirement and, if illness threatens, timing becomes more critical. Lifetime changes affect estate planning. Even if you can’t conceive that the changes in your life may have an impact on your estate planning documents, an estate planning review is a vital element to ensuring that your wishes will be accomplished.
Because Berwitz & DiTata LLP understands the importance of keeping the plan current, we offer our clients a unique value-added component: a complimentary three-year review. For those who have not yet retained our services, there is a nominal fee to review your plan. Let us help you realize your estate planning objectives.