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Estate planning is the process of accumulating and disposing of an estate to maximize the goals of the estate owner. The various goals of estate planning include making sure the greatest amount of the estate passes to the estate owner's intended beneficiaries, often including paying the least amount of taxes and avoiding or minimizing probate court involvement. Additional goals typically include providing for and designating guardians for minor children and planning for incapacity.

An estate is the total property, real and personal, owned by an individual prior to distribution through a trust or will. Real property is real estate and personal property includes everything else, for example cars, household items, and bank accounts. Estate planning distributes the real and personal property to an individual's heirs.

Wills and trusts are common ways in which individuals dispose of their wealth. Trusts, unlike wills, have the benefit of avoiding probate, a lengthy and costly legal process that oversees the transfer of assets. Sometimes, though, it will be useful to make inter vivos gifts (gifts made while the donor is alive) in order to minimize taxes. The Federal Gift Tax exempts certain levels of lifetime gifts.

Scott M. Brown and Associates estate and family wealth planning practice focuses on maximum conservation and protection of our clients' estates and related assets, with minimum tax and other adverse consequences. We handle the administration of trusts, estates and other related family entities, the drafting of wills and estate plans. Our estate planning services are tailored to the individual requirements of each client. Depending upon client needs, we can counsel on a single estate planning issue or can advise on a broad range of personal and business goals and implement the steps necessary to achieve them.

The minimization of taxes is a major objective of our estate planning services. Income taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes and generation-skipping transfer taxes all have a significant impact on the accumulation and disposition of personal assets.

Effective estate planning should be the culmination of a lifetime of hard work and achievement. Scott M. Brown and Associates, an estate planning attorney in Angleton and Pearland, Texas, understands how important an effective wealth transfer strategy is and know how to represent each client's unique interests in creating one.

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