Lessons Learned, Now What?Lessons Learned, Now What?
It seems safe to say, for now anyway, that most clients believe that the estate tax will not be repealed. Reformed maybe, but not repealed. So, the new year is a good time to reflect on what the current planning environment, broadly defined, is telling us about how we can help clients use life insurance more effectively and more expansively in their estate planning or in lieu of it. It's also a good
January 1, 2008
Charles L. Ratner
It seems safe to say, for now anyway, that most clients believe that the estate tax will not be repealed. Reformed maybe, but not repealed. So, the new year is a good time to reflect on what the current planning environment, broadly defined, is telling us about how we can help clients use life insurance more effectively and more expansively in their estate planning … or in lieu of it. It's also a good time to reflect on what we've learned during the past few years about approaches to paying premiums and how easy it is to make today's solution tomorrow's problem.
Life Insurance's Uses
I have said for years that life insurance can be sold or bought to play one or more of the following roles in an estate plan:
estate liquidity and/or preservation;
a default estate plan;
a hedge for the client who will plan; and
a capital transfer technique.
I still cate...
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