How Should I Choose My Beneficiaries?
When you are starting to think about estate planning in Gwinnett County, one of the major issues you will need to consider concerns your beneficiaries. Depending on your particular circumstances, including the types of property you own, you may need to identify beneficiaries to inherit your assets through a will, to have assets distributed to them through a trust, or to become the owners of bank accounts you own or the parties to whom your life insurance pays out. Choosing beneficiaries may be easy in some cases but very difficult in others. How should you choose your beneficiaries, and what issues should you be taking into account? Our Gwinnett County estate planning lawyers can help.
Determine Which Accounts Will Need a Beneficiary
Before you begin thinking about and choosing specific beneficiaries, it is critical to know which of your accounts or estate planning documents and tools will require you to name or identify beneficiaries. This will depend on your individual circumstances and assets, and the types of estate planning tools you currently have or are considering. The types of accounts for which you will usually need to identify a beneficiary include the following:
- Bank accounts, for which you can name a transfer-on-death beneficiary;
- Retirement accounts, such as 401(k) or 403(b) accounts, as well as individual retirement accounts (IRAs);
- Certain pensions, depending on the pension type;
- Life insurance policy; and
- Annuities.
In addition, the following estate planning documents or tools require you to identify beneficiaries:
- Wills; and
- Trusts, including both revocable and irrevocable trusts.
When beneficiaries receive assets by being named as such on any of the accounts in the first list, or as a beneficiary of a trust, they will receive assets without those assets going through probate. For any individuals or entities that inherit through a will, the assets will need to go through the probate process first.
Consider Primary and Contingent or Alternate Beneficiaries
When you are thinking about who (or what entity) to name as a beneficiary, it is important to know that, in most or all cases, you will be able to name both a primary beneficiary and an alternate or contingent beneficiary. The alternate or contingent beneficiary will be able to inherit or become the owner of the asset if the primary beneficiary is no longer available.
Think About Your Relationships
Finally, it is time to think about who to name. You will want to think about your relationships, including the parties who are dependent on you and the entities (such as charities) that you may wish to continue providing for after your death. You should also think about your pets since they can benefit from trusts, too.
Contact a Norcross Estate Planning Attorney
Estate planning is important for all adults in Georgia, in part so that you can identify beneficiaries to whom you want your assets to go. Of course, estate planning involves much more than naming beneficiaries, so once you have chosen beneficiaries, it is critical to discuss the other important components of estate planning with an experienced Norcross estate planning lawyer at Bowman Law Firm. Contact our firm today to find out more about how we can assist you.
Source:
law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-53/
