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Show You May Have an 'Estate to Protect Many families today are probably prob-ably unaware that they are on the way to accumulating an "estate." "es-tate." Time was, this word could be applied only to the wealthy few. But thes days, says the Institute of Life Insurance, it can also have meaning for folks who think of themselves as having only modest means. The reason why more people are becoming involved in estates is that ownership of property is now very widespread. Three out of five families have their own homes today; and when ownership owner-ship of automobiles, life insurance, insur-ance, savings, investments, and other material possessions is added on to the value of a home, the head of a family may have a larger estate than he realizes. Husbands and fathers from time immemorial have toiled with two goals in mind: first, to provide for their families during their lifetime; and second, to bequeath something of material value to their loved ones. But the complexity of modern times makes it necessary for men today to go beyond drawing up a will in orderto carry out the second goal. They must, in many instances, plan ahead in order to make sure that the families will receive an estate as nearly intact as possible. Experts in the area of family relations have observed that have a dozen or more things can chip away at an estate between the time that a family loses the father and the estate is finally settled. Among these are outstanding out-standing bills and debts, executor execu-tor and legal fees, unpaid income taxes, state inheritance taxes and federal estate taxes. Not only can one or more cause an estate to shrink in value, but perhaps worse, can make it necessary for a famliy to sell valuable property prop-erty or other belongings in order to meet financial demands upon the estate. The costs of settling a $10,000 estate average about one-fifth of the gross estate. Outstanding debts average between five and 10 per cent, and administrative expenses between 10 and 15 per cent. In addition, two or three ! per cent may have to go for inheritance in-heritance taxes. Not long ago the court records of 2700 estates valued at $10,000 were analyzed to determine the exact cost of settlement. It was discovered that debts, administrative adminis-trative costs and inheritance taxes totalled nearly $2400, on an average. But there was only an average of $1100 in cash to apply to these costs. It meant that more than $1200 in cash was needed before the state could be fully settled; that money had to come out of the sale of part of the inheritance. A similar analysis of $25,000 estates showed much the same results," except that all figures were doubled: there was an average av-erage lack of cash in these states amounted to $2200. Many families count on their life insurance to provide the necessary cash. As a matter of fact, says the Institute of Life Insurance, millions of dollars of life insurance now owned by families will eventually be used in paying off the many costs that must be paid before the estates of policyholders who have died can be passed on to their heirs. The median age of aid to the blind recipients in our nation is approximately 63, according to the American Foundation for the j Blind, which bases its estimate ' on figures received from the U. S. Department of Health, Education Edu-cation and Welfare. |