Did You Know That The Majority Of People Who Inherit A Retirement Plan Liquidate The Assets Immediately?
It’s true. It is estimated that as many as 80 percent want access to the cash right away to pay bills, take a vacation and of course, pay Uncle Sam.When the heirs liquidate the retirement plan right away, the value drops immediately by 25 percent to pay IRS taxes. This is the FIRST way to mess up your children’s inheritance.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can protect your heirs by having your IRAs and other retirement accounts in a Retirement Savings Trust. Besides preserving more of the value, the transfer of assets to your heirs is much cleaner and easier this way.
The second way to throw a wrench into the works of your kids’ inheritance is to stop your estate planning by just getting a will prepared. The average probate takes two to three years to complete and can cost from $8,000 to $20,000.When you have a revocable living trust prepared, you can avoid this expense and the long process of probate not to mention saving your family many headaches.
Having an outdated or worse, NO Durable Power of Attorney, could cost you your hard-earned estate assets big if something should ever happen to you and your health causing you to be incapacitated. When that event happens, your family would need a conservator appointed by the Probate Court; this prospect can take three to six months and could cost as much as $3,500 to $7,000. The second part of this is that if that same event happens causing you to be incapacitated, your family will need to have a guardian appointed in the Probate Court carrying the same price tag and timeline as the conservator.
