Estate planning is the creation of a comprehensive financial plan to provide for your spouse and heirs upon your passing.

The old saying tells us that we can’t take it with us. That is true but that begs the question; what we do with it then?  People often start their life just trying to make ends meet. As time goes on, they begin to acquire a certain amount of wealth. If they are lucky and smart, they provide for themselves and for the people that are dependent on them while at the same time accumulating property and/or even more wealth. When they die, this represents their estate. Estate planning is the process that determines what happens to all of this after death.

It is never a good idea to put off any element of financial planning. Timely decision making is one of the essentials of success. In Estate planning, this is truer than in any other area. There is no margin for error. The proper time to begin your personal Estate planning process is as soon as you have anything at all that even begins to resemble an estate. The failure to do this not only takes you completely out of the decision making process after death, but can lead to some serious problems for the people you leave behind.

The most important tool of Estate planning is the will. Many people neglect the preparation of a will because they do not feel they have sufficient wealth in their estate to justify one. This is not true at all. Just about anyone who has any type of asset should have a will. The will is a legal instrument that speaks for your wishes after your death. There are other tools such as trusts that are a part of the estate planning process.