Advantages of Making Gifts

Some advantages to making inter vivos gifts, other than tax advantages, include:  

• • • Privacy. Unless you are giving real property or a car, you can give gifts without many people knowing about it.
    • Decrease probate expenses. By removing assets from your estate, you might be able to reduce probate expenses and administrative costs owed by your estate.
    • Asset protection. If you give away property and then become insolvent later, your creditors cannot go after the gifted property.
    • Personal enjoyment. By transferring the property before death, rather than through your will, you get to see the recipient use and enjoy the property.
    • Opportunity to test. You can use a present gift to see how the recipient handles the property. This enables you to decide whether you want to give the recipient future gifts.

See Connie Fontaine, Advantages of Making Gifts During Life, Pt. 1, ProducersWeb.com.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.