What's your 2020 resolution?

Byline: Alexander A. Bove Jr. and Melissa Langa

It is interesting that, with the exception of dieting, the customary New Year's resolutions (which statistically are made by a large majority of the population) are very personal to the ones making the resolutions.

The resolution of a tailor, for instance, may be quite different from that of, say, a dentist, and it seems that whatever the resolution, there is always something that gets in the way of keeping the promise.

It might go like this: While for years this tailor has been meaning to expand his business by offering a new line of torn jeans, on receipt of the new inventory he has been unable to resist the urge to sew them up before offering them for sale, side-tracking his resolution.

And our dentist has wanted to open a second office near the candy factory store that opened nearby, but the dentist decided to wait until her children got a little older.

Of course, we could go on and on with some of the countless examples of good-intentioned resolutions that somehow fell by the wayside, but keeping with the spirit of the tradition and the theme of our Trustworthy Advisor column, here are some hypothetical New Year's resolutions from the viewpoint of a couple of estate planners.

Resolution: This year, we should get our wills updated. We did them years ago, and we want to be sure our children and new grandchildren are "taken care of."

Watch out! This is a great resolution so long as we treat the reference to "wills" as meaning "estate plan." By itself, a will seldom satisfies the modern-day requirements of an estate plan, if for no other reason than passing property by means of a will requires encountering the entire probate process and its accompanying publicity and delays. The typical modern estate plan will include a will, but it will also typically include one or more trusts, durable powers of attorney, and health care proxies.

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Gifts are generally a good idea and are also the subject of considerable misconception.

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Resolution: Let's make gifts to our children and grandchildren this year. I understand we can give up to $10,000 to each child without a tax.

Watch out! Gifts are generally a good idea and are also the subject of considerable misconception. For openers, the 2020 annual gift tax exclusion is $15,000 a person per donor, but, in fact, individuals can give millions more ($11.58 million to be exact) over and above the $15,000 without paying a gift tax. (And donees...