One of the biggest hurdles of estate planning (other than navigating the ephemeral nature of existence) is that most aspects involve legal forms and/or lawyers, which can be both expensive and time consuming. But there's one key move you can make that is incredibly simple, absolutely free, and helps your assets avoid the lengthy and often costly probate process.
That's right: I'm talking about updating your beneficiary designations.
Most bank, investment, and retirement accounts, as well as many insurance products like life insurance and annuities, allow you to designate the person (or people) you want to receive those assets when you die. Adding beneficiaries allows/requires the entities managing those accounts (banks, insurance companies) to transfer assets as soon as they receive confirmation of death. It doesn't cost you anything to do it and – here's the important part – designating beneficiaries allows those assets to bypass probate.
Probate is the legal process of settling a person's estate. That includes paying any outstanding debts, collecting any money owed, filing a final tax return, and executing the terms of a person's will. Probate can take a long time and can also be very confusing & expensive. Anything you can do now to make probate easier for your loved ones later is a huge win.
So just to hammer the point home: naming beneficiaries to your accounts and insurance policies is free, relatively quick & easy, and saves the people you care about most time, money, and stress later by completely bypassing the probate process.
Want some help reviewing your estate planning needs? No problem, this stuff is confusing! Please use this link to schedule a meeting.
Thanks,
Timothy Iseler, CFP®
Founder & Lead Advisor
Iseler Financial, LLC | Durham NC | (919) 666-7604
Iseler Financial helps creative professionals remove stress while taking control of their financial lives. We'll help identify your current strengths and weaknesses, clarify and refine your long-term goals, and prioritize decisions to improve your financial well-being now and later. Reach out today to take the first step.
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