Estate Planning
We design an estate plan that reflects your wishes
You’ve accumulated wealth. So how do you plan for it to be passed along efficiently?
Estate planning allows you to transfer wealth to family members, charitable organizations and others—during your life as well as at your death—in a tax efficient manner.
Estate Planning Approach
Before making any recommendations, your HBKS advisor will talk with you about your estate planning goals and objectives to understand your intentions as to whom should inherit your wealth and how it should be divided, including the nonprofit or charitable organizations that should benefit from your estate plan.
We are experienced in dealing with what can be extremely sensitive issues around estate planning, including:
- Caring for minor children and how children’s financial affairs will be managed until they become adults
- Dependents with special needs that require customized planning
- Concerns about an adult heir’s ability to prudently handle financial affairs due to factors like substance abuse or mental disability
- Providing for a surviving spouse or making certain that adult children or grandchildren from a previous marriage are treated fairly
- Transferring a business to the next generation of owners and managers, which typically involves complex business transactions and can require addressing sensitive family relationships
Throughout the planning process, we work closely with your other professional advisors, such as your estate planning attorney and tax consultant. We believe in a team approach and can help coordinate the efforts of these other professionals.
Your HBKS advisor will also employ various wealth transfer tools and gifting strategies to help you distribute assets to your beneficiaries and avoid probate as well as unnecessary income and estate taxes.