Estate planning is more than avoiding probate and saving taxes. A properly designed estate plan can provide so much more to protect your family. Most of these protections are ignored in cookie-cutter, form-driven estate plans. For example…

Mary and Bill were good parents, and their son John turned out to be a great person but a poor money manager. John grew up, married, completed college, and had a good job. But John spent every dime he earned, often before he ever earned it. John had to have the latest things, and thought using a credit card to get them was a better approach than saving for them. If John got a dollar, he spent two.

Bill and Mary sought legal advice before their deaths. The first lawyer they spoke with said they did not need estate planning because their estate was less than the estate tax exemption. She told them to designate John as the beneficiary on all the assets, because “it is simple and avoids probate.” They weren’t comfortable with that advice and sought advice from a counseling-oriented attorney who took the time to learn more about them, their estate, and their goals.

Their primary objective was to protect John from squandering his inheritance after their deaths. Therefo re, Bill and Mary left their assets in trust for John, not directly to him. As a result, John had the help he needed to use his inheritance wisely. They designed a system to help John learn how to properly manage his inheritance so it could support him for the rest of his life.

Bill and Mary had sometimes wondered if the planning they did was worth the extra time and effort. Clearly it was.

If you would like to learn more about an estate planning process that is producing great results for families, visit www.EstatePlansThatWork.com to sign up for a complimentary educational workshop.