Page 4 The Ogden Valley News Volume I, Issue IX June 1999 Why Develop An Estate Plan? Every Dollar Lost To Estate Expenses Is A Dollar Less For Your Family Without such a plan in place, a substantial portion of your estate may be consumed by estate expenses, leaving only a fraction of what you had intended to pass on to your loved ones. Taxes, fees, debts and administration expenses must all be paid before an estate can be settled, and before any money reaches your family. These expenses can eat away at your estate, reducing it by 50 percent or more. It’s a sad fact that many estates lack sufficient cash to pay estate settlement expenses. This often results in the forced sale of securities, real estate or business interests—sales that usually occur at an inappropriate time, resulting in still more losses. What An Estate Plan Can Do For You Estate planning is the logical next step to the careful financial planning you’ve done over the years. With the help of a qualified team of experts that includes your attorney, insurance advisor, trust officer and accountant, you can plan for the distribution of your assets and significantly minimize taxes, expenses and probate costs. By carefully planning now, you control how much property your family receives and when they receive it. Your estate plan can be as simple or as complex as your needs dictate. What’s important is that you coordinate all of the tools that are available to accomplish your goals, taking into consideration your will, contracts, property ownership arrangements, trusts, charitable gifts and life insurance policies. A Good Estate Plan Should Offer: An organized and timely distribution, assuring that all of your assets are distributed according to your wishes. Income for your survivors, so they won’t face the added strain of a cashflow problem at your death. Liquidity to meet expenses so that your family isn’t forced to sell valuable property or assets at a heavy loss. Reduced taxes and costs, by settling your estate quickly and efficiently, minimizing the money your heirs pay to the government or courts. Effective management of your estate, an important benefit that makes sure your estate will be managed prudently with the expertise of competent professionals. Work With A Team Of Professionals To Keep Your Estate Intact After considering your estate planning goals, you should rely on a team of experts that includes your attorney, insurance advisor and accountant, to help you develop a creative, customized estate plan that meets your unique financial and personal needs. These experts should be able to accomplish the following for you: Illustrate the likely results of your current plan if it’s insufficient, or the consequences of no plan at all. Create a personal financial profile to help you identify your specific goals. Estimate the total cost of settling your estate, based on the facts you provide. Find creative alternatives that satisfy your objectives and provide a written analysis that makes specific recommendations. After agreeing on the best course of action, your estate planning team should draft the necessary documents to implement your plan. And that’s just the beginning. You should also expect these professionals to keep you informed on changing tax laws and make sure your estate plan continues to meet your objectives, long after you’re gone. Don’t leave a lifetime of careful financial planning incomplete. Preserve and enhance what you’ve created over a lifetime with an estate plan. By: Calvin D. Welling CLU, ChFC, CFP IT’S SMART TO UNDERSTAND YOUR PROPERTY TAX EVALUATION! by Lorine C. Murtagh Chairman, Ogden Canyon Club the Recorder’s Office. The Treasurer’s Office informed me of the steps to “deannexation” which are required to get out of a boundary. To my surprise, it takes a decision by a district court judge and preparation of very detailed legal documents, in “legaleze” language. The County Attorney’s Office recommended a lawyer be hired to prepare the case since it is a complicated process. The advice was right on . . . it is a complicated process. However, I now have a fairly good understanding of how and why we get assessed by the various tax entities. Do yourself a favor and do a comparison between tax years to see what entities have been added, or perhaps dropped. It is your right to find out the “ins and outs’ of your assessed taxes. With the growth of the Ogden Valley, and the upcoming Olympics, new “tax entities” could be added. The Utah State Tax Commission has published a pamphlet (Pub 31) entitled “Your Property Tax Notice” which is very helpful in providing steps to take in identifying errors in your property evaluation, and how to file an appeal. A copy of this pamphlet can be obtained from the Weber County Assessor ’s Office, Weber Center County Complex, 2380 Washington Boulevard, Ogden. During late July or August, all property owners receive their annual Weber County Notice of Property Valuation. It should be of utmost importance to you to make sure your property has been correctly valued, and the correct “taxing entities” assessed. Do you know what you are being charged for on your property tax? Do you know what “taxing entities” are? Are you one of those property owners that just pay the dollar amount thinking you don’t have a say so as to how the figure got to what it is? Or are you just too busy and don’t have the time to bother. If you fall into any of the above categories, you may be paying too much! Last year I took a hard look at the “taxing entities” assigned to my canyon properties. To my surprise, I was supporting Eden Cemetery and Huntsville Park, even though I live in Ogden Canyon. Many of you may be doing the same and asking the question,”why?” I found that not all property owners in Ogden Canyon have the same charges . . . that location of the property dictates what tax entities are assessed. After several telephone calls and trips to the Weber Center to find out who was in charge of these entities, the Assessor’s Office informed me that a committee exists for each of the entities, and it is the taxpayers’ responsibility AND ASSOCIATES to contact these committees. THE TRUSTED NAME IN REAL ESTATE This is where the fun starts and the “quick course” you will receive as to what each Weber County government office provides. It is not just E D E N O F F IC E a matter of making contact, 2580 N orth H igh w ay 162 asking them to take your name E den , U tah 84310 off of their tax list, and it is P h on e: 801-745-8800 E xt. 328 done! In my situation, I was F ax: 745-1400 told that the land boundaries C ell-Voice M ail: 391-4100 were established decades ago E -m ail: peteb@ konnections.com and that these “taxing entities” are assessed to the taxes of those property B ran ch owners within the boundaries, B roker and that boundaries are not confined to a township. By the way, boundary maps can be purchased from MANSELL Pete Bealba GRI