Create an Estate Plan That Lets You Reduce Taxes While Still Living

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All estate plans can pass your estate to your beneficiaries. Estate-planning tools can help protect as much of your assets as possible from taxes to ensure they are passed on intact.

A good estate plan should include ways to help reduce your taxes while you are still alive so that you can give more. The fewer taxes you pay while alive means you have more assets to pass on. You can reduce your estate in several ways to pay fewer taxes to give your heirs more.

Giving Gifts

One of the best ways to reduce your estate without taxes is to include giving gifts in your estate plan. Having fewer assets means your estate will have less estate tax to pay once you are gone. Gift-giving can also enable you to avoid taxes while you are still alive.