An estate plan decides who receives what you have built, how quickly they receive it, and how much of it survives the process. Most of that is settled by paperwork you can put right this year.
Your attorney drafts the documents. Our part is making sure they agree with your taxes, your business and each other.
A will says who receives what. A trust can also say when and under what conditions, and assets held in it generally pass outside probate, which usually means faster and more private than the court process. Which one you need depends on what you own, who depends on you and how much control you want to keep after you are gone.
Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by the beneficiary form, not by your will. That single line of paperwork overrides the document you paid an attorney to write, which is why an out-of-date form after a marriage, a divorce or a death is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes we see. Checking them costs nothing.
Property, accounts and business interests pass according to how they are owned. A trust that was written but never funded, or a rental still held in the wrong name, can undo the plan entirely. Titling is checked against the documents, not assumed.
If the business is the largest thing you own, the plan has to answer who runs it, who owns it and where the money comes from to buy out a family member who does not want to be a partner. That answer usually involves an agreement between the owners and a way to fund it. How life insurance funds that.
Crucial Business & Life Solutions is not a law firm. Wills, trusts and ownership agreements are drafted by your attorney; we coordinate with them and keep the tax side aligned. State law and estate tax thresholds change, so a plan is reviewed rather than assumed to be current.
Most of this is a review, not a rebuild.
What you own, how it is held, and which documents already exist.
Old beneficiary forms, unfunded trusts, assets in the wrong name, no plan for the business.
They draft or amend. We make sure the tax and ownership side matches what is drafted.
A marriage, a birth, a divorce, a death or a sale is a reason to look again.
Answer some questions, upload your return and book your 30-minute assessment. We will tell you what is missing before it matters.
