Christopher Stoneman Estate Planning Articles

I - Estate Planning  - Introduction

“….The selfish world will soon forget you…..
[F]or one word that is spoken of your character
 ten, twenty will be spoken of the settlement of
 your estate…..”


Few can doubt that the complexity of estate administration has grown apace since Emerson made this entry in his diary in 1827 and Jarndyce v. Jarndyce dragged its weary way through the court of chancery in Dickens’ Bleak House. It shouldn’t surprise us then that the importance of planning ahead has correspondingly increased. In Emerson’s day, for example, there were no death duties (estate taxes), state or federal, to reckon with; nor were there rules and regulations governing pensions and annuities; no labyrinthine restrictions on dynastically endowing one’s descendants (the generation-skipping transfer tax); and so on.
As much for the sake of kindness to our survivors as a desire to bring economic order out of potential chaos, it surely behooves us to take precautionary measures before the Grim Reaper’s and the tax commissioners’ dread shadows darken out doorsteps; the proverbial ounce of prevention rather than the tardy pound of cure.

Having said that, it is my hope in this series of brief articles to fashion a reasonably jargon-free and digestible introduction to the task of “estate planning”: first, by defining that task; then by discussing the largely definitional challenges that it presents; then by reviewing some at least of the goals which we should (or maybe should not or do not need to) consider; and finally be dissecting the primary devices whose use we should examine in order to accomplish those goals.

What is “estate planning”?

One way to define this widely-used term might be to call it the art of arranging one’s affairs – primarily, but, as we shall see, not exclusively, during one’s lifetime – so that one disposes of one’s wealth and discharges one’s obligations in such a way as to accomplish one’s donatives goals at minimum expense and with minimum hassle. Like monuments to the deceased, estate plans can have the simplicity of  mere markers in the ground or niches in the columbarium or they can be sometimes unnecessarily lofty mausoleums proclaiming the importance of the departed. “Look on me, ye mighty” and be envious. Mahatma Gandhi and the riverside ghat, versus General Grant and Riverside Drive!

Under what specific heads will the following discussion be presented?

Here is a list of the topics under which we will be proceeding during the months ahead:

Back to Christopher Stoneman Index

Home  l  Your Account  l About Us  l  Our People  l  Investing    
 Services  l  Our Fees  l  FAQ  l  Links  l  Trust Topics  l  Contact Us