While this is a common misconception, I believe it mixes up two ideas, estate planning and estate tax planning. Estate tax planing is actually a small, but important, part of the overall estate planning process.
Estate planning is about making sure your estate is in order and passes as you wish. Estate tax planning is making sure the government gets as little of your estate as you can.
Estate planning uses a trust, or a will, to organize your affairs and distribute it to who you care about when you die. Estate planning is for tax and non-tax reasons. Of course no one is required to have an estate plan. Many would be unhappy to know that our legislature in Arizona has written an estate plan for everyone that hasn’t written an estate plan themselves.
Kevin P. McFadden, Knollmiller & Arenofsky, LLP
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