Estate, Trust & Gift Planning

Hunter Hagan & Company, Ltd. provides a variety of services in the area of estate, fiduciary and gift planning and compliance. We encourage our clients to seek assistance in planning for the minimization of estate taxes and disposition of assets by taking advantage of the many planning opportunities available. We work with a network of attorneys, financial planners, and insurance representatives who specialize in estate planning, all of whom are necessary to help our clients meet their goals.

If you own assets (including retirement plan balances) exceeding the lifetime exclusion ($1.5 million in 2004), and you were to die, your estate could pay taxes of up to $48% on the excess. You probably want to protect your hard earned wealth and have greater control over its disposition. Let us explain how the gifting rules differ from the estate rules. For those of you with philanthropic desires, we can show you how to protect your families and benefit your favorite charity at the same time. Depending upon your needs, family limited partnerships and or trusts can be formed to facilitate the ultimate control and transfer of your wealth.

In addition to general estate planning, our specific services include planning for retirement and college funds, preparation of estate and fiduciary tax returns, and post mortem planning for the transfer of assets and funding of trusts.

Many techniques can be employed to reduce or eliminate estate tax. A basic plan for a married couple generally begins with a revocable living trust which will provide for an exemption trust on the death of the first spouse. Larger estates often utilize life insurance trusts to avoid taxation of life insurance proceeds in the estate, a charitable remainder trust to avoid income taxation on the sale of highly appreciated property, and family limited partnerships to take advantage of discounted values for gifting purposes.

People often believe that estate planning is unnecessary unless they have a very large estate. The fact is, nearly every individual can benefit from some type of estate planning, from the simplest will to the multi-faceted plan which encompasses many planning techniques.