Estate PlanningEstate planning is a critical step to making sure your spouse and heirs, not the government, gets the wealth you’ve worked so hard for during your life. 2010 is the golden year of estate planning. Why? Under the “Bush Tax Cuts”, the estate tax has dwindled down through the years until it actually becomes zero in 2010. The joke among estate planning lawyers and financial planners is it is a good year to die, but nobody really wants to take such a step. Sadly, 2011 will see a return to what can only be described as the cruel and unusual estate tax we’ve traditionally seen. The federal rate will be 55 percent. Yes, 55! When you then add income tax rates, capital gains taxes and state taxes to boot, it is estimated that most estates will end up losing between 70 and 90 percent of their value in taxes. Fortunately, there are time-tested ways to counter this problem. They include strategies such as buying life insurance to pay the taxes due while holding the policy in an irrevocable trust to exclude it from the value of the estate to using buy-sell agreements to make sure business interests pass on to the party you desire without being devoured by the IRS. Every person has a different situation. Fortunately, there is a different solution for each. At UFCAmerica.com, we have over 25 years of experience putting together strategies to help you meet your estate planning goals with a minimum of fuss. Contact us today at (800) 341-5433 to get the advice you need to protect your assets.
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