ESTATE PLANNING RECOMMENDATION WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

Students should be able to assess personal needs in order to determine which types of life and health insurance plans fit best.

Write a three to five page paper on Estate Planning

Evaluate the tools commonly used in estate planning, including trusts, life insurance, and annuities. Compare the tools as to how they would apply to the Jones Family described below.

John Jones became 58 years old in March of this year and has $75,000 in his regular IRA (on April 1 of this year, after contributions for last year) and $35,000 in taxable savings accounts. He is the sole owner and president of Jones Technical, Inc. (an S corporation), which generates $150,000 in pretax cash flow per year after the owner’s salary of $50,000. He would like to leave the business to his two sons (ages 23 and 27), but neither has expressed a current desire to be part of the business, and John wonders if they would be willing to put in necessary time into the business to continue its success. He would like some type of supervision of his sons if he left the business to them when he died.

The building that houses the business operations is owned by John and his wife (who is age 56) as joint tenants and is free of any liens. The building was recently appraised at $400,000 and the Jones believe the value of the building will continue to appreciate as the population of the area increases. The remainder of the Jones’ estate consists of $250,000 in personal property (home, furniture, cars – all with no debt). John has a term life insurance policy with a $250,000 death benefit. Mrs. Jones has no life insurance coverage. Mrs. Jones has no interest in continuing the business if John should die prematurely. The Jones live in a common-law state that does not have a state death tax.

Make a recommendation for an estate plan for the Jones Family.

The grading criteria include:

•        A minimum of five cited resources
•        Rationale used for the proposed estate plan
•        Simplicity of explanation
•        Grammar