14 Ridgedale Avenue, Suite 254
Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

Organize Your Paperwork in January

In order to create an accurate estate plan, people need to organize their documents and take a complete inventory of all their assets and liabilities.  Creating an inventory not only helps in creating an estate plan, but it helps in getting a handle on eliminating debt and may help in uncovering assets which haven’t been managed properly and should be sold or adjusted.

Collect and Summarize Statements

By the end of January, every financial institution must send year end statements to all account holders in order to prepare income tax returns.  As these statements come in the mail, keep a file or large envelope where you keep the mail and put them all inside.

At the end of the month, you will have all your statements in one place and you can easily transfer account numbers, balances and contact information for each financial institution to one file on your computer or one page to summarize your assets and liabilities (student loan and mortgage statements should also arrive by the end of January). An updated inventory of assets and liabilities is important for reviewing, updating or a creating an estate plan.

Getting Legal Help

Working as a team with an estate planning attorney you can create plan which preserves assets, minimizes taxes and protects loved ones. Experienced Estate Planning Attorney Elga Goodman can help you understand your options for estate planning strategies.

Call us today at 973-841-5111.

 

Posted in: Estate Planning, New York Estate Planning