Estate Planning

• Help you to clarify your objectives for you, your family and your assets
• Create documents that are understood by you that carry out your wishes
• Make available the flexibility for you to adjust the plan design, if your life situation changes
• Take advantage of all the regulatory tax breaks for transferring your family assets at the planned time
• Protect, to the extent of law, all of your assets, now and in the future, from frivolous lawsuits, divorce and any situation or person that would challenge your wishes

• Living Trust
• Dynasty Trust or Life Insurance Trust
• Limited Liability Trust
• Family Limited Partnership
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
• Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust
• Charitable Remainder Trust
• Charitable Lead Trust
• Private Foundation

A Family Trust is a series of documents that:

• Clarify your wishes regarding the passing of assets
• Give powers to a caretaker, in the event you are unable to care for yourself
• Provides clarification to caretakers or guardians for minor children, in the event the parents are killed or die, before the children are of age
• Provides a plan to save the tax credits, allowed by current law, when each grantor dies

Advanced Planning

Advanced Planning is usually necessary when:

• The size of the estate exceeds the current forgiveness levels at death (tax forgiveness in 2006 is 2,000,000 per spouse and is scheduled under current law to be 100% of the estate in 2010. The law in 2006 reads that everything changes in 2011 and the tax forgiveness drops to 1,000,000 per spouse with 55% tax on the excess
• Special circumstance might require a person to
   
  » Take special care of a child or dependent that requires unusual care

• Planning is required for the estate tax to be minimized or eliminated. It has been said that estate tax is voluntary. Advanced planning is the key to the voluntary part of the tax plan
• You have charitable intent. Charitable planning also has a significant benefit from a current tax and estate tax point of view

Remember, it is important for the advisor you work with to:

• Be capable of using all the tools that can help you achieve your goals
• Speak your language (not just quote the tax codes)
• Become very clear, initially, on your current and future objectives for your family and your assets

In every Estate Plan there should be a team approach with respect to helping you attain your goals. The team should be cost sensitive in the preplanning process
• The team should include
  » The Architect (The Rushmore Group)
  » The client’s CPA
  » The client’s Estate Planning Attorney (the contractor)

Since 1981, The Rushmore Group has been working with legal and accounting firms across the United States as the architect of Estate Plans.

We do not give legal or accounting advice. It is your responsibility to seek qualified tax council for legal or accounting matters.

Rushmore’s role is to design a structure that will accomplish your personal and family goals in a way that you can understand.

Rushmore’s team will show you how to minimize or eliminate the Estate Tax on your assets, as well as protect them from outsiders.

If you would like a personalized outline showing you how to achieve estate tax relief and asset protection (click here).