Estate Plan Updates at Transition Points

This is the time of year for graduations and we are proud that our youngest daughter graduated from Williams College.  We are also relieved of our obligation to write those tuition checks twice a year.  As an estate planning attorney I realize that the last college graduation means our estate plan needs to be updated.  No longer do we need a common trust to ensure that assets will be available to cover the cost of educating all of our children.  We reached the point where putting our assets into a revocable trust makes sense for disability management and probate avoidance.  We created a Bypass Trust to double our Maryland Estate Tax exemption and to ensure that our daughters are the beneficiaries of our career savings.  We have a Standalone Retirement Trust to ensure that our retirement accounts receive their maximum stretch to delay income taxes while providing asset protection and management.  Our life insurance policies are owned by an Irrevocable Trust that keeps the proceeds out of our estate.  Finally, we updated our advance medical directives and executed the new Maryland statutory power of attorney.  We are glad to be finished with this phase of our life and looking forward to the new challenges that life will bring.