(According to RIA Practice Alert dated April 11, 2008, excerpting from an article that recently appeared in the December 2007 issue of Practical Tax Strategies.)
Mistake #1 Forgetting to name successor agents, proxies, executors, and trustees in estate planning documents.
Mistake #2 Neglecting to properly structure a business venture to protect personal assets from business creditors.
Mistake #3 A married couple not taking advantage of both estate tax exemption amounts ($2 million in 2008) that are available to them, due to inadequate wills and assets owned the wrong way.
Mistake #4 For businesses owned by more than one individual, neglecting to have an owners’ agreement and a binding buy-sell arrangement (with funding).
Mistake #5 Having inadequate beneficiary designations for retirement plans and IRAs that do not coordinate with the rest of the estate plan (aka “having all your ducks in a row”).
Mistake #6 Neglecting to hold regular shareholder/member/partner and board of director meetings for a business entity, failing to prepare written minutes based on each meeting to include in the entity’s records, and ignoring other formalities to assure that the entity is respected for all purposes.
Mistake #7 Failing to properly plan for family business succession.
Mistake #8 Failing to consider the income tax ramifications of each personal, investment, or business decision; and failing to take advantage of all available deductions, credits, and opportunities.
Mistake #9 Failing to incorporate trusts adequately for asset protection purposes (i.e., inability, disability, creditors, and predators of beneficiaries) in the estate plan.
Mistake #10 Failing to consider the options available to finance long-term care needs.
This is a list of the issues that we address daily in our business practice. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can assist you in preparing your plan so as to avoid these costly mistakes.