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Use Of Life Insurance In Estate Planning - Introduction

The valuable role life insurance plays in providing a death benefit or replacing a lost person's income is easily recognized. The following list of common uses can be met by life insurance planning for estates: cash to pay for a deceased person's funeral costs, illness, outstanding debts, federal and/or state taxes, legal fees, executor's fees or income lost due to death.

A benefit to owning life insurance is the ability to leave a large amount of liquidity to your loved ones in the event of a death. Another benefit is the federal income tax-free benefit that life insurance proceeds receive when they are paid to a beneficiary.

While life insurance proceeds are federal income tax-free, the proceeds may be included in the decedent's gross estate. The inclusion of the life insurance proceeds depends on the ownership of the policy and payment of the proceeds. The decedent's estate will include 100% of the life insurance proceeds if:

1) The proceeds of the policy are payable directly or indirectly to the estate, or
2) The decedent held any incidents of ownership in the property, such as the right to change the beneficiary, surrender or cancel the policy or borrow against the policy.

The primary reason, if asked about the use and purpose of life insurance on the exam, is to replace the income a family depends on if they die.



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