What is Estate Planning?
You work hard, save hard and invest hard to create assets and achieve your financial goals. However, the assets that you have created could fail to accomplish your goals if it is lost or poorly used due to your death or disability.
Estate Planning is the process of accumulating and disposing of an estate by you that will satisfy your specific goals and wishes. Estate means all the assets you own or have control of. This is regardless of whether the assets are solely owned by you or are managed in a partnership. This may include real estate, bank accounts, bonds and stocks, cash, businesses and establishments, jewellery, collections and even retirement benefits. Estate planning is about making sure that your estate passes on to your intended beneficiaries, as smoothly as possible, after your death.
Estate Planning is in fact a part of ‘Financial Planning’. It is a process, not a product. This process is as much legal as financial and involves (a) collect all the documents on assets and details on beneficiaries (b) analyze the ownership of assets in terms of nominations, assignments, co-ownership, joint-ownership etc (c) allot the assets among beneficiaries (d) create legal documents such as will, trust deed, power of attorney etc., specifying the allotment and (e) get the documents signed, witnessed, notarized and registered as required by law.
The outcome of Estate Planning process is ‘Estate Plan’ document. This document lays out the details on who gets what assets, and specifies on how to set things up in a way that minimizes taxes in transfer of assets to them. It includes all information on assets, beneficiaries and legal documents created as part of the process.
Why should you have an Estate Plan?
Estate Plan enables you to leave your legacy for the living people. A few but not all benefits are:
What Estate Planning is not?
Here are few things that Estate Planning is not:
How can we help you?
We are Certified Financial Planners by qualification and Mutual Fund Distributors by profession. We provide ‘Estate Planning’ service to individuals and families. However, we provide this service only as incidental to distribution of Mutual Funds by liaising with Chartered Trust & Estate Planners on your MF Investments.