• Provide financial security for the surviving spouse at the estate owner's death.
• Provide financial security for the surviving children at the estate owner's death, especially if they are minors or physically or mentally incapacitated.
• Preserve and distribute assets according to the estate owner's wishes, whether to family, friends, and/or charities during the estate owner's lifetime, or at death.
• Dispose of any business interest in a manner consistent with the businessowner's and family's needs and objectives.
  • When only one heir inherits a family business, "equalize" inheritances for the remaining heirs.
  • Minimize estate shrinkage due to estate taxes and other estate settlement costs.

A common denominator in all these cases is the need for liquidity at the moment of death. Whether to pay estate taxes, cover final expenses, make a charitable bequest, fund the transfer of a business, or equalize an inheritance, the need is the same – come up with the cash necessary to fund the planned need.

Life Insurance & Estate Planning