In the financial circle, we often use certain familiar terms, but with a different connotation. An estate for instance may mean landed property to you, but whenever your financial adviser talks about it, know that he means something other than that. Legally speaking, estate is the net worth of a person at any given point of time. In the same way, estate planning does not have much to do with creation and maintenance of that estate; instead, it is more about its disposal. We are now going to talk about them.

Financially speaking, everybody has three goals in life.
•    First, you want to be financially secure in your lifetime. For that, you need to invest certain portion of your income regularly and judiciously. However, this is outside the ambit of this article.
•    Secondly, you want your family to be financially secure even in case you die a premature death. For that, you will have to invest in life insurance policies. Make sure that the coverage amount is adequate for their need.
•    Lastly, you want your hard-earned money to be utilized in the way you want after your death. It is here that the estate planning comes into play.

As I have already mentioned, in legal and financial parlance an estate is the net worth of a person. To determine its amount you will need to subtract you total liability from the sum of your assets. Now, what is your asset? However, if we go into that we will never be able to get into the real issue, which is - how to do a proper estate planning and so let us go directly into that.

Many people do not undertake any estate planning because they do not think their estate is worth any planning. In such a case, their estates become intestate and it is distributed according to statutes governing such distribution. In other words, your estate will have to go through probate, a court-supervised proceeding, which may take up quite a lot of time before your beneficiaries can receive it. Often enough such intestate estates cause bitter feud among the family members and worse still, since it is distributed according to the law of the land, your wishes have no value.

That is why always plan your estate and make a Will. Now, what does estate planning involve? Actually, it is not only about making a Will; it also involves developing strategies that will minimize potential estate taxes and settlement cost. That is why you must first talk to a financial planner or an estate attorney. It helps if you appoint one to do the job for you, but check his or her credentials to make sure he or she is competent enough to handle it.

At the same time, however competent your estate attorney may be, it pays to have basic ideas about the proceeding. Do you realize that it is not only important to make a Will, but it is equally important to make sure that it does not become outdated? Suppose you are a widower and make a Will bequeathing your estate to your son/daughter; but later you remarry, but neglect to change your Will. If you die, your entire estate will go to your son/daughter, leaving your spouse penniless.

Estate planning is actually an ongoing process that evolves as your goal or your need changes. That is why if you do make a Will, keep the signed copy with yourself and distribute the unsigned copies among the beneficiary. If and when you make a new Will, make sure that you destroy the signed copy immediately. Signed copy at the hand of beneficiaries may create legal hurdles in case you decide to change your Will.

There is also the revocable living trust. It is also a legal instrument, which will help you to dispose your property in a safe way. If properly implemented, it can be especially advantageous for single parent with minor children. You create a trust and transfer your assets to it. The trustee can be friend, a relative, a law firm or even you. If you are the one, you should mention who will succeed you upon your death. You must also prepare a “pour-over Will” so that all the property that is still in your name at the time of your death is automatically “poured over” into the trust.

In fact, there are so many small details and even if you do not use them, you ought to be aware of them. That is why any good estate attorney takes around two hours for the initial meeting. Take time to plan your estate, but do it now. Tomorrow may be too late.

Article by Winston Dunbar of FuneralesReforma, who is a specialist in hispanic estate planning. For more information on cremacion and cementerio Guatemala, visit his site today.