Residents in Washington State who want to develop the best type of estate plan for their needs and wishes know that there are many different types of tools from which they can choose. Their personal net worth as well as their wishes are just part of what will play into determining the right approach to estate planning for them. For example, people who want to provide funds for a grandchild’s college education might establish a specific kind of trust that is geared for this goal.
In addition to what a particular estate planning tool like a qualified interminable property trust or a generation-skipping trust might be able to do for people, consideration should also be given to where a person lives. That’s right. It might sound silly but what may make a good estate plan in one state may make a lousy plan in another. This is because of the wide variance in state tax assessments when it comes to estates and inheritances.
There are two things that people should evaluate related to this. One is the state estate tax and the other is the state inheritance tax. The former is how much of the state’s value will be assessed an estate tax. The latter is how much of what a particular heir ultimately receives will be taxed. Together, these two taxes can eat up a lot of one’s estate, limiting what ultimately gets into the hands of an heir.
People in Washington State who want to find the right plan for their family’s needs might want to talk with an attorney who understands how these changing taxes may affect their estate planning decisions.
Source: Forbes, “Where Not To Die In 2018,” Ashley Ebeling, December 21, 2017
