Welcome to the EPAC Corner! We are pleased to bring you this content from the Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) of the DeKalb County Community Foundation. If you have any questions about the information below or the EPAC group, please contact Community Foundation Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org. 

It’s not too early for spring cleaning. Make this the year to get your estate organized!

The spring is the time to pull together receipts and other documents for 2022 tax filings. This year, use the opportunity to create an estate planning inventory.

• The first step in the estate planning process is gathering information about your assets, liabilities, and sources of income. New estate planning clients are often anxious to schedule a consultation to discuss the terms of their will or other estate planning documents. However, the quality of the estate plan depends on the information provided to the estate planning advisor.
• A well-planned estate will integrate all your assets into a single plan, for example, rather than a piecemeal approach, coordinate beneficiary designations for retirement accounts with your overall planning goals.
• If you already have an estate plan, use the opportunity to update your asset information so that the most current information is available to your beneficiaries in the event of unexpected disability or death.

– Matthew L. Brown, local attorney and member of the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee

Established in 2020, the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) is comprised of local professionals providing estate planning services, including Attorneys, Trust Officers, CPAs, Wealth Advisors, and Insurance Agents. The purpose of the EPAC is to raise awareness and understanding of the Community Foundation as a resource for professional advisors and their clients, assist with efforts to deliver effective estate planning education to the general public, and to notify estate planning professionals on topics relevant to the intersection of estate planning and philanthropy.

Matthew L. Brown