Author: Michele Braverman

Creative Uses for Life Insurance

Slightly more than half of Americans (52 percent) have a life insurance policy, and about 4 in 10 adults say they do not have enough life insurance coverage. That leaves about 100 million Americans uninsured or underinsured when it comes to carrying life insurance. 

Because life insurance provides funds for surviving loved ones upon the insured’s death, it can play an integral part in estate planning. But beyond the traditional uses for life insurance such as paying off debts and replacing lost income, there are other ways policyholders can use life insurance for themselves and others throughout every stage of life. 

Increased Interest in Life Insurance

The COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for many Americans to prioritize their health and prepare for the unexpected. It led to a surge in estate and business succession planning and an increased interest in purchasing life insurance. 

Even as the pandemic fades, interest in life insurance was at an all-time high last year according to survey data from LIMRA and Life Happens, two nonprofit industry trade associations. Younger Americans expressed the greatest desire to buy life insurance coverage within the next year, with 47 percent of Gen Z adults and 49 percent of millennials—representing 53 million adults—saying they either need to purchase life insurance or increase their coverage. 

Lesser-Known Life Insurance Benefits

Clients typically think of life insurance as a tax-free lump sum that goes to their significant other to pay miscellaneous expenses at their death or to provide for minor children. 

While these are the main reasons people purchase life insurance, they can make a policy seem less beneficial, and the payments more burdensome later in life when kids become adults and retirement savings are large enough to absorb financial shocks. 

But life insurance can do more than pay out a death benefit. That benefit can be put to some creative uses as well. Lesser-known ways to use life insurance include the following: 

• Funding a trust. Naming a trust as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, rather than naming an individual beneficiary or beneficiaries, can provide added estate planning flexibility. Examples of trusts that can be funded with policy proceeds are a revocable living trust, an irrevocable life insurance trust, a special needs trust, and a pet trust. Trusts can be used to manage payouts to beneficiaries (human and nonhuman) and have the added benefit of avoiding probate. Another potential way to use trusts for life insurance planning is to split the death benefit from the policy between a trust for the surviving spouse and a trust for children from a prior relationship in blended family situations. 
• Paying taxes and debts. For the most part, your debts do not just disappear when you die. Additionally, death can trigger estate and income taxes that, if not planned for, can impose large burdens on your heirs. Life insurance can be acquired so that the death benefit can be used to pay taxes and other debts of the deceased owed upon death. By using the death proceeds to pay the taxes and debts, the decedent’s accounts and property do not have to be liquidated to come up with the money. If the decedent owned illiquid assets such as valuable collectibles, artwork, a thriving business, or a family farm, having a source of cash to pay the taxes and debts can save the trouble and heartache of parting with these assets just to satisfy a financial obligation.
• Equalizing inheritances. Sometimes people have illiquid assets (e.g., a family business or home) that they may want to go to a specific child rather than to all the children equally. However, people usually want each child to inherit the same overall value. If there are no assets or few liquid assets in the estate, it may be challenging to divide assets equally without selling them. This challenge can be solved with a life insurance policy that pays beneficiaries who do not receive the specific illiquid asset the amounts necessary to balance their inheritances. 
• Charitable donations. Many people express regret on their deathbed that they worked too much and did not do enough to help others. Others have been active philanthropists and want to solidify their legacy with one final charitable gift. A new or existing life insurance policy can be used, possibly in combination with a charitable trust, to donate money to charity. However, in each case, it is best to communicate with the charity to ensure all applicable procedures are followed. 
• Paying final expenses. Outside of taxes and creditor claims, a client should have money set aside to pay for final expenses such as funeral and burial costs, which can easily run $8,000 to $10,000 or more. A specialized type of life insurance policy, known as final expense life insurance, can be purchased to ensure survivors are not faced with unexpected death expenses. 

How to Fit Life Insurance into a Client’s Plans

When addressing a client’s goals and needs, it can be a mistake to silo financial planning, retirement planning, wealth management, and estate planning. Viewing them as fitting into a comprehensive plan can unlock creative strategies that work synergistically to provide greater value to clients and new revenue streams for advisors. 

The 100 million Americans facing a life insurance coverage gap points to a large unmet advisory opportunity. Whether a client is buying coverage for the first time, purchasing new or additional coverage, or looking for more value from a policy they bought years ago, life insurance can benefit clients of all ages, lifestyles, and circumstances.

Please contact us to discuss uses for life insurance beyond a simple lump sum payment to beneficiaries and how life insurance can fit into an estate plan. 

Americans pay hundreds of billions of dollars in life insurance premiums per year. Most policyholders will never see a payout themselves. Instead, it will go to their loved ones to provide for them when the policyholder dies. 

Life insurance benefits and claims totaled $797.7 billion in 2022, including more than $88 billion in death benefits, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The typical life insurance payout is approximately $168,000. 

If a policyholder designates a beneficiary on their life insurance policy, the death benefits are not typically part of a decedent’s estate that goes through the probate process because they pass directly to beneficiaries. However, the potentially large cash value it can provide makes it central to estate planning and requires careful consideration about how to structure the beneficiary designation. 

Naming a Spouse or Children as Beneficiaries

The most common beneficiaries of a life insurance death benefit are a surviving spouse and/or children. 

Life insurance death benefits are typically protected from creditor claims for policyholders’ debts. But once the designated beneficiary receives the death benefits, the beneficiary’s creditors can go after the funds to satisfy the beneficiary’s debts—even debts owed jointly with the deceased policyholder (for example, an outstanding loan or credit card debt where the policyholder and the spouse are co-signers). This is true whether the beneficiary is the policyholder’s spouse, child, or other loved one.  

The death benefit of the life insurance policy may also be open to claims of the named beneficiary’s spouse. If a surviving spouse beneficiary remarries or a child beneficiary divorces, for example, the death benefit proceeds received by the beneficiary and put into one of their accounts or investments could end up being categorized as marital assets and, therefore, subject to equal division in the event of a divorce. This outcome could countermand the intention of the policyholder. 

If no beneficiaries are named on an insurance policy or if the beneficiary named is the policyholder’s estate, then a probate estate will likely need to be opened to administer and transfer the death benefit to the policyholder’s heirs or beneficiaries. Once the probate estate has been opened, the deceased policyholder’s creditors may have an opportunity to claim the death benefit before the funds are distributed to the heirs or beneficiaries of the estate. 

Minor child beneficiaries present challenges as well. Insurance companies cannot pay insurance proceeds directly to minor children. An adult will usually have to be appointed to manage the funds until the child reaches the age of majority. Depending on your state, this may involve a court proceeding and annual reporting requirements that cost money and can delay the payout. 

Some life insurance policies allow a custodian to be assigned to a minor child beneficiary without needing a probate court appointment. A custodian manages the money for the minor child until they reach legal adulthood, when the assets are turned over to them. 

Naming a Charity as Beneficiary 

A life insurance policy can be a way to make a charitable gift at the end of life. This option might appeal to a client who purchased a policy to protect a spouse or children who no longer need it, to complete payment of a mortgage, tax, or other debt that is no longer a concern, or to cover some other contingency that no longer requires the funds a life insurance policy would have provided. 

A life insurance policy can also be purchased for the express purpose of charitable giving. In addition to taking out a new policy to benefit charity, a charitable recipient can be named as a beneficiary on an existing policy to receive all or part of the policy proceeds. Other options include transferring ownership of a policy to a charity and gifting dividends from a life insurance policy to a charity. 

Each of these options can provide tax benefits. Depending on how a life insurance gift is made, the cash value of the policy, the cost of premiums paid, or the value of dividends may be deducted. 

Creating a Trust for a Loved One

Naming individuals as life insurance beneficiaries can provide convenience and flexibility for beneficiaries because the money passes to them quickly and easily outside of probate. The beneficiaries only need to file a claim with the life insurance company and select how they want the death benefit to be paid (usually in periodic payments or a lump sum). 

However, there are downsides to setting up a death benefit in this way. The policyholder ultimately loses control over how the insurance proceeds are used. They may have intended to protect their loved ones financially—but if they are deceased and the funds are in the hands of their beneficiaries with no controls or restrictions, can they ensure that the benefit is used in accordance with their wishes?  

They can. Policyholders can control the death benefits of their life insurance policy by naming a trust they have set up as the policy’s beneficiary and allowing a trustee to manage the death benefit on behalf of trust beneficiaries, such as a spouse or children. This arrangement allows the client to provide instructions about how the money should be used and managed. 

A trust can be useful for leaving money to underage or special needs children. It can also ensure that a disabled beneficiary remains eligible for government assistance or keep a young adult from spending the funds all at once. Insurance proceeds held in trust are also protected from creditors and exempt from probate. 

Advising Clients on Life Insurance 

About 90 million American families rely on life insurance for financial protection and retirement security. However, recent survey data indicates that more than 100 million Americans are facing a life insurance coverage gap, presenting an opportunity for advisors to steer them toward these products. 

As a value add, advisors can explain how life insurance fits into an estate plan and walk them through the different options for naming beneficiaries. These discussions could open new revenue streams, such as establishing trusts and charitable donations. 

Please contact our team for a primer on life insurance and estate planning and how our practices can benefit each other. 

With few exceptions, almost every client should have life insurance, just as everyone should have an estate plan. 

But simply having a policy—and a plan—is not enough. Both life insurance policies and estate plans are prone to mistakes or oversights that can undermine their effectiveness. And those mistakes or oversights can be compounded when life insurance is part of a client’s estate plan. 

Mistake #1: Not Having Enough Coverage

The need for life insurance in the United States grew to a record-high level in 2024, with 102 million adults saying they need—or need more—life insurance, according to an annual survey from LIMRA and Life Happens, two nonprofit industry trade associations. 

Survey results from a prior year indicated that 44 percent of households would encounter major financial difficulty within six months if the family lost its primary wage earner. Life insurance coverage should be sufficient to sustain a household’s current living standard. Household spending varies by age group and tends to drop with age, but it does not consistently decline until after age 65. Many households see a jump in spending at around age 55. 

Life insurance calculators can roughly estimate how much coverage is needed. However, there is no substitute for a comprehensive review of a client’s situation, insurance needs, and estate planning goals by all the client’s trusted advisors. By collaborating, we can make sure that our mutual clients are getting the coverage they need to meet their unique situations and goals.

Mistake #2: Relying on Employer or Group Insurance

While group life insurance offered through work or a professional organization is often cheaper than an individual policy, it may not provide enough coverage for most families. There is also the risk that the policyholder will lose their policy if they quit their job, retire, are fired, or sever ties with the sponsoring organization. 

Clients should be encouraged to take advantage of a group insurance policy if offered but cautioned not to rely on it exclusively. As part of your discussion with the clients, consider asking them about the maximum death benefit of their group policy so you can determine the coverage gap amount. 

Mistake #3: Not Listing a Beneficiary

Life insurance policies with a designated beneficiary are not governed by a client’s will (unless the beneficiary is the policyholder’s estate). It is up to the clients to name a policy beneficiary (or beneficiaries) to whom they want to receive the death benefit. 

If an individual policyholder does not name a beneficiary, the death benefit proceeds could become part of the policyholder’s estate—possibly subjecting the beneficiary to the delays and expenses of probate court. 

For group insurance policies with no named beneficiaries, the terms of the policy may include an automatic beneficiary order, such as the policyholder’s spouse, followed by children, parents, and the estate. Not naming a beneficiary and relying on the terms of the life insurance policy could result in the proceeds being distributed to the predetermined beneficiaries, which may not be in line with the policyholder’s estate planning goals. This is also true if the death benefits fall to the policyholder’s estate and the policyholder dies without a will. If the policyholder had a will or a trust, the distribution of death benefits from the estate follows the plan established in their estate plan. 

As a practical note, we advise all clients to inform the people they designate as beneficiaries of their life insurance policies and, ideally, give them contact information for the claims department of the plan provider. Life insurance proceeds sometimes go unclaimed because the family has no idea a policy exists. 

Mistake #4: Naming a Minor Child or Special Needs Beneficiary

Life insurance death benefits can be a lifeline for minor children and special needs beneficiaries. However, naming a minor or disabled beneficiary can work counter to the goal of providing them with financial security. 

Life insurance companies cannot pay death benefits directly to minor children. To avoid any legal complications and delays that can arise from this obstacle, a client can name a trust with a trusted adult, such as a spouse or partner, to act as the trustee of the trust, to manage the death benefit for the child according to the client’s wishes. The court may have to get involved if the client names a minor child as a beneficiary. 

Two main issues with naming a disabled or special needs beneficiary on a life insurance policy are that they may not have the capacity to manage the funds responsibly, and the death benefit amount could disqualify them from means-tested government assistance programs. A third-party special needs trust can be created to hold insurance death benefits for those with disabilities. This type of trust will help the special needs beneficiary retain their public assistance eligibility while covering expenses not covered by programs like Medicaid or Social Security. 

Mistake #5: Not Updating Beneficiaries

Out-of-date beneficiary designations are a common—and potentially costly—life insurance mistake. 

Clients should update beneficiaries anytime there is a major life event, such as a marriage, divorce, birth, or death. Remind them that the insurance beneficiary forms take precedence over their will. 

Some states have “revocation upon divorce” statutes that automatically revoke a spouse as a beneficiary in the event of a divorce. In such states, contingent or successor beneficiaries become primary beneficiaries automatically without the policyholder needing to update their beneficiary form. But if the policy does not name a contingent beneficiary—or the successor beneficiary has predeceased the policyholder—the insurance proceeds could pass to the estate and go through probate, subjecting the proceeds to unnecessary and sometimes substantial costs. 

Both primary and secondary beneficiary designations should be reviewed every three to five years to ensure a death benefit goes to the right person. Absent a major life event, the client could just change their mind, for personal reasons, about who should benefit from the policy. They might also decide to switch the beneficiary from an individual to a charity or a trust. Also, there are times when insurance plan providers are bought by or merged with new plan providers or when an employer may change the company that provides their group plan life insurance policy. In these situations, the original beneficiary designations may be wiped out, requiring the policyholder to designate their beneficiaries anew.

Changing a beneficiary designation is usually a simple process. Still, community property states may require the policyholder to name their spouse as the primary beneficiary, designated to receive at least 50 percent of the benefit. In these states, written spousal consent may be required to name somebody other than the spouse as a beneficiary. 

Enhance Your Advisory Services with Estate Planning 

Our job as advisors is to remind clients that planning is not a one-time event. It is a continual process that needs to be revisited and refined over the years. 

It is no different for our practice area. The more we learn from each other, the more we can offer cross-disciplinary services that address all aspects of our clients’ futures. 

Please contact us to set up a time to discuss specific estate planning strategies and how they can fit into your current offerings. 

Optimize Generational Wealth Transfers with These Insights 

Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax 101 

Many of you are likely familiar with estate and gift taxes. However, dealing with the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax comes up less often since it usually only affects ultra-wealthy clients.   

Estate planning attorneys, financial planners, and tax advisors must understand the GST tax and learn how to avoid it to help affluent clients accomplish effective planning. Explaining the GST tax to clients is easier if you share examples of how it might impact their particular situation. It is also vital to consider unique family dynamics, financial goals, and values when recommending the best tax strategies to distribute generational wealth. 

What Is Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax? 

The government collects federal estate taxes to generate revenue when wealth is passed down to subsequent generations. When people die, they usually leave their money first to their spouses, then to their children, then to their grandchildren, and then to more distant relatives. At each passing of generational wealth, the government collects an estate tax.  

Wealthy families found a way to avoid estate tax by skipping a generation and transferring wealth directly to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, allowing them to pass down more wealth to future generations. Estate taxes were avoided when the skipped generation (in our example, the children) died because the children never owned the money or property.  

The government responded with legislation in 1976 and again in 1986, attempting to eliminate the transfer tax advantage of skipping a generation by imposing a GST tax when a skip occurs, ensuring that large estates still pay estate tax at each generation.   

The GST tax rate is currently 40 percent (the same as the highest federal estate and gift tax rate) so the tax burden on high-net-worth individuals can be substantial. Luckily, there is a GST exemption amount of $13.6 million for individuals in 2024 (the same as the federal estate and gift tax exemption) that can be used when clients want to make gifts or leave an inheritance that would otherwise be subject to the GST tax. This means that only large estates are truly impacted by the GST tax. 

Who Are the Parties Involved in a Generation-Skipping Wealth Transfer? 

There are typically three parties involved in a generation-skipping wealth transfer: 

• The transferor: the person making the wealth transfer to an individual or a trust  
• The skip person: the person receiving the money or property, who must be two or more generations removed from the individual making the transfer or is at least 37 ½ years younger than the transferor; a skip person may also be a trust in some instances 
• The non-skip person or the skipped person: the generation between the individual transferring wealth and the one receiving it 

Why Should Clients Be Mindful of This Tax? 

Clients with substantial estates who are considering making sizable gifts or bequests to skip persons need to work with experienced professionals so they understand the tax consequences of these gifts or bequests, and so they can develop a strategy to properly utilize their GST tax exemption. 

The earlier you can get your client started, the better the results. It will take time and collaboration with other professionals to ensure the best possible outcome. Additionally, as with any type of estate planning, you will need to remind the client about regular reviews for updates to their plan due to changing circumstances. 

Partnering with Professionals to Align Legal and Tax Planning Strategies 

Working together, we can provide our clients with comprehensive advice, ensuring that legal, financial, and tax implications are all considered in their estate planning strategies. This will enhance the overall quality of the service and expertise your clients receive. We welcome the opportunity to partner with you to develop strategies to assist our mutual clients.