It’s that time of year again; the time of year when everyone starts gathering receipts, assessing income and expenses, and making appointments with tax advisors. Tax time can be a very stressful time for many families, but—with the help of this article from MSN Money—perhaps tax season can be made a little bit easier. The article lists 13 tax breaks from 2010 that can help save you money, including:

* The tax credit for first time homebuyers (if you’re not a first time homebuyer don’t give up, there’s a credit for existing homeowners too.)
* The parking and transit credit
* The college tuition tax credit
* The credit for energy-saving home improvements

And then of course there are the two we’ve been mentioning here on our blog for the past few months:

* The estate tax exemption, and
* The annual gift tax exemption

Of course, not every item on the list is going to apply to every reader, but if even one or two credits apply to you or your family it can be a huge help.

Don’t rely only on this article to ease your 2010 tax burden, your own advisors and tax planners—who know more about your family’s personal and business finances—will be able to give you much more in-depth advice on how best to address your own tax situation. In addition, talking to a professional advisor right now provides the perfect opportunity to tackle any issues in 2011, hopefully making this time next year a much happier and less stressful time for everybody.

We’ve written before about the importance of reviewing and updating your estate plan, but it’s a topic worth mentioning again—especially in light of the many recent changes to estate tax law. The plain truth is that no matter how perfect your estate plan is when you create it, change is inevitable, and when your life (or the tax law) changes, it’s important that your estate plan change with it.

Reviewing your estate plan every 2-5 years is essential to keeping it up to date and working the way you intended it to work. Luckily, reviewing your estate plan can be quick and easy if you know what you’re looking for. Here are 5 key components you’ll want to review:

1. Fiduciaries-How have the people in your life moved or changed?
2. Assets-Are your finances different than they were a few years ago?
3. Distribution and Beneficiaries-Are there any new members of your family?
4. Health Care-What changes have you experienced in your health recently?
5. Legal Updates-Have the laws changed?

If we’re lucky, our lives are constantly changing—our families evolve, our finances improve or decline, we meet and form strong relationships with knowledgeable friends and professionals. It only makes sense that your estate plan should change too. What seemed best for your family 4 years ago might not be the ideal situation now. By reviewing and updating these 5 components on a regular basis, and touching base with your attorney, you will insure that your estate plan will continue to protect yourself and your family the way you intended it to when you first created it.

We all know from the many news stories of last  year that estate tax laws are not set in stone, they can fluctuate and change both at the state and the federal level; and as this article in Forbes points out, keeping up with those fluctuations can be of the utmost importance to you and your loved ones.

The many celebrity news stories we saw last year provide all the examples we need of what can happen when you plan well (as was the case with Brittany Murphy’s estate plan) or when you neglect your estate plan—or even worse, when you fail to plan at all. Here are some celebrity examples of common estate planning pitfalls and mistakes:

Failing to update your estate plan. We tell all of our clients how important it is to review and update your estate plan every 2 to 5 years; Gary Coleman provides a prime example of what can happen if you neglect to follow through on those updates and reviews. “[Coleman] created a handwritten codicil to his will in 2007 leaving much of his estate to his wife, Shannon Price. After they divorced, however, Coleman never updated his will or created a new one. That led to a court fight after he died about whether Coleman was still married to Price. Even though they never officially tied the knot for a second time, Price claimed they had a ‘common-law marriage,’ which would mean that the handwritten will would be valid.”

Failing to fund your estate plan. A revocable living trust is a wonderful tool, but it’s just an empty vessel until you fund it by re-titling your assets in the name of your trust.  Michael Jackson created what is most likely a wonderful living trust, but his failure to fund it properly means that 2010 saw “The estate of Michael Jackson… dragged on with no end in sight.”

Waiting too long to create your plan. If you are a senior citizen, waiting too long to create your plan leaves you open to the exploitation or undue influence of acquaintances or family members who might try to take advantage of you.  Even if nothing of the sort has taken place, just the suspicion of undue influence can land your estate in a lengthy court battle. “Does the Anna Nicole Smith case come to mind? The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that it will hear her case for the second time. Did she wrongly take advantage of her 90-year old husband, or did his son use fraud and other improper means to stop the billionaire from leaving money to Anna Nicole?”

We can all benefit from the very public airings of these celebrity estates.  Our office can help you avoid the mistakes listed here, plus many more.  The new laws of 2011 provide the perfect opportunity to create a plan (or update your existing plan), and ensure that your family will be well protected now, and in the future.

We’d like to share with our readers a recent article in Forbes entitled How To Write Your First Estate Plan. This article supports something we’ve been saying in our blog all along: That everyone needs a will—whether you’re a young couple just starting out, an established family with valuable assets to protect, or an entrepreneurial business owner with succession on your mind. The article reminds us that a will “is the cornerstone of an [estate] plan,” and at whatever stage of life you may be is not too early to make your first will.

“There’s a lot more to an estate plan than just a will, even for folks who don’t need a more complicated estate-tax oriented version. You might have pieces of it already–a living will signed when you had elective surgery or a beneficiary form filled out for a 401(k) when you got your first job. You need to make sure the pieces fit together.”

Many couples or individuals are first motivated to create a will when they have young children, and the primary purpose of their will is to ensure that their minor children will be cared for and provided for should anything happen to the parents. This is certainly one of the best reasons to create your will or estate plan, but it is not the only reason, not by a long shot. If you drafted your will when your children were young and haven’t looked at it since—or if you never created a will because you don’t have kids and therefore didn’t think you needed one—it’s time to revisit the subject.

An estate plan not only ensures that minor children will be provided for, but also that:

• Older children have the means to continue their education if something happens to you
• Your spouse or children are the recipients of your life insurance or retirement proceeds, and not the tax man or (even worse) an ex-spouse or ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.
• You have someone trustworthy distributing your assets as you wish after you pass away.
• Your business will transfer smoothly if you aren’t able to run it anymore.
• And much more.

“Whatever motivates you, fine. The point is–whether you’re in estate tax territory or not, if you don’t have an estate plan, you need one. (And if you have a really old one, you probably need a whole new one.)” Any opportunity is the perfect opportunity to start planning to protect your loved ones. Call our office (or your own trusted attorney) to learn what steps you can take toward protecting your loved ones right now.