Planning for your estate ahead of time will enable your wishes to be carried out in a manner that is timely, easy to do and reduces debt to your heirs. A good estate plan will see to it that probate is minimised or avoided and tax liabilities deferred. It will have plans in place to protect your assets and plan ahead for illness or incapacity. Guardians and personal fiduciary representatives will be considered or chosen.

Succession strategies will be put into place for family businesses with the formation of family limited partnerships looked at. You may need to use a trust to distribute your assets to any children who are still minors. Assets will include real estate, stocks and shares, life insurance, personal property that is valuable such as art collections or jewellery and other things such as cash.

A good estate plan takes into consideration the fair market value of assets and their growth or liquidity. With the correct estate plan in place, you can rest assured that all your assets will be disposed of in a manner of your own choosing. This will save your children the burden of making decisions that you may not have wanted, and will certainly save them squabbling amongst themselves.