Category: Estate Planning

Estate planning often feels complex, leading many people to rely on assumptions that can have devastating consequences for their loved ones and their legacy. From who can make decisions for you to whether you need an estate plan, common myths can stand between you and a secure future. Let’s debunk these widespread misconceptions and reveal four essential truths about effective estate planning.

Myth 1: My spouse can make all my healthcare and financial decisions because they are my spouse.

Reality: This is a dangerous misconception that can lead to significant stress and financial hardship for your family. While your spouse has certain rights, they generally do not automatically have the legal authority to make all medical decisions or manage all your financial accounts if you become unable to manage your affairs (i.e., become incapacitated). Without properly executed legal documents, you and your spouse may face obstacles handling the following:

• Medical decisions. Your spouse may be unable to access your medical information, direct your care, or make critical end-of-life decisions without a medical power of attorney (also known as a durable power of attorney for healthcare) and an advance directive (or living will). Without these documents, a court may need to appoint a guardian or conservator in a public, costly, and time-consuming process.
• Financial decisions. Similarly, your spouse could be locked out of accounts in your sole name, unable to pay bills or manage investments without a financial power of attorney. This can prevent timely financial management and even payment of day-to-day expenses. As with medical decisions, a court may need to appoint a guardian or conservator before your spouse can access these important accounts.

Proper planning ensures that your spouse or another trusted individual you choose has the immediate legal authority to act on your behalf and honor your wishes without court involvement.

Myth 2: My family knows my wishes. They will divide everything the way I want it divided.

Reality: While your family may genuinely intend to honor your verbal wishes, discussions about your affairs—without proper legal documentation—carry no legal enforceability. After your death, without a legally binding plan, your estate may be distributed according to your state’s intestacy laws, which may not necessarily be what you intended. This could lead to the following outcomes: 

• Unintended beneficiaries. If you rely on the state’s default distribution plan, your money and property could go to distant relatives rather than close friends, stepchildren, or other nonrelated loved ones.
• Family disputes. Even well-meaning family members can disagree on what your true wishes were, leading to bitter conflicts and costly litigation that depletes your hard-earned money and property.
• Loss of control. Without a last will and testament or revocable living trust, you have no say regarding who inherits your money and property and how they receive it, who will raise your minor children, or who will be in charge of winding down your affairs.

A comprehensive estate plan is the only way to legally ensure that your estate is passed on as you intend, protecting your legacy and providing clear guidance for your loved ones.

Myth 3: I signed a will before, so I do not need to do it again.

Reality: Life shifts, laws change, and your goals evolve over time. An outdated estate plan can be just as detrimental as having no plan, so be sure to review your estate plan regularly—ideally, every three to five years. You should also review your estate plan whenever significant life events such as the following occur:

• Family changes. Such changes include marriage, divorce, remarriage (yours and your children’s), birth or adoption of children or grandchildren, and deaths of beneficiaries or trusted decision-makers (for example, agents under a financial or medical power of attorney, executor or personal representative, or guardian of your minor children).
• Financial changes. In addition to seeing significant increases or decreases in the value of what you own, you may have purchased or sold real property or businesses, experienced changes in your retirement accounts, or received an inheritance.
• Location changes. Moving to a different state or country can dramatically impact the validity and effectiveness of your existing estate planning tools, as state and country laws can vary widely.
• Tax law changes. Estate, gift, and income tax laws constantly evolve at federal and state levels, potentially affecting how your money and property will be distributed, how they will be taxed, and how much a beneficiary may ultimately receive.
• Changes in goals. Your philanthropic desires, legacy goals, or wishes for specific personal property, accounts, or real property may shift over time. Your estate plan should reflect that.

A comprehensive review of your estate plan every three to five years or after any major life event is crucial for ensuring that your estate planning tools still reflect your wishes, minimize taxes, avoid probate, and align with current legal requirements.

Myth 4: I am not wealthy enough to need an estate plan.

Reality: This myth is perhaps the most dangerous. Almost everyone, regardless of their net worth, can significantly benefit from thoughtful estate planning. While an estate plan certainly addresses your financial accounts, estate planning encompasses far more than just money.

• Protecting your children. If you have minor children, a will is the primary legal document for nominating a guardian to care for them if something happens to you. Without one, a court will decide who will raise your children—without your input—often through a public and potentially contentious process. 
• Caring for pets. You can ensure that your beloved pets are cared for after you have passed away or during a time when you cannot care for them.
• Distributing sentimental items. A personal property memorandum can specify who receives your cherished family heirlooms, artwork, or other nonmonetary items, which can help prevent family squabbles.
• Planning for your incapacity. A comprehensive estate plan allows you to name trusted individuals to manage your finances, make medical decisions, and carry out your wishes without the delays and expenses of court involvement if you become incapacitated. Such protection is valuable regardless of how much money or property you own.

Estate planning is about taking control, ensuring that your wishes are honored, and providing peace of mind for you and your loved ones, no matter what you own. To learn how estate planning can benefit your specific situation, call us to schedule a consultation.

Many people believe that a simple will is all they need to accomplish their goals for the future. However, a flawed estate plan can create just as many headaches, heartaches, and expenses for your loved ones as having no plan. Life changes, laws evolve, and even the best intentions can fall short, leaving family members facing court battles, unexpected taxes, or painful disagreements. Here are 12 common mistakes that might be hiding in your estate plan that can jeopardize your hard-earned money and property, diminish your legacy, and place unnecessary burdens on your loved ones. Ask yourself: Is my current plan truly ready for the future, or is it time for a review?

1. Lack of healthcare planning. Most deaths occur in hospitals or other healthcare facilities, where many patients near the end of their life are unable to make or communicate their decisions. Without a plan, families and providers can be left guessing. Advance directives outline your preferences for end-of-life care; healthcare powers of attorney appoint a trusted person to make decisions on your behalf when you cannot. Together, these documents ensure that your medical wishes are honored and can be paired with financial powers of attorney to protect your property and finances during incapacity.
   
2. Failure to appoint financial decision-makers. There may come a time when you need someone to manage your financial and legal affairs, either because you are incapacitated or simply unavailable for a specific transaction. A financial power of attorney allows you to appoint a trusted person to act on your behalf, ensuring that bills are paid and important matters are handled without the need for court intervention.
   
3. No will or trust. Without proper planning, your estate may be held up in the often long, public, and costly probate process for months or even years after your death, at a great emotional and financial cost to your family. If you have no will, a judge will apply the state’s statutory default distribution plan to determine who will receive an inheritance from you and how much they will receive. This plan may not match your wishes.
   
4. Lack of attention to digital assets. Without a plan for your digital assets (such as digital photos, cryptocurrency, nonfungible tokens, social media profiles, content creation accounts, and accounts associated with e-commerce businesses) your loved ones may lose access to critical documents, photos, memories, and other important family records. They may also be unable to access any bank accounts or money associated with or generated by your digital assets or accounts.
   
5. Failure to anticipate your children’s possible future divorces, creditors, or lawsuits. Although it is not fun to consider, if your children divorce, rack up massive debt, or are sued at some point in the future, their inheritance could be lost and end up in the hands of unintended people. A trust can help protect your legacy and your children’s inheritance.
   
6. Failure to provide for an intentional transfer of family values. Do you want to pass on more than just money to your loved ones? A comprehensive estate plan can include provisions regarding family meetings, a family mission statement, and custom planning for your loved ones so that your values will continue into the next generation. Your custom plan could include allowing loved ones to choose a charity to receive part of your accounts or property, setting money aside for future family reunions or travel, or building in provisions to incentivize major milestones such as getting married or graduating from college. 
   
7. Wasted individual retirement account (IRA) funds. Retirement account beneficiaries generally have the option to receive funds in a lump sum, which could result in a massive income tax bill for them. If this is not your intent, it is crucial to properly plan these accounts to minimize potential tax consequences. A standalone retirement trust, sometimes called an IRA trust, can help safeguard retirement funds from premature or imprudent withdrawals as well as from beneficiaries’ creditors and financial predators while still ensuring that those assets are available to support your beneficiaries.
   
8. Chaotic record-keeping. Proper planning ensures that your loved ones do not spend months or years trying to piece together your finances or interpret your wishes. A comprehensive estate plan helps you organize your finances and create a clear system for keeping your important documents, financial information, and instructions about your wishes in one place, readily accessible to your loved ones when they need them most.
   
9. Failure to consider a surviving spouse’s remarriage, creditors, and predators. If your surviving spouse remarries, your estate could end up in the hands of people you never intended. Likewise, if your surviving spouse is victimized by financial predators—something increasingly common with an aging population—your family may discover too late that your legacy is gone. A trust can help protect your money after you are gone.
   
10. Family feuds over sentimental items. Sometimes fights are not just about money. Feuds and infighting among your loved ones can occur over items that have little monetary value but high sentimental value. You can help avoid such conflict with a personal property memorandum that lists who gets special items such as artwork, family heirlooms, and jewelry. In addition to the financial accounts, your plan should include careful consideration of important family items.
    
11. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy lockout. If incapacity leaves you unable to communicate, family members—even your spouse—may be unable to access your medical records or talk to your doctors because of HIPAA privacy rules. Signing a HIPAA authorization form ensures that the people you choose can access your medical information.
    
12. Outdated estate plan. Does your estate plan reflect your current circumstances, goals, and needs? Have you, your beneficiaries, or your trusted decision-makers had any major life changes (such as getting married, having a child, passing away, divorcing, receiving an inheritance, or moving to a different state)? A comprehensive review by an estate planner ensures that your estate plan reflects current laws and tax rules and carries out your wishes based on your and your loved ones’ lives today. 

Do not leave your family vulnerable to these common oversights. A strong estate plan provides peace of mind, knowing that your loved ones are protected and your wishes will be honored. If you recognize any of the above mistakes in your own plan, or if it has been years since your last review, now is the time to act. Contact us today for a comprehensive review and to create a plan that truly reflects your life and legacy.

The course stretches out around you, lush and perfectly manicured. You step up to the ball, take a few practice swings, and inhale the morning air. It is a shot you have made hundreds of times. But years of playing golf have taught you that there is no guarantee you will hit it right this time.

Today the breeze is a little stronger. The grass is damp. The same old sand trap guards the flag, daring you to try your luck. You adjust your hands, set your feet, and commit to the shot. You eye the ball and hit it square. Everything feels dialed in . . . until the ball sails into the sand.

Golf, like life, has a way of humbling even the most experienced among us. Conditions change. Variables shift. What worked last time might come up short today.

Estate planning is no different. It is about knowing the terrain, making smart choices with the tools you have, and adjusting as life throws you its fair share of water hazards, wind gusts, and bunker shots.

August is National Golf Month. While you are out there working on your game, remember that in the game of life, you should also be developing your estate plan. As with golf, an estate plan takes careful preparation and continual refinement for the best results.

Teeing Up: Get Your Information Together

There is something to be said for not overthinking in golf—or in estate planning. Overthinking can lead to what psychologists call analysis paralysis.

In golf, analysis paralysis can lead to freezing up and getting a case of the “yips.” You play out worst-case scenarios in your head, which can cause more overthinking, overanalyzing, indecision, and ultimately, poor execution.

The same can happen with your estate plan. You spend so much time agonizing about the initial step that it interferes with the process (or even with getting the process started).

Golf pros recommend that you reduce intrusive, unnecessary thoughts on the course by having an established, repeatable preshot routine. For your estate plan, that process starts with gathering your essentials. Before “teeing off,” know the following:

• What you own. This includes bank and retirement accounts, investment portfolios, real estate (such as your home, cottage, or rental properties), vehicles, valuable collections, and digital assets.
• What you owe. Consider your mortgages, loans, and other debts.
• Whom you would like to name as your beneficiaries. Whom do you want to receive your money and property? Beneficiaries may include family members, friends, and charities.

This inventory is your “yardage book,” so to speak. It gives you the lay of the land. Without it, your estate plan has no direction. With it, you are ready to take a confident first swing.

Selecting the Right Club: Choosing Your Estate Planning Tools

You have teed up and surveyed the course, and now it is time to take your first real swing. Not every shot requires your driver, and not every estate plan needs the same tools.

On the course, picking the right club can make or break your shot. In estate planning, the “clubs” are the tools you use, such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives.

You would not reach for a putter on the tee box, and you would not use a driver for a delicate chip shot. Nor would you rely on a bare-bones will to handle complex family situations, accounts, properties, or businesses, or name a beneficiary with special needs on a life insurance form that could jeopardize their government benefits.

Experience is the best teacher. But chances are that you have spent more time on your golf game than on your estate plan. You might be playing the estate planning course for the first time. Your “caddy,” though—that is, your estate planning attorney—knows the course. They are the seasoned professional advisor by your side, helping you evaluate the available estate planning “clubs” and select those that will reliably get you closest to the hole (your planning goals). An estate plan typically has the following goals:

• Avoid probate and streamline the transfer of your accounts and property after your death
• Enable someone you trust to make medical decisions for you and manage your finances if you are alive but unable to do so (i.e., are incapacitated)
• Minimize estate, gift, and income taxes
• Establish guardianship and financial support for minor children
• Protect your hard-earned accounts and property from your chosen beneficiaries’ creditors, lawsuits, or future divorces
• Preserve eligibility for a beneficiary who is receiving means-tested government benefits
• Leave a lasting legacy through charitable giving or multigenerational planning

With the right advice and the right tools in hand, you will be well positioned to keep your plan on course and headed straight for the green.

The Drive: Signing the First Set of Documents

There are few feelings on the golf course that compare to nailing your first shot. You know you hit it well by the sound of the club strike and the way it launches cleanly off the tee. Your preparation has paid off. You did not overthink—or underthink—the process. The ball arcs through the air, lands in the center of the fairway, and rolls forward. You spot it, smiling as you make your way down the course with a little spring in your step.

In estate planning, signing your initial set of documents, such as a will or trust, is your “drive.” It is your initial shot that moves the ball decisively down the fairway. This “first swing” puts the following key protections in place:

• Naming who will manage your affairs if you are incapacitated or after you pass away
• Setting clear instructions for how your money and property should be distributed to your beneficiaries
• Helping prevent family confusion or conflict at a time when emotions are running high
• Protecting your minor children by nominating guardians in case something happens to you

Like a strong drive that moves the ball far down the course and sets up your approach to the green, these documents take you much closer to your end goal. They are unlikely to be a “hole-in-one.” There is still work to be done. However, you are much closer than you were when you started. You are no longer standing at the tee, debating your initial swing. You have committed and made measurable progress. You are moving the ball forward.

Putting: Adjusting Your Approach to the Pin

Some golfers are known for having a powerful drive. They look strong coming out of the box. Their ball sails far and true off the tee, and from initial appearances, has set them up for an easy, stress-free finish.

Seasoned golfers understand, though, that the short game is every bit as important as the long game. As the saying goes, “drive for show, putt for dough.”

In estate planning, even the best drive (signing your initial documents) will not get the ball to the pin (planning goals) without a steady hand on the green. Life, like golf, is a game of making ongoing adjustments to changing conditions. Hazards (sand traps, water hazards, trees, wind gusts) pop up. You and your caddy might be ready to deal with these. But what about something totally out of the ordinary (say, a massive alligator interrupting play)?

Each change can alter your path to the pin and the strategy to get there. When conditions change on or off the course, your plan should change too. Situations that call for estate plan adjustments include the following:

• Marriage or remarriage. You will likely want to update beneficiaries and consider appointing your new spouse as your decision-maker if you become incapacitated or upon your death.
• Having children or grandchildren. You may want to add them as beneficiaries, appoint guardians, or create continuing subtrusts to hold their inheritances.
• Divorce. This event should cause you to revisit your entire plan to reflect a new family structure.
• Death or incapacity of a trusted decision-maker. You should choose new executors, trustees, or healthcare agents.
• Changes in wealth or business ownership. You will want to integrate any new accounts and property or liabilities into your estate plan and reassess tax exposure.
• Tax law or legal changes. You should continuously fine-tune strategies to preserve tax efficiency and maintain compliance with updates in all applicable laws.

Long drives in golf are impressive to watch, but the best golfers—and the best estate plans—have both a strong long game and a finely honed short game. Plan regular reviews of your estate plan every three to five years or after any major life event. With a few well-placed and well-timed adjustments, you will stay on track for a smooth finish—no mulligans needed.

Playing the Full 18

You cannot let up on the golf course or on your estate plan. You must stay focused on the course ahead, know your approach, and be ready to adjust on the fly.

Golfers do not come out ahead by playing a few good holes. You could cruise through the front nine and struggle on the back nine. A single disastrous hole can undo an otherwise stellar round. It might look like a perfect day for golf, but conditions can change quickly and unexpectedly.

You cannot always rely on past decisions to carry you to the cup, in golf or in life. What worked before might not work now. Keep refining, improving, and adapting your estate plan the same way you would your golf game. During this year’s National Golf Month, work on more than just your handicap. Take a swing at your estate plan, and make sure it is built to play the full 18 holes on any course and in any conditions. If you need a caddy for your next round, call us.

As the federal estate tax exemption has ballooned from $5 million in 2011 to $13.99 million today, the need for estate tax planning has drastically decreased. However, with a top marginal income tax rate of 37 percent, the focus of estate planning has shifted to a new frontier: income tax basis planning.

The Basics of Income Tax Basis

In its simplest form, income tax basis—often referred to simply as basis—is the original cost to buy an asset (i.e., stock, bond, real property). However, the actual definition is more complex, as basis can be adjusted over time and depends on how an asset was acquired. Basis must be tracked because, when an asset is sold, income tax liability in the form of capital gains tax is assessed on the capital gains, which is calculated by subtracting the basis from the sales price. Basis plays an important role in estate planning in two ways:

• Carry-over basis. When property is gifted during life, the recipient of the gift receives the donor’s basis in the property, referred to as carry-over basis. For example, if you purchase 100 shares of Facebook stock for $60 per share for a total of $6,000, your basis in the stock is $6,000. If you then gift the stock to your son during your lifetime when the price is $100 per share, your basis of $6,000 “carries over” to your son so that his basis in the stock is $6,000 (even though the fair market value is $10,000). If your son decides to immediately sell the stock for the fair market value, capital gain of $4,000 ($10,000 fair market value less the $6,000 basis) will be subject to capital gains tax. 
• Basis adjustments. When property is transferred at death, the beneficiary generally receives a basis in the property equivalent to the fair market value on the date of the decedent’s death—a concept known as basis adjustment. Because property tends to appreciate in value and the fair market value of the asset at the date of the decedent’s death is usually more than the decedent’s original basis, most basis adjustments can be referred to as a step-up in basis. For example, if you purchase 100 shares of Facebook stock for $60 per share, your basis is $6,000 (as in the earlier example). However, instead of gifting the stock during your lifetime, you leave it to your son at your death when the stock is worth $100 per share. In this case, the stock receives a step-up in basis, and your son’s basis becomes $10,000, reflecting the fair market value at the time of your death. If your son decides to immediately sell the stock for the fair market value, the sales price will equal your son’s basis, so there will be no gain and no capital gains tax. 

AB Trust Planning: An Income Tax Basis Nightmare for Many Couples

Including assets in a deceased person’s estate is the key to giving beneficiaries an adjusted basis. Yet traditional planning for married couples that uses an AB trust plan deliberately excludes property from the surviving spouse’s estate. An AB trust plan, also known as a marital or QTIP trust, family trust, or bypass trust plan, works as follows:

• When the first spouse dies, the deceased spouse’s property will be divided so that an amount equal to the federal estate tax exemption will go into the bypass trust (the B trust), and any excess will go into the marital trust (the A trust). For example, if Joe dies in 2025 with an estate valued at $15 million, then $13.99 million (the 2025 federal estate tax exemption amount) will go into the bypass trust, and $1.01 million will go into the marital trust. The assets in both trusts receive a basis adjustment (likely a step-up) as of Joe’s date of death.
• Joe’s trust provisions will specify whether and how Mary, his wife, receives income and principal from the bypass trust. Similarly, Joe can determine whether and how Mary can receive principal from the marital trust, although she is required to receive all income from the marital trust at least annually. 
• When Mary dies in 2030, any property remaining in the marital trust will be included in her estate and receive a second basis adjustment (likely a second step-up) as of her date of death. However, property remaining in the bypass trust is not considered part of Mary’s estate and does not receive a second basis adjustment—it keeps the basis as of Joe’s date of death in 2025. Because there is no basis adjustment at Mary’s death, the bypass trust potentially contains an income-tax time bomb.

How to Build Basis Planning into Your Estate Plan

There are several options to choose from if your goal is to maximize basis for your loved ones:

• Unwind the AB trust plan and instead leave everything outright to your surviving spouse so that the assets will receive a basis adjustment at your death—and again at your spouse’s death, assuming that the assets remain in their estate. The transfer from you to your spouse will likely qualify for the unlimited marital deduction, so your spouse will not owe estate tax at your death. However, it is important to remember that leaving everything to your surviving spouse outright means that the assets will be their property and may be susceptible to creditors, predators, judgments, or claims from a future spouse or partner.
• Keep the assets in the bypass trust and give the surviving spouse or other beneficiary a general power of appointment. The general power of appointment will cause the assets remaining in the bypass trust at the surviving spouse’s death to be included in their estate, thereby resulting in a second basis adjustment.
• For a wait-and-see approach to basis planning, allow for the appointment of a trust protector or trust advisor (if they are recognized within your state) in the trust’s terms and grant them the ability to add a general power of appointment to the bypass trust in favor of the surviving spouse. This will cause the assets in the bypass trust to be included in the surviving spouse’s estate at their death, thus resulting in a second basis adjustment.

Your circumstances will impact which option is the best fit. The great news is that there is almost always something that can be done to achieve your estate planning and asset protection goals that involves good basis planning.

Do You Need a Basis Planning Review?

Instead of falling back on the traditional one-size-fits-all AB trust plans, estate planners today must look carefully at each client’s unique family situation, financial position, and potential estate tax liability to determine the appropriate mix of techniques to minimize both estate taxes and income taxes. If it has been a while since you reviewed your estate plan, it may contain an income-tax time bomb. Call us with questions about basis planning and to arrange for a basis planning review.  

In a modern world marked by information overload, overflowing inboxes, nonstop notifications, and the constant pressure to accumulate more stuff, minimalism offers a compelling counternarrative. 

Born from the mid-twentieth century artistic rebellion and revived in the 2010s on the back of increased digital clutter, climate anxiety, and economic strain, minimalism promises clarity and order based on less materialism and more intention. 

Amplified by bestsellers, influential blogs, and decluttering gurus, the minimalism movement has permeated our cultural consciousness and shaped how we approach everything from our wardrobes to our finances. This pursuit of simplicity is, at its core, about reclaiming control in a chaotic world.

However, a minimalist “less is more” mindset for estate planning can leave you and your loved ones unprotected. An estate plan is one area of your life where you should lean into chaos and assert control, not by reducing your plan to the bare minimum but by adding the appropriate layers of complexity. 

History of the Minimalism Movement: Psychological and Cultural Roots

Becoming Minimalist, one of today’s top minimalist blogs, uses the tagline “Own less. Live more.”¹ Its most-read posts include “10 Signs You Own Too Much Stuff,” “How to Declutter Your Home: 10 Creative Ways to Get Started,” and “We Don’t Buy Things with Money, We Buy Them with Hours from Our Life.”² 

The New Minimalism website also promotes themes of simplifying living spaces and overcoming busyness, which it calls “one of the most pervasive . . . diseases in modern culture.”³ 

At the popular Zen Habits site, the message centers on “clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, and find happiness.”⁴ It has over a million readers, who are encouraged to “focus on the simplest actions possible.”⁵ 

If you ask the authors of The Minimalists website to define what minimalism means, they will tell you it is “a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”⁶

Minimalism was not always a lifestyle built around carefully curated closets, tiny homes, tidy countertops, and intentional living. However, it is rooted in cultural anxieties about consumerism’s excesses and rapid change that remain relevant and continue to fuel the movement today. 

During the post-World War II era, minimalism emerged as a reaction to abstract expressionism, which was characterized by emotional intensity, personal expression, and gestural brushwork and embodied by works such as Jackson Pollock’s chaotic drip paintings. Minimalist artists, in direct opposition, embraced stark geometries, clean lines, neutral palettes, and repetitive, sparse structures that stripped art to its essentials. 

Minimalism’s artistic principles seeped into broader culture through design and architecture. In the 1970s, minimalist aesthetics began shaping furniture design (e.g., IKEA’s functional simplicity) and urban planning concepts (e.g., open-plan offices). By the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese design philosophies such as Zen aesthetics and wabi-sabi (embracing imperfection and transience) gained popularity in the West and touched on minimalism’s introspective and spiritual undertones. Books such as Elaine St. James’s Simplify Your Life (1994) helped translate minimalist principles to daily living, advocating for decluttered homes and schedules. This era laid the groundwork for minimalism’s lifestyle shift amid 1980s disillusionment with materialism and yuppie excess, setting the stage for minimalism’s evolution into a modern lifestyle movement. 

The 2008 global financial crisis was another catalyst for minimalism as a modern mainstream lifestyle. A wave of job losses, foreclosures, and rising debt pushed people toward frugality, and minimalism became a practical and philosophical response that advocates for owning less to regain financial and emotional control. 

Blogs such as Becoming Minimalist and Zen Habits promoted minimalism in response to economic stress and lifestyle overload, while social media influencers and authors, including Marie Kondo, popularized decluttering and made minimalism aspirational. The KonMari method says that tidiness is the key to “sparking joy” and “living the life you want.”⁷ 

About 10 percent of Americans describe themselves as minimalists, with another 26 percent saying they are working toward becoming a minimalist or would like to be a minimalist, according to a Civic Science poll.⁸ 

The COVID-19 pandemic further fueled minimalism. Civic Science says that while minimalism is often a lifestyle choice, data suggests that a minimalist approach is driven by concerns over a lack of safety and access to resources, and what was once trendy may have become a necessity for those most impacted—emotionally and materially—by the pandemic.⁹ 

The Bare Minimum in Estate Planning: Why “Good Enough” Is Not Enough

A minimalist mindset might be fine for your living space but not your estate plan. Minimalism may be up to the task of putting your house in order but not putting your affairs in order. 

Although there is no direct evidence linking minimalism to a lack of estate planning, there are circumstantial ties. For example, one of the top reasons given for not having an estate plan is a lack of assets (money and property).¹⁰ 

What does seem to motivate estate planning are personal life events such as family expansion, upcoming travel, health problems, age-related milestones (such as retirement), and the purchase of a significant asset (e.g., a home). 

However, by the time the need for a plan emerges, it could be too late. Estate planning is about addressing not only current needs but also potential future needs, which are constantly changing in unpredictable ways. 

A minimalist estate plan that includes a last will and testament and a medical power of attorney might hold up under routine, predictable circumstances, but it can easily fall short when things go sideways and become more complicated. Consider these scenarios:  

• You create a will that provides outright distributions to your beneficiaries. However, are those beneficiaries financially responsible enough or legally old enough to handle outright distributions? What if something happens to them in the future, such as a disabling injury, a job loss, or the development of a substance abuse disorder that causes their life and needs to change significantly? Outright distributions to these types of beneficiaries may lead to undesired and potentially harmful outcomes.
• You sign a medical power of attorney prior to undergoing surgery, which might be fine for a known one-off occurrence. However, do you still want that person to make medical decisions for you in the future if you cannot communicate your wishes yourself? Who will manage your finances if you become incapacitated (for example, you are seriously injured in a car crash or have a stroke)? Is there a plan in place to manage your care and answer deeply personal end-of-life questions? Can your family access your protected health records to make informed decisions? 

These are just some of the scenarios that a minimalist estate plan can fail to address. 

Failure to create a plan that addresses the possibility of your becoming incapacitated can leave your medical care and finances in legal limbo and your loved ones vulnerable to court costs and conflicts. They might not agree about what decisions to make on your behalf, be forced to petition the court for a guardianship or conservatorship, and face unexpected delays and taxes. A minimalist estate plan might also overlook assets such as digital assets and collectibles, which can often be a source of contention and require court intervention. That is why your estate plan should include multiple tools that work together to provide comprehensive protection under a multitude of circumstances, both likely and less likely. A plan that does not include the following may come up short when it matters most: 

• Last will and testament. If chosen as the foundational document of your estate plan, a will directs how your assets will be distributed upon your death (i.e., who gets what) and names a guardian for your minor children. 
• Trust (testamentary or revocable living trust). Trusts offer greater control over the inheritance you leave behind. A testamentary trust is created within your will, while a revocable living trust is established during your lifetime and can help manage assets both during your life and after your death. 
• Financial power of attorney. A financial power of attorney designates someone you trust to manage your financial affairs if you become unable to do so yourself, avoiding the need for costly and time-consuming court intervention. 
• Medical power of attorney. A medical power of attorney names someone who can step in immediately to communicate or make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so due to illness or injury. 
• Advance directive or living will. Advance directives outline a person’s wishes regarding medical care and end-of-life care preferences. 
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) authorization form. This form lets you designate people who are authorized to access your medical information that is protected from disclosure under HIPAA. Access to your protected health information allows your loved ones to communicate more effectively with your healthcare providers and gather important details that may assist in managing your care if needed. 

These basic documents are just the starting point for a robust estate plan that covers all of your bases and leaves your family well protected. For added protection, you may also want to incorporate documents such as digital asset authorization, letters of instruction that provide more details about how to distribute items and where to find them, funeral and disposition of remains directives, a standalone guardianship designation for minor children, and a pet trust or pet care directive. 

Less Is More—Until It Is Not

With estate planning, less is not more. More is more. Your estate plan should follow a maximalist mindset that goes beyond the bare bones and embraces abundance, detail, and sometimes even excess.

Investing the time and effort to create a well-rounded estate plan is not about accumulating more “stuff”; it is about thoughtfully arranging your affairs to ensure a secure and well-defined future for you and the people you care about most. 

Do not let the allure of the bare minimum leave you and your family vulnerable. Schedule an appointment with us so we can help you build an estate plan that reflects your fullest wishes and gives lasting protection.

1. Becoming Minimalist, https://www.becomingminimalist.com (last visited June 18, 2025). ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. How Your Busy Schedule Is Hurting You, New Minimalism (Jan. 8, 2025), https://www.newminimalism.com/blog/busy-schedule. ↩︎
4. About, Zen Habits, https://zenhabits.net/about (last visited June 18, 2025). ↩︎
5. Leo Babauta, A Guide to Getting Better at Taking Action, Zen Habits, https://zenhabits.net/take-action (last visited June 18, 2025). ↩︎
6. What Is Minimalism?, The Minimalists, https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism (last visited June 18, 2025). ↩︎
7. What Is the KonMari Method?, KonMari, https://konmari.com/about-the-konmari-method (last visited June 18, 2025). ↩︎
8. Laurnie Wilson, Minimalism Seems More a Necessity Than a Lifestyle Choice in 2021, Civic Sci. (Feb. 2, 2021), https://civicscience.com/minimalism-seems-more-a-necessity-than-a-lifestyle-choice-in-2021. ↩︎
9. Id. ↩︎
10. Victoria Lurie, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study (Mar. 31, 2025), https://www.caring.com/resources/wills-survey. ↩︎

When thinking through their estate plan and how they want their assets (money and property) managed after they pass away, most parents wish to treat their children equally, often out of a sense of fairness. However, sometimes being fair or doing what is right by your children may mean giving unequal inheritances.

The Key Takeaways

• Treating children fairly does not always mean equal inheritances.
• How and when each child receives an inheritance may need to be customized to each child’s needs and circumstances.
• Not providing an outright inheritance is usually a good choice, as assets in a trust can be protected from the beneficiary’s irresponsible spending, divorce, predators, and creditors.

When Unequal Inheritances May Be Fair

There are often special circumstances to consider before you divide the family pie into equal parts. For example, you may

• choose to leave more money to your son who struggles to support his family on a modest teacher’s salary than to your daughter who makes seven figures, is married to a Wall Street tycoon, and has no children;
• opt to give a larger inheritance to a child who has dedicated themselves to volunteer work, the arts, religion, or public service;
• want to compensate a child who has given up part of their own life to care for you;
• wish to provide equally for all of your grandchildren, even if one child has more children than another;
• have a much younger child who needs care until adulthood, whereas your adult children are financially independent;
• have a special needs child who will need expensive and in-depth care for their entire lifetime; or
• have a child who has contributed to the family business and other children who have not. Instead of making them all equal owners in the business, you may want to leave the business to the one who has contributed and shown an interest and then provide for the others with other assets such as life insurance.

Distribution of Inheritances May Also Vary

You need to decide not only how much your children should receive but also when they will receive it, which may differ for each child. You can distribute inheritances in a lump sum or in installments; or you can keep an inheritance in a trust to be used for the children’s benefit at the trustee’s discretion without giving a child money outright. Consider factors such as the size of the potential inheritance, your children’s ages and family situations, how they have handled their own money, and how much they need your financial gift. 

What You Should Know

Many parents do not provide outright inheritances, preferring to keep assets in a trust for their children. The trustee can make distributions for your children’s benefit based on guidelines you provide, while assets that stay in the trust have greater protection from irresponsible spending; creditors (bankruptcy, lawsuits, and divorce); and predators (those with undue influence on your child). 

Example. Frank and Jen have two sons who are stable and responsible with their own money. Their sons will receive their inheritances in a lump sum after Frank and Jen die. However, their daughter is in and out of rehab and has been irresponsible with her own money. Fearing she will misuse her inheritance, Frank and Jen decide to keep her share in a trust so she can be provided for without the assets being completely available to her. 

Actions to Consider

• If you can afford it, consider giving your children some of their inheritance now. Not only will you have the opportunity to witness them enjoying your gift, but it will also provide insight into how your children will manage an inheritance.
• Consider whether your children should be your only beneficiaries. Perhaps you have additional goals such as providing for your grandchildren’s education, gifting property to other loved ones, providing for beloved pets, making charitable contributions, or setting up a family foundation or donor-advised fund. 

You must take action to ensure that your children receive their inheritances in the way that is best for them as individuals. Our office can ensure that your estate plan and your children’s best interests match—and continue to match—as life unfolds. Call us to schedule an appointment to create or review your estate plan.

Whatever the time of year, it is always good for members of the military and their loved ones to create or revisit their estate plan. Military families face unique estate planning considerations that others do not, especially when a family member is deployed overseas or receives a temporary duty assignment. In addition, service members have access to special benefits and resources that can add complexity to the planning process, so seeking help if you are a military family is important. 

Whether you are beginning your military service or have been serving for some time, the following may be important in your estate planning.

Factors to Consider

Estate plans should be customized to each person’s particular circumstances. As you create or update your plan, consider whether it addresses the following:

• Do you own real property and, if so, is it located in different states or countries?
• Are you married?
• Do you have minor children or children with special needs?
• Do you have retirement savings, such as a 401(k), an individual retirement account, or a Thrift Savings Plan?
• Are you planning to make charitable gifts?
• Do you anticipate multiple moves across states or international borders?

Each of these considerations can significantly impact the structure and effectiveness of your estate plan.

Estate Planning Necessities

Many of the benefits offered to military families can help with estate planning. These include the following:

• Life insurance. Life insurance is an important part of an estate plan intended to benefit those who are financially dependent upon you when you pass away. Active-duty members often have access to low-cost life insurance for themselves and their loved ones from Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance. You can find more information on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) website. When examining how your life insurance fits into your overall estate plan, work with us to ensure that the beneficiary designation works as expected.
• Last will and testament. Also known as a will, this crucial document outlines to whom, how, and when you want your assets (money, accounts, and property) distributed following your death. It also allows you to designate who you want to wind up your affairs after you pass away (referred to as an executor or personal representative, depending on the state) and specify who will care for any minor or special needs children. 
• Revocable living trust. A trust is a separate legal entity that can hold property and accounts for the benefit of one or more people or entities. Similar to a will, a trust allows you to dictate who will receive your property at your death and how that property is to be administered. For a trust to work as intended, your assets must be retitled into the name of your trust, and your trust must be designated as the beneficiary of the assets that must remain in your name (e.g., life insurance and retirement accounts). While you are alive and well, you will likely be the initial trustee, which puts you in charge of managing the assets you have transferred to the trust. An added benefit of a trust is that it also provides instructions on who will step in and manage the trust assets during any period of your incapacity (inability to manage your own affairs) and after your death. For most families, a trust-centered estate plan is a better fit, but a will can be adequate for some families depending on their circumstances.
• Other benefits for survivors. Survivor benefit plans (SBPs) are pension-type plans in the form of an annuity that will pay eligible survivors—typically your surviving spouse and dependent children—a monthly benefit at your death. Likewise, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a tax-free monthly benefit paid to eligible survivors of service members or Veterans who (1) die while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training; (2) died from a service-related disease or injury; or (3) were receiving, or entitled to receive, VA compensation for a service-related disability rated as totally disabling (100 percent) for a specified period of time before death. When evaluating any financial service or insurance product, it is a good idea to work with an estate planning attorney to ensure that any associated beneficiary designations align with your overall plan and provide the maximum benefit to your family.

You Need Specialized Help

Members of the military often experience frequent moves, have access to several forms of government benefits after service, and can be subject to some unusual tax rules. For these reasons, estate planning for military families is more complicated than it is for most others. 

An estate planning professional can assist you in setting up the following:

• Powers of attorney for financial matters and healthcare decisions (very helpful tools when a spouse is deployed)
• Living wills and other medical directives
• Powers of attorney or delegations of parental authority for minor children or separate guardian nominations
• Funeral and burial arrangements
• Wills
• Organ donation authorization
• Family care plans
• Life insurance
• Trusts
• Survivor benefits

An estate plan has multiple objectives: to provide for your family’s financial security, to ensure your property is preserved and passed on to your loved ones in the way that you desire, and to determine who will manage your assets upon your death and if you become incapacitated, among others. We can guide you through the best options available to you and your family. Call us today.

You have just received your orders, and you will be deployed shortly. No matter how soon you are leaving, there is still time to ensure that your affairs are in order.

1. Review or prepare a Family Care Plan. Regardless of the branch of the military in which you are serving, you may be required to complete a Family Care Plan (FCP). An FCP is usually required for individuals who
   • are single parents with custody of children under 19,
   • are in dual-military marriages with dependent children,
   • are married and have custody or joint custody of a child whose other legal parent is not their current spouse,
   • bear sole responsibility for the care of children under 19 or for others who are unable to care for themselves in the service member’s absence, or
   • are primarily responsible for the care of a dependent family member.
     
     An FCP provides written instructions and legal documentation outlining how your loved ones’ day-to-day needs will be met in your absence. It designates a caregiver, confirms their willingness to take on that responsibility, and includes essential documents such as powers of attorney and medical authorizations. You will need to submit this plan to your command for review and approval to ensure that everything is in place and meets applicable military requirements.
     
2. Review estate planning documents or have them prepared. To ensure that your wishes are carried out, they must be written down in a legally valid way. You can accomplish this through the use of a last will and testament (sometimes referred to as a will) or a revocable living trust (sometimes referred to as a trust). If you already have a will or trust, make sure that it still accurately reflects your current wishes. Also, if you have married or had a child since your will was prepared, you may want to consider revising your plan to include a trust. While a will and a trust are both designed to distribute your money and property according to your wishes, a trust has the added benefit of allowing the administration to take place without court involvement, which can save time and money and maintain your loved ones’ privacy. A trust also can be designed to protect your beneficiaries’ inheritances from creditors, predators, judgments, or divorcing spouses.
   
   If you decide to transition from a will-based estate plan to a trust-based plan, you will still need a pour-over will as part of your overall estate plan. Even with a trust handling the distribution of your assets, a will serves several important functions; most notably, it allows you to nominate a guardian for your minor children if something happens to you. A will can also serve as a safety net by directing any assets not already titled in the name of your trust (or otherwise passed by beneficiary designation) to be “poured over” into the trust upon your death. 
   
   While both a will and a trust play an important role in securing your loved ones’ financial future, there are other estate planning tools that need to be reviewed or created to ensure maximum protection for you and your loved ones.
   
   Financial Power of Attorney
   
   If your spouse or you are going to be deployed, having a financial power of attorney is incredibly important. This tool allows you to appoint a trusted individual to act as your agent for financial and legal tasks. This person will be able to transact business on your behalf. This tool can be customized to fit your unique situation and circumstances.
   
   Medical Power of Attorney
   
   This tool allows you to name someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make or communicate those decisions yourself.
   
   Power of Attorney for Minor Children
   
   Some states recognize a tool that allows you and your spouse to give a named person the authority to make decisions on behalf of your minor child. This can be helpful if one parent is deployed and the other parent is unreachable or if your minor child is spending time away from you. The length of time this tool is effective after it is signed varies by state. Also, in most states, the named person cannot consent to the adoption or marriage of your minor child.
   
   Separate Nomination of Guardian
   
   Depending on whether it is permitted in your state, you may want to consider creating a separate document to nominate guardians for your minor children. Many people prefer this approach because it is typically easier and less expensive to update than a last will and testament. In addition, this separate document may carry more legal weight in the selection of a guardian for your minor children if you are alive but become unable to care for them, unlike a last will and testament, which takes effect only upon your death.
   
3. Review or complete beneficiary designations. As a service member, you may have access to life insurance policies or other survivor benefits through the military. Review these policies and any corresponding beneficiary designations to ensure that they still reflect your current wishes and that the right person will receive the benefits. As mentioned, this is especially important if you have recently married or had children. Although it is common to name loved ones as the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy, if the people you named are minor children who may need assistance managing the large lump-sum distribution of the policy or benefits, you should consider creating a trust and naming the trust as the beneficiary instead. Your loved ones will still receive the benefit of the death proceeds, but you will have the ability to provide instructions as to how the money is to be used rather than permitting an outright distribution. You will also have the ability to choose who will oversee the trust.

4. Assess your life insurance needs. When planning for the financial security of your family, assessing their specific needs is important. According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is available in $50,000 increments up to a maximum of $500,000. However, if you need more coverage than this, research your other options as early as possible. We would be happy to provide you with the names of a few trusted agents who can discuss your options based on your unique circumstances.

We Are Here to Help

You have made a heroic decision to serve your country, and we are here to serve you. If you have any questions about starting or reviewing your estate plan, please call us.

What is in a name?

If you are a beneficiary or a creditor of an estate, or if you are setting up an estate plan, your name means a great deal.

It is not unusual for a person to go by different names, such as the name we are given at birth and the names we choose for ourselves. Some of us use nicknames; others use our middle name or initials as our primary name. We may also legally change our name due to marriage, divorce, gender identity, or personal preference. Some people even use different names within specific communities and groups.

However you choose to identify yourself and whether you have changed your name formally or informally—in the eyes of the court or just among friends and family—you need to ensure that any different names, and variations thereof, are reconciled across legal documents, including your estate plan, to avoid confusion and unintended outcomes.

Same Person, Different Name: Name Variations Are Common

Your name is a seemingly simple detail that may not receive much attention in your daily life, but it can have major ramifications for your estate plan and what happens after you pass.

Think for a moment about how you present yourself on paper and in person. The following are some examples of common name variations:

• Full legal name (first, middle, last). Some people consistently use their full legal name (e.g., Katherine Elizabeth Johnson).
• Middle initial (first, middle initial, last). Others prefer a more concise version (e.g., Katherine E. Johnson).
• Middle name instead of first (middle, last). In some cases, someone may go by their middle name (e.g., Elizabeth Johnson) instead of their legal first name (Katherine).
• Nickname. Nicknames can differ significantly from legal names (e.g., Kate for Katherine, Jack for John, or Peg for Margaret).

The names you use, like the clothes you wear, may have changed over the years to reflect how you have changed. Most adults likely have at least one alternate name (particularly women, due to marriage), but nongiven names can also appear in other contexts.

• Maiden names. According to Pew Research, nearly 80 percent of US women and 5 percent of US men in opposite-sex marriages take their spouse’s surname after marriage,^[1] while around 14 percent of women in opposite-sex marriages retain their maiden name.^[2]
• Hyphenated last names. An estimated 20 percent of married couples in North America use hyphenated last names.^[3] However, if parents pass their hyphenated last name to their children, the children may later drop the hyphen. As NPR notes, merging hyphenated names can become a “bureaucratic nightmare,” causing confusion at schools, at doctors’ offices, and in other settings.^[4]
• Online aliases and pseudonyms. A study from blog comment hosting service Disqus found that 70 percent of people who use nicknames or aliases online do so for privacy.^[5]
• Professional names. Authors and entertainers often use pseudonyms, such as J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, Robert Zimmerman performing as Bob Dylan, or Prince using a symbol instead of a name. People may also use an alias to separate their personal and professional identities.
• Cultural practices. Immigrants may Americanize their names as part of the assimilation process and for economic benefits, especially if their legal name is difficult to spell or pronounce. Around one-third of immigrants to the United States changed their names within 10 years of their arrival.^[6]
• Adoption. For people who are adopted, both their first and last names can be changed once the process is complete.
• Personal choice. Many celebrities, including Angelina Jolie, Cher, and Elton John, have legally changed their names.

Why Name Nuances Matter in Your Estate Plan

Variations in how you identify yourself might seem trivial in everyday contexts and conversations, but they can create issues in your estate plan. Informing your attorney about every name you have used can prevent headaches and potential complications. Here is how:

• Identifying what you own. Estate planning begins with cataloging assets (e.g., bank accounts, real estate, investments, and digital assets). Tracking and inventorying these assets can be challenging if you have used different names. For example, a bank account under the name Katherine E. Johnson and a home under Elizabeth Johnson might be missed if only one name is listed. The deed to your house, brokerage accounts, and vehicle titles should also be checked for name variances. Without knowing all the nuances of your name, your attorney might inadvertently overlook assets when creating your estate plan, leading to certain assets not being included in your plan and delays and legal hurdles for your beneficiaries, who may need to provide legal documentation of your name change.
• Putting creditors on notice. The person you choose to wind down your affairs after your death (personal representative, executor, or successor trustee) must settle debts before distributing assets to your loved ones. The process of settling debts often requires creditor notification. Depending on state law, creditors have limited time to file claims against a deceased debtor’s estate. Publishing notice of the debtor’s death may shorten the amount of time that a creditor has to file their claim. However, name mismatches can alter this timeline. If debts are under a different name, creditors may not be properly notified, leading to disputed debts that extend probate and increase legal costs.
• Searching for unclaimed property. States hold billions of dollars in unclaimed assets, such as bank accounts, uncashed checks, utility payment refunds, and insurance payouts. About one in seven people have unclaimed property held by their state’s treasuries, collectively amounting to billions of dollars in unclaimed property in the US.^[7] When you pass away, your estate may need to search for unclaimed property to ensure that all your assets are accounted for. If your attorney does not know that you once went by the name Katherine E. Johnson or a nickname such as Kate Johnson, they might miss unclaimed property tied to those names, and your loved ones could lose out on assets that rightfully belong to them.

In addition to assets, creditors, and unaccounted-for and unclaimed property, name variations can disrupt the following:

• Digital assets. Digital assets such as cryptocurrency wallets can be difficult for executors to access if they are not clearly documented or linked to your legal identity. Noncustodial wallets, in particular, may be unrecoverable without the seed phrase or private key, even if the executor knows they exist.
• International assets. Assets abroad may use names adapted to local legal, linguistic, or cultural conventions. For instance, a property in Spain titled under the name Catalina Johnson might not match a US will’s reference to the same person, Katherine Johnson. Also, names may appear with spelling variations; in a different script (e.g., Cyrillic or Arabic); or reordered (i.e., last name appearing first).
• Blended families. In blended families, name changes resulting from remarriage or adoption might confuse inheritance rights.
• Taxes. Inconsistencies in names across financial accounts and tax documentation could potentially raise red flags with tax authorities during the estate administration process.
• Beneficiary designations. Failure to update beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts after a legal name change can lead to complications for your beneficiaries when they try to claim the benefits. Financial institutions could delay or deny payouts, and your loved one may need to provide proof of the name change to establish their identity.
• Powers of attorney and healthcare directives. If your or your appointed agent’s name is legally changed after these documents are created, updating them is necessary to ensure that your agent’s authority is clearly recognized under their current legal name and that the documents are unequivocally tied to your current legal identity.

The last two examples show the importance of regularly reviewing estate planning documents to ensure that they reflect any name variations and new legal names for you, your estate plan’s beneficiaries, and your trusted decision-makers.

Make Name Changes a Part of Your Regular Estate Plan Updates

William Shakespeare famously wrote “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” to mean that things are what they are, no matter what name we give them.

A name does not necessarily define who you are. However, name changes and variations can leave a sour taste in the mouths of beneficiaries, creditors, trustees, and executors when the time comes to settle your estate.

Many estate plans have not been touched since they were first created years ago and are woefully outdated. As part of the review process, you and your attorney should take the time to discuss any informal variations and formal legal changes to your name—and the names of your beneficiaries and decision-makers—to ensure a more accurate and effective estate plan. If you are just starting your plan, be sure to tell your attorney all your names. Call us to schedule an appointment to create or review your estate plan.

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1. Luona Lin, About 8 in 10 women in opposite-sex marriages say they took their husband’s last name, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Sept. 7, 2023), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/07/about-eight-in-ten-women-in-opposite-sex-marriages-say-they-took-their-husbands-last-name. ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. Ethan Grant, The Rise of Hyphenated Last Names: Embracing Equality and Heritage in Modern Families, Bluenotary (Jan. 5, 2025), https://bluenotary.us/hyphenated-last-name. ↩︎
4. Tovia Smith, When Hyphen Boy Meets Hyphen Girl, Names Pile Up, NPR (Jul. 19, 2012), https://www.npr.org/2012/07/19/156923573/when-hyphen-boy-meets-hyphen-girl-names-pile-up. ↩︎
5. Steve Roy, What’s In A Name? Understanding Pseudonyms, Disqus (Dec. 15, 2014), https://blog.disqus.com/whats-in-a-name-understanding-pseudonyms. ↩︎
6. Steinar Brandslet, Name change in the United States brought economic payoff, Norwegian SciTech News (Jun. 26, 2018), https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2018/06/name-change-united-states-economic-payoff. ↩︎
7. What is unclaimed property? Nat’l Ass’n of Unclaimed Prop. Admins., https://unclaimed.org/what-is-unclaimed-property. ↩︎