One of the most critical yet often forgotten steps in estate planning is preparing a surviving spouse to take over a family’s financial affairs. Even if you checked off all the boxes on your estate-planning to-do list, creating a will, properly titling accounts, naming beneficiaries and structuring assets for tax efficiency, your plan may fail if your named beneficiaries do not know what they need to do to settle your estate and manage the inheritance you created for them.
The death of a spouse or a parent can be one of the most challenging and overwhelming experiences individuals will go through in their lives. The emotional and mental pain can be debilitating at a time when those you left behind are also tasked with planning a funeral, paying bills and making important decisions that will affect their lives for years to come. Even if you deliberately shared every detail of your estate plan with your beneficiaries before passing away, the list of things they must do can still become overwhelming.
One of the first calls a widow/widower and child of a deceased should make is to contact the decedent’s trusted financial advisors, who hopefully have deep experience navigating these matters and the benefit of knowing the details of the decedent’s estate plan and his or her specific wishes. Financial advisors, accountants and lawyers can help surviving family members gather important estate-planning documents, such as wills and trusts, and inventory your intangible assets, including bank and brokerage accounts, retirement savings plans and insurance policies. This step will also help introduce your beneficiaries to the tax rules and financial implications of rolling over inherited retirement accounts, which, depending on the type of account, can include required minimum distributions (RMDs) and forced withdrawals over 10 years.
They should also contact the funeral home to request multiple copies of your death certificate, which they will need to change ownership of accounts, including the name on utility bills, and claim life insurance proceeds and Social Security benefits. Surviving spouses should also contact the decedent’s employer to receive unpaid wages and continue health insurance coverage without interruption.
When preparing your beneficiaries to settle your estate, it is equally important you share the login information for your digital assets and online accounts, including those on social media platforms. Not only can this help surviving family members continue paying bills and maintaining their medical, home and automobile insurance coverage, but it is also one of the best things you can do to preserve your online legacy and protect your identity from theft and fraud.
The settling of a decedent’s estate comes with a minefield of tax implications that beneficiaries may overlook. For example, there is an individual federal income tax return filing requirement in the year of the decedent’s death. If there is a surviving spouse, he or she may file a joint income tax return in that year. There could also be a federal estate tax filing requirement for the decedent’s estate, which the IRS considers to be a separate taxable entity from the individual decedent. Depending on where a decedent lived and the state where their assets are located, there may also be state income tax filings and payment obligations that surviving spouses and other beneficiaries must address.
Finally, it is important for beneficiaries to meet with advisors and understand how their inheritances will affect their individual financial planning, investment profile, estate plans and income tax liabilities in the future. Investments must be attended to and not put on auto-pilot or ignored. You and your surviving spouse should not underestimate the various tax, legal and investment matters that will need to be addressed after death. Advanced planning is one of the best ways you can reduce and even alleviate these burdens on your loved ones.
About the Author: Scott Montgomery, CLU, ChFC is a director and financial planner with Provenance Wealth Advisors (PWA), an Independent Registered Investment Advisor affiliated with Berkowitz Pollack Brant + CPAs and a registered representative with PWA Securities, LLC. He can be reached at the firm’s Ft. Lauderdale office at (954) 712-8888 or info@provwealth.com.
Provenance Wealth Advisors (PWA), 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., 19th Floor Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301 (954) 712-8888.
Scott Montgomery, CLU, ChFC is a registered representative of and offers securities through PWA Securities, LLC., Member FINRA/SIPC.
This material is being provided for information purposes only and is not a complete description or a recommendation. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove correct.
Any opinions are those of the advisors of PWA and not necessarily those of PWA Securities, LLC. While we are familiar with the tax provisions of the issues presented herein, as Financial Advisors of PWAS, we are not qualified to render advice on tax or legal matters. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional. Prior to making any investment decision, please consult your financial advisor about your individual situation.
To learn more about Provenance Wealth Advisors estate planning services click here or contact us at info@provwealth.com
Updated on September 5, 2024.