One important piece of estate planning is acquiring the appropriate type of insurance coverage necessary for your needs, such as critical injury insurance.Many people who create estate plans know that they will have to decide on the types of inheritances they want to leave behind, make allowances for the possibility of becoming incapacitated, and create specific legal documents that will carry out their wishes after they are gone. But insurance also plays an important role in this … [Read more...]
Life Insurance and Estate Planning
Life insurance has many varieties of policies, and each variety has its pros and cons. This flexibility makes life insurance an ideal form of estate planning. Some of the different varieties and uses of life insurance are:1) Term life insurance is a short-term policy, generally 5 to 10 years. Term life insurance offers a low monthly premium, although it does not accumulate a cash value, even though the premiums typically increase each year.2) Whole life insurance has a death benefit for the … [Read more...]
You Need Umbrella Liability Insurance
During your estate planning updates, evaluate whether you are fully insured. Are your assets and well-being protected? One, commonly overlooked insurance, is umbrella liability insurance. It’s also known as “catastrophic liability insurance.” And, you need it.The term, “umbrella,” is used because the insurance sits on top of your home owners (or renters) insurance and your auto insurance and raises the coverage to the policy amount, $1 million, $2 million, $10 million. It covers these two … [Read more...]
You May Not Be Able to Afford Long Term Care without Insurance
Many people don’t realize how expensive long-term care costs are. As more people continue to age, the costs only continue to rise. This is why it’s important to consider the purchase of long-term care insurance. Without this insurance, long-term care can be unaffordable. Take a look at the information below, to better understand the use of this insurance. If you have any questions, or if you need help selecting a long-term care insurance policy, contact an estate planning attorney.Consider … [Read more...]
Estate Planning and Life Insurance: Three Drawbacks to Whole Life Policies
Life insurance plays an important role in estate planning – it can not only act as an income replacement should the "bread winner" of the family die unexpectedly, but it can be used to help pay the estate administration costs, fund a buy/sell agreement in a partnership or help pay off debt. Life insurance can be complex and full of unfamiliar terms – even the basic types of policies aren’t familiar to the layperson:Whole Life Policies: Whole life insurance combines a term policy with an … [Read more...]
Naming Children as Life Insurance Beneficiaries
Life insurance can play an important role in estate planning. Many families purchase life insurance policies to provide for their children should one, or both parents, pass away unexpectedly when the children are still under the age of 18. Since many families buy the life insurance with the goal of providing for their children, they name their children as the beneficiaries of the insurance policy. But is this the best way to handle it?No, it's not. If a minor is named as a beneficiary of a … [Read more...]
Life Insurance Proceeds: Your Loss is New York’s Gain
Life insurance plays a valuable role in estate planning – not only can it be used to replace income if a "breadwinner" dies suddenly, but it can also help an estate pay its expenses, create liquidity for an estate that is heavily invested in real estate, or even create an estate where one might not have otherwise existed. One major benefit of life insurance – the proceeds avoid probate, allowing the funds to pass more quickly to the named beneficiaries of the policy.But what good is a life … [Read more...]
Five Ways to Use Life Insurance in an Estate Plan
Life insurance is not only a means to provide for your family in the event of an untimely passing, but it can also be used to accomplish other goals within an estate plan.1. Paying for funeral and estate expenses – A life insurance policy can be used to pay the costs of funeral expenses. There are several ways to accomplish this, including having a policy designated for these costs or making your estate the beneficiary of the policy. A life insurance policy can also be used to cover the … [Read more...]
How can Life Insurance fit into an Estate Plan?
Many people purchase life insurance through an employer sponsored insurance plan, and they do so almost as an afterthought. But what people may not realize is that life insurance can play an important role in estate planning, and is just one piece of the puzzle in a comprehensive estate plan.While many plan for the proceeds of a life insurance policy to replace the income of the deceased, there are other financial considerations and objectives that can be accomplished with a life insurance … [Read more...]
Five Facts You May Not Know About Life Insurance
Life insurance is a contract between the insurer and an individual in which a benefit is paid to a beneficiary if a covered event occurs. Life insurance is a valuable estate planning tool, but how much do you really know about this complex subject? We discuss five items that many people are not aware of when it comes to life insurance and estate planning:1. Life insurance policies are not covered in wills or probate.Since a life insurance policy is a contract and has designated … [Read more...]
