Understanding the Estate Taxes on Your Financial Assets

There are many reasons that you need to visit with an estate attorney regularly. Doing so allows you to make changes to your plan before you die or become mentally incompetent. For cash and bank accounts, there are many different considerations considering who you want to have receive your money when you die and the type of account.

Investment Accounts

If you and another person, often your spouse, owns a joint investment account, it will usually pass to the surviving person without any probate because most are set up that way in the beginning. If you have changes in life circumstances, such as divorce, make sure to update these accounts. If you are donating your investment account to a charity upon your death, then make sure to talk to a competent attorney because there can be important tax benefits.

Cash and Bank Accounts

Setting up a trust can be an effective way to minimize taxes on cash that you want to leave to your family. These documents have many legal requirements, so it is especially important to work with a lawyer. Some bank accounts transfer on death if they are structured that way.

Retirement Accounts

Required minimum distribution rules can make retirement accounts difficult to handle in estates. They may be subject to many different types of taxes. Therefore, you should make sure to work with a lawyer to understand the tax implications to your estate. Like bank accounts, some can be set up so that a loved one can get the money without going through probate.

These accounts each have special considerations attached to them. Therefore, it is always best to talk to your estate planning lawyer in Las Vegas in order to ensure that your wishes may be carried out when you pass from this world. Depending on the choices that you make, you may even enjoy tax breaks while you are still alive.