You have people who you’d like to have become your heirs and beneficiaries. You want to leave them behind a true legacy. You have trusts in their names, and you have an estate that can continue to grow long after you’ve gone.
Heirs and beneficiaries are lucky people who are granted assets from their loved ones. It’s important that they know what to do with assets to protect them and to make the most of this inheritance. Fortunately, you’ve thought ahead about setting aside trusts, but another thing you might want to consider is direct gifting.
If you have a large estate, directly gifting an amount of money to your heirs or beneficiaries yearly is an excellent way to reduce the value of your estate and avoid estate taxes on an estate valued higher than $11.58 million per individual (as of 2020). If your estate is worth more than this, you may want to consider gifting up to $15,000 per person in your life (or up to $30,000 if you have a spouse) to reduce the value of your estate now. You can gift up to $15,000 to anyone with no limits.
Every year, the limits on estate taxes and gifting change, which is why it’s good to look into your estate plan and to make sure that it’s up to date with the current regulations. You want to make sure your estate is not on the hook for excessive taxes and that your heirs and beneficiaries benefit from your life as much as possible. Our site has more on what you can do to make this happen.