Estate Planning
Retirement Accounts and Nonprobate Transfers
More and more frequently we are finding that retirement plans (401(k)s and IRAs) comprise a significant portion of our clients’ estates. The income tax benefits afforded by these plans can be wonderful. They do, however, present some new drafting issues and we may recommend that your beneficiary designations be rewritten (sometimes to include trusts) so that your retirement plans will fit into your overall estate plan.
Many clients wish to avoid probate through the use of joint tenancy, transfer-on-death deeds, pay-on-death and transfer-on-death designations, and other nonprobate transfers. We advise our clients on the merits and drawbacks involved in going through the probate process vs. avoiding probate by using a combination of these techniques.