Category: The Wealth Advisor

1. In 2025, what is the total amount of money and property you can gift during your lifetime and leave at your death to your loved ones (other than to your spouse) without owing federal estate tax?
   1. $5 million
   2. $15 million
   3. $13.99 million
   4. as much as you want

The correct answer is “c.” For 2025, the federal exemption is $13.99 million. This amount, also known as the federal lifetime estate and gift tax exemption, applies to both gifts made during a person’s life and accounts and property transferred at death. The exemption is set by federal statute and adjusted annually for inflation. However, any accounts and property left to a surviving spouse who is a US citizen are not subject to federal estate tax due to the unlimited marital deduction.

2. Which of the following estate planning tools is often used to designate who will inherit your money and property after your death?
   1. living will
   2. financial power of attorney
   3. last will and testament
   4. healthcare proxy

The correct answer is “c.” A last will and testament is a legal document that allows the creator of the will, or testator, to specify how and to whom their money and property are to be distributed after their death. It also allows the testator to nominate a guardian for their minor children and appoint an executor to manage their estate.

3. What is the legal process by which a deceased person’s will is proved valid (if they have one) and their estate is administered under court supervision?
   1. conservatorship
   2. trust administration
   3. guardianship
   4. probate

The correct answer is “d.” Probate is the legal process through which a court validates a deceased person’s will (if one exists) and ensures that their estate is properly administered. Probate administration includes paying off the decedent’s valid debts and taxes and distributing the remaining money and property to the beneficiaries. The court oversees this process to protect the interests of all parties involved. 

4. Under a medical power of attorney, a person can appoint an agent to make decisions for them regarding:
   1. business operations
   2. real estate transactions
   3. medical treatment and care
   4. financial investments

The correct answer is “c.” A medical power of attorney—also known as a healthcare proxy or durable power of attorney for healthcare—is a legal document that allows a person to appoint an agent to make medical decisions on their behalf if they become unable to do so themselves. The appointed agent, often a trusted family member or close friend, is authorized to consent to or refuse medical treatments or surgeries and make other healthcare decisions according to the patient’s wishes.

5. What happens if you die without a valid will and own accounts or property in your sole name without a designated beneficiary?
   1. your spouse or children automatically inherit everything
   2. your money and property are distributed according to state intestacy laws
   3. the accounts are held by the financial institution permanently
   4. your money and property automatically go to the state

The correct answer is “b.” If a person dies without a valid will, they are said to have died intestate. In this situation, state intestacy laws determine how the money and property held in the decedent’s sole name, with no designated beneficiary, will be distributed. These laws vary by state but generally prioritize the surviving spouse, children, parents, and other close relatives in a specific order. The state does not automatically seize the money and property.

6. Which of the following assets typically avoid probate?
   1. a solely owned bank account without a named beneficiary
   2. real estate jointly owned as tenants in common
   3. a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary
   4. personal belongings such as furniture and art

The correct answer is “c.” When a life insurance policy has a designated beneficiary, the death benefit is paid directly to that person, bypassing the court-supervised probate process. 

7. The primary purpose of a living will or advance directive is to
   1. name a guardian for minor children
   2. outline medical treatment preferences for times when you cannot communicate those wishes yourself
   3. appoint someone to manage financial affairs
   4. distribute money and property after death

The correct answer is “b.” A living will, also called an advance directive, is a document recognized by most states that provides instructions for a person’s medical care if they become terminally ill or incapacitated and are unable to communicate their wishes. It specifies their preferences regarding life-sustaining treatments such as artificial hydration and feeding, mechanical ventilation, and resuscitation.

8. Which of the following is not a common estate planning goal?
   1. avoiding probate
   2. maximizing income taxes during one’s lifetime
   3. minimizing estate taxes
   4. ensuring money and property are distributed according to one’s wishes

The correct answer is “b.” Common estate planning goals include ensuring that your assets are managed and distributed according to your wishes, avoiding probate, and minimizing estate and gift taxes. 

9. Which of the following can be accomplished by using a revocable living trust as the foundation of your estate plan?
   1. probate avoidance
   2. maintaining privacy during and after your death
   3. providing guidelines and restrictions to protect a beneficiary’s inheritance
   4. all of the above

The correct answer is “d.” A revocable living trust is used as the foundation of most estate plans because it offers several key benefits. It allows the avoidance of probate and ensures that assets are transferred to beneficiaries more smoothly and privately. It also provides guidelines and restrictions that can protect a beneficiary’s inheritance—for example, providing for distributions in stages over time instead of as a single lump sum.

10. Is it okay to leave money or property outright to your loved ones?
    1. no, never
    2. only if they are over the age of 21
    3. only if it is less than $1,000
    4. yes, as long as you have considered the beneficiary’s situation and you have no concerns about their ability to manage money or their need for creditor protection

The correct answer is “d.” Leaving money or property outright to a loved one means giving them full and immediate control. While this is the simplest method of distributing an inheritance, it is not always the best. Before you do so, consider the beneficiary’s specific situation, such as their age, financial maturity, any special needs, and whether they have any creditor issues or concerns.

What comes to mind when you think of the typical American family? 

Today’s families take many different forms: Some are blended through divorce and remarriage while others are built through long-term partnerships, adoption, or fostering. Families may include same-sex or opposite-sex couples; married or unmarried partners; or children from different relationships or no children. Many households also juggle the needs of aging parents or relatives with disabilities. 

You can probably picture many other family arrangements. As today’s modern families evolve and become more diverse, so too must the estate planning strategies that protect them. 

Blended Families

The term stepfamily has largely given way to blended family (or bonus family). However, these terms describe the same thing: a family that forms when partners bring children from previous relationships into a new household, possibly alongside children they have together.¹ And the issues these families face, both in maintaining family harmony and in planning their estate, can be complex, no matter what you call them.

Potential planning goals: Provide for your surviving spouse while also ensuring that your children from a previous relationship receive an inheritance. Some parents in blended families may also want to provide for stepchildren. However, this goal requires purposeful planning because state law does not automatically provide for them.

Strategies: A revocable living trust is often the most effective estate planning tool for parents in blended families. With a trust, you can provide for your surviving spouse for their lifetime—for example, by allowing them to receive income from your trust (and possibly principal as well, under conditions you set)—while still preserving the remaining balance for your children from a prior relationship. This approach helps prevent the unintentional (or intentional) disinheritance that may occur if everything is left outright to your spouse. 

Trusts can also include detailed instructions about how money and property should be used and what happens to any remainder. The key is finding the right balance of fairness and protection within the unique dynamics of a blended family where emotions and relationships may be complex and solutions often require flexibility and nuance.

Unmarried Partners

The number of unmarried couples living together has steadily increased, more than doubling from 3.7 percent in 1996 to 9.1 percent in 2023.² 

Whether couples choose not to marry for personal, financial, or other reasons, the main planning challenge with unmarried partners is that default inheritance laws still favor spouses and blood relatives, despite the uptick in cohabitating partners. 

Potential planning goals: Ensuring that your surviving partner is financially secure; can remain in your shared home (regardless of whether you own it in your sole name or the two of you own it jointly); and has the legal authority to make medical or financial decisions if you become incapacitated. You may also want to provide for children from your current relationship or from prior relationships and avoid disputes with extended family members who stand to inherit from you under state law.

Strategies: Because unmarried partners have no automatic inheritance rights and lack many legal protections from which married couples benefit by default, forward-looking estate planning is a must. You can provide immediate or ongoing support for your partner in a will or a trust, although only a trust avoids the public, and often costly, probate process. Some forms of joint ownership of property or carefully structured beneficiary designations (such as transfer-on-death deeds or beneficiary designations on retirement accounts) can also help ensure that your accounts and property pass directly to your partner when you pass away. 

Advance healthcare directives and financial powers of attorney are also necessary to give your partner decision-making authority in emergencies or while you cannot manage your own affairs. Without such strategies, you and your partner risk being treated as legal strangers, and family members will likely be the ones making financial and medical decisions for you.

Loved Ones with Special Needs

Special needs is a broad term that refers to a variety of situations where a person may require some form of specialized services or support to manage everyday life. 

An individual with special needs may have been born with a physical or cognitive disability, may require a wheelchair due to an accident, or may struggle significantly with depression or anxiety. In some cases, their condition may qualify them for means-tested government benefits, which could be at risk if they were to receive a large inheritance outright. Whatever the situation, careful planning can protect them while still providing support. 

Potential planning goals: Allow your loved one with special needs to receive an inheritance in a way that does not disqualify them from government benefits or put them at financial or personal risk. 

Strategies: A supplemental needs trust can provide financial support without jeopardizing eligibility for programs such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This type of trust is designed to limit the beneficiary’s direct access to the inheritance while ensuring that it is used for their needs. A trusted individual that you appoint (the trustee) makes distributions at their discretion.

For those without a functional disability but who otherwise may not do well with receiving a large sum of money all at once—for example, they struggle with money management or substance abuse—an incentive trust can be a helpful tool. This type of trust is not aimed at preserving eligibility for certain government benefits; rather, it allows you to set conditions for inheritance distributions tied to employment, education, sobriety, or other goals and milestones to provide support and protection for the beneficiary. 

Sandwich Generation 

The term sandwich generation refers to adults who support their aging parents and their own children. According to a 2025 AARP research report, about 16 million US adults meet this criterion, and almost one-third of family caregivers in the US have children or grandchildren under age 18 living at home while they also care for an adult family member or friend.³ 

If you are “sandwiched” between these dual demands, your exact situation may vary depending on your age and family circumstances. Your child could be a minor under 18 or a young adult still working on gaining financial independence. Your parents may be entering retirement or well into their 80s or 90s. The different versions of the “sandwich” may carry different balancing acts in terms of time, finances, emotions, and planning strategies. They also require different estate planning considerations.

Potential planning goals: Protect yourself as the caregiver while ensuring that your parents and children are cared for and that there is a seamless transition of decision-making authority, guardianship, and financial support if something happens to you. 

Strategies: If your children are still minors, one key part of your estate plan will be naming a guardian for them if something happens to you. You can make guardianship nominations through a will or a standalone document, depending on state law, so a judge is not choosing a guardian without your guidance or input.

You should also consider including a revocable living trust in your plan. A trust can do more than simply avoid probate; it can ensure that critical financial support for your parents and children continues even if you become incapacitated. After your death, distributions can be structured to provide for minors and young adult children in stages as they grow, while also supporting aging parents who may need assistance but should not have unrestricted access to the funds if they cannot manage their own affairs. Such flexibility allows you to protect everyone you care for in a way that balances their needs with responsible oversight.

There is no such thing as a typical family anymore, and yours is likely no exception. So why should your estate plan be typical? More than ever, estate planning should avoid an out-of-the-box, one-size-fits-all approach and individually and collectively address the unique needs of each family member, now and in the future. If you need to create an estate plan or update an existing one, call us to help ensure that the people you care about are fully protected.

1. blended family, Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/blended-family. ↩︎
2. Change in American Families: Favoring Cohabitation over Marriage, Penn Wharton Budget Model (Feb. 19, 2025), https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2025/2/19/change-in-american-families-favoring-cohabitation-over-marriage. ↩︎
3. Caregiving in the US Research Report at 2, 4, AARP (July 2025), https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/caregiving-in-us-2025.doi.10.26419-2fppi.00373.001.pdf. ↩︎

We all have those nagging to-do items that never seem to make it to the top of our list, even though we know how important they are. Maybe it is scheduling a checkup with the doctor, calling the HVAC company to inspect that noisy furnace, or starting the fitness routine you keep promising yourself you will implement. Studies show that creating an estate plan is likely one of those tasks on your list. 

An estate plan can seem like an inconvenient or unnecessary task. After all, you are not rich. You do not own an “estate.” You have already filled out beneficiary forms on your main financial accounts and talked to your family about your wishes. What else do you need to do? 

That depends on what you want to accomplish. However, if you have no comprehensive legally documented plan, you must face the fact that you could be giving up the ability to control your legacy. You may also leave your loved ones with uncertainty, conflict, and stress during an already difficult time, and that is the last thing anyone wants to be remembered for. 

Estate Plans Trending the Wrong Way

It can be easy to get caught up in fads that come and go but do not move the needle on our quality of life; think juice cleanses, extreme workout crazes, or the latest productivity hack. However, estate planning is not a fad. 

Although an estate plan is not required by law, having one will truly benefit you and your loved ones during your lifetime and when you pass away. 

Unfortunately, roughly two-thirds of adults have no estate plan in place. A 2025 Caring.com survey found that only 24 percent of Americans have a will.¹ Online service Trust & Will puts the number slightly higher, at 31 percent (with only 11 percent having a trust).² A study from D.A. Davidson found that just one in three adults has any estate planning documents—including a healthcare power of attorney.³ While the exact numbers vary depending on the source, the message is clear: far too many families are unprepared. 

Even more concerning is that the trend is moving in the wrong direction. Fewer Americans are engaging in estate planning today than just a few years ago.⁴ So why do so many people skip this critical step? And how can you avoid falling into the same trap?

Reason 1: “I Do Not Own Enough to Have an Estate Plan”

In all three surveys noted above, the top reason people gave for not having an estate plan was some version of “I do not have enough assets to leave to anyone.”

That misconception tends to stick because the word asset often brings to mind images of wealth: mansions, yachts, or sprawling investment portfolios. However, in reality, an asset is anything you own that has value to you or your loved ones. That may include things with financial value, such as your home, retirement account, or car. It can also mean things with sentimental value, including a treasured family heirloom, your grandmother’s recipe collection, a beloved pet, or even the values and life lessons you want to pass down.

Regardless of your financial situation, you have a legacy you want to leave behind. It is worth asking yourself what that is and how you would like it shared with your loved ones. Estate planning is not only about what you own. It is also about how you see yourself and what matters most to you. It helps tell your life story. 

In addition, most people do not know that estate planning goes far beyond what happens when you die. It is also about what happens if you become incapacitated, whether from illness, injury, or age-related decline. Everyone may face incapacity at some point, and without the right documents in place, decisions about your healthcare, finances, and personal care could end up in the hands of strangers or the courts rather than the people you trust. However, only about one-third of Americans have a healthcare power of attorney, and fewer even know what that is.⁵ Are you one of them? 

This planning gap leaves many families unprepared. An accident, illness, or injury could throw your affairs into disarray and leave your family scrambling for answers that could have been provided ahead of time in your estate plan. 

Reason 2: You Think Beneficiary, Payable-on-Death, and Transfer-on-Death Designations Are Enough

You completed a beneficiary form on your retirement account and set up your investment accounts to automatically transfer to your spouse or child when you pass away. You assume that your spouse will get the house under state law, so there is no need to do any additional planning. You already have an estate plan for your most valuable assets. Nothing more needs to be done. Right?

Some people think they have an estate plan when they have only beneficiary, payable-on-death (POD), or transfer-on-death (TOD) designations that were often filled out years ago and may now be outdated or poorly suited to their current needs and circumstances. 

For starters, beneficiary, POD, and TOD designations generally apply only to certain financial accounts or insurance policies. They typically do not cover property such as a vehicle or a house (unless your state recognizes TOD deeds), and they certainly do not cover anything inside the home, including household belongings, family heirlooms, or collectibles. Without a will or trust, these items may have to go through probate court to be distributed according to state inheritance law, and the recipients may not be people you would have chosen. 

Another limitation is that these designations do not allow you to control when the inheritance is received; it can only be distributed outright. You cannot stagger distributions based on ages, milestones, or a set number of years after your death or create any other personalized plan. Once the inheritance is in the beneficiary’s hands, you lose the ability to protect it from creditors or add guardrails for minor children or adult beneficiaries who may be unwise about managing money.

Finally, beneficiary, TOD, and POD designations work as intended only if they are kept up to date. If you filled out a form years ago and did not update it after a major life event, such as a divorce, a marriage, or the birth of a child, the people you mean to inherit from you could unintentionally be left out. 

Beneficiary, TOD, and POD designations can be valuable tools within a comprehensive, well-thought-out estate plan, but without broader planning and regular updates, they can leave gaping holes. When was the last time you reviewed or updated your beneficiary designations? Have you named backups in case something happens to your initial choices? Are you okay with outright distributions to your chosen beneficiaries that offer them no protections? 

Reason 3: You Told Your Family What You Want to Happen

The discomfort of facing our own mortality can be an underlying reason for not engaging in formal estate planning. You may have already overcome this discomfort and had “the talk” with your loved ones about what you want to happen when you pass away. Because everyone knows your wishes, you may think there is no need to get lawyers or the courts involved; this is a family matter, and everything feels settled.  

The problem is that your verbal conversations with your loved ones—no matter how much they agree—are not legally binding. Openness and communication are important, but putting your wishes into a legally valid estate plan is essential for true protection. Memories fade, stories conflict, and family harmony can break down overnight when money and property are at stake. What began as a peaceful family agreement can quickly unravel into bitter probate court battles.

If you have no legally valid estate plan, the court may need to become involved, and the outcome might look nothing like what you wanted or what your family thought they agreed to. Verbal agreements may feel binding. However, as far as an estate plan goes, spoken promises are worth little more than a pinky swear.

What Motivates You?

There are many reasons why people put off creating an estate plan. But at the end of the day, they are just excuses. As with a leaky faucet or a lingering health symptom, ignoring your estate plan will not make the problem go away. Whether it needs a quick fix or a full build-out from scratch, it is time to stop procrastinating. 

While some people benefit from in-depth conversations about wealth and legacy, many simply need clear guidance on what estate planning covers and why it matters for everyone.

It is up to you to decide the what and the why of your legacy. Once you do that, we can supply the how in the form of a fully documented, legally binding estate plan.

1. Victoria Lurie, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study, Caring (Sept. 17, 2025), https://www.caring.com/resources/wills-survey. ↩︎
2. 2025 Estate Planning Report, Redefining Legacy, Trust and Will, https://trustandwill.com/documents/2025-estate-planning-report. ↩︎
3. Only One-Third of Americans Have an Estate Plan, D.A. Davidson Survey Finds, D.A. Davidson (Oct. 11, 2022), https://www.dadavidson.com/About-Us/News/ArticleID/5443/Only-One-Third-of-Americans-Have-an-Estate-Plan-D-A-Davidson-Survey-Finds. ↩︎
4. Victoria Lurie, 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study, Caring (Sept. 17, 2025), https://www.caring.com/resources/wills-survey. ↩︎
5. Only One-Third of Americans Have an Estate Plan, D.A. Davidson Survey Finds, D.A. Davidson (Oct. 11, 2022), https://www.dadavidson.com/About-Us/News/ArticleID/5443/Only-One-Third-of-Americans-Have-an-Estate-Plan-D-A-Davidson-Survey-Finds. ↩︎

Who wants to live to be 100? That depends on who you ask.

Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: The odds of reaching that milestone are rising, along with the length of retirement and the number of life changes that come with it.

Life expectancy gains in the US since the turn of the century are staggering, and they are straining retirement, medical, and support systems that were not designed for such longevity. The number of Americans who are 100 years old or older has nearly tripled over the past three decades and is expected to quadruple over the next 30 years.¹

Though an aging population is a public policy challenge, reaching age 100—and beyond—is also a personal milestone that more Americans than ever are celebrating. While few people plan to live 100 years, more of us will, and your financial and estate plans need to keep pace with that new reality.

Age 100 (and Counting)

Georgia resident Naomi Whitehead became the oldest living American when she turned 114 in September 2024.²

Raised on a farm, Whitehead attributes her long life to hard work.³ Her story is also one of incredible change. She was born in 1910, when the average life expectancy for women was just 52 years.⁴ Only one in eight homes had electricity. Women could not vote, and income tax did not exist. During her lifetime, Whitehead has witnessed two world wars, the Great Depression, the moon landing, airline travel, civil rights milestones, and the digital age. 

Now living in a senior care facility in Pennsylvania, Whitehead may have updated her estate plan a few times along the way, having outlived her husband and three sons.

And because of the trend toward longer life expectancies, the chances of her grandchildren reaching 100 are far higher than hers were. However, those added years are not always healthy years. Early gains in longevity came from decreased rates of infant mortality and improvements in public health; recent increases in life expectancy come from medical advancements that increase the odds of surviving later-life conditions. But today we spend more years managing chronic illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, and dementia than ever before. We are living longer lives but not healthier ones.⁵ 

You probably already know from experience that your health directly impacts your wealth. The link between health and wealth becomes more important with age. A longer life means more years of expenses, more potential for incapacity, and greater pressure on your retirement and estate plans. Planning around life expectancy and “normal” aging is shortsighted. You also need to plan for longevity risk: the financial, medical, and legal challenges of living longer.

Financial Planning for a Longer Life

Statistically, most of us will not live to be 100, let alone become a supercentenarian (a person who lives to 110 or older) like Naomi Whitehead. However, Americans are expected to continue living longer.

Many people now expect to spend 30 or even 40 years in retirement. Deciding how you will cover living expenses and medical costs, and ensuring that you do not outlive your savings, has become an increasingly important part of financial planning.

The median retirement savings balance for people between ages 55 and 64 is $185,000.⁶ A typical 65-year-old couple can expect to pay more than $680,000 in lifetime medical costs.⁷ This figure represents only out-of-pocket costs, not expenses covered by Medicare. It also does not account for long-term care, which could cost upwards of $100,000 per year, according to an RBC Wealth Management survey.⁸ 

Only slightly more than half of survey respondents told RBC that they have factored the cost of healthcare into their wealth plans.⁹ Of those respondents, half say they are likely underestimating those costs.¹⁰

Estate Planning in the Age of Longevity

Like retirement savings, estate plans are often not built for the long (and getting longer) haul. And that is assuming that you have an existing plan. The number of Americans who do not have an estate plan is double the number of those who do.¹¹ Many who do have one have not updated it in years or decades.

Even if you updated your estate plan around the time you retired, it may now be out of step with your life and legacy goals. Beneficiaries and trustees may have died, family dynamics may have shifted entirely, and new generations—grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren—may have been born and now need to be considered.

Living longer also increases the odds that something will go wrong, whether medically, financially, or legally, including:

• Cognitive decline or incapacity
• Outdated or missing powers of attorney or healthcare proxies
• Obsolete fiduciary appointments (trustees, executors, agents)
• Conflicting or outdated beneficiary designations
• Misaligned or forgotten asset ownership
• Unintentional disinheritance across multiple generations
• Unsustainable long-term care costs
• Gaps in incapacity or end-of-life planning

A longer life calls for deeper planning—not just to protect your quality of life but also to ensure that your legacy stays intact.

Planning for the Century Mark (and Possibly Beyond)

You might not expect to live to be 100, but planning as if you might is one of the best ways to protect your health, wealth, and family.

Your estate and financial plan should account for the following considerations:

• Rising healthcare costs. Long-term care insurance or hybrid life policies with long-term care riders can help cover care at home, in assisted living, or in nursing facilities.
• Income longevity. Stress-test your retirement plan to ensure that your money will last. Strategies to incorporate into your plan may include guaranteed income sources such as annuities, conservative withdrawal rates, and delayed retirement to boost both retirement and healthcare savings.
• Incapacity planning. Keep durable powers of attorney and healthcare proxies current. Name trusted individuals who are able and willing to act on your behalf if needed.
• Trust-based planning. Trusts can safeguard assets, reduce the risk of conflict, and carry out your goals well beyond your lifetime.
• Ongoing review. Estate plan reviews with an experienced attorney at regular intervals (typically every three to five years, but more often as you age) or when you experience major life changes (such as the death of a loved one, marriage, divorce, inheritance, or significant financial shifts) help ensure that your plan keeps pace with your circumstances, your family, and your long-term vision.

Let’s Talk About the Long View

If you already have an estate plan, now may be the time to review it. Are your documents up to date? Are your chosen decision-makers still ready and able to serve? Have you included everyone you want to benefit?

If you do not yet have a plan, why wait? Living longer does not always mean that you will be able to manage everything yourself. Wisdom may grow with age, but so does the risk of chronic illness and disability. An incapacity plan is just as essential as a will or trust because, by the time you need one, it may be too late to create it.

National Centenarians Day is a reminder that while age tells a longer story, it does not tell the full story. Let us ensure that your plan is built to go the distance—no matter how long that journey may be.

1. Katherine Schaeffer, U.S. Centenarian Population Is Projected to Quadruple Over the Next 30 Years, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Jan. 9, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/09/us-centenarian-population-is-projected-to-quadruple-over-the-next-30-years. ↩︎
2. Renee Onque, 114-Year-Old Woman in Pennsylvania Is Now the Oldest-Living American: “I’ll Live As Long As the Lord Lets Me,” Makeit (Nov. 6, 2024), https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/06/114-year-old-woman-in-pennsylvania-is-now-the-oldest-living-american.html. ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
4. Aaron O’Neill, Annual Life Expectancy at Birth in the United States, from 1850 to 2023, with Projections Until 2100, Statista (July 31, 2025), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1040079/life-expectancy-united-states-all-time. ↩︎
5. Douglas Broom, We’re Spending More Years in Poor Health Than at Any Point in History. How Can We Change This?, World Econ. F. (Apr. 5, 2022), https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/04/longer-healthier-lives-everyone. ↩︎
6. Alana Benson, What Is the Average Retirement Savings by Age?, Nerdwallet (Aug. 19, 2025), https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/the-average-retirement-savings-by-age-and-why-you-need-more. ↩︎
7. RBC Wealth Mgmt., Retirement Income Planning: Long-Term Care Considerations 1 (2025), https://docs.rbcwealthmanagement.com/us/4346-retirement-income-planning-long-term-care.pdf (citing Healthview Servs., 2021 Retirement Health Care Costs Data Report, https://hvsfinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2021-Retirement-HC-Costs-Report-op-final.pdf). ↩︎
8. Plan Ahead for Potential Long-Term Care Expenses, RBC Wealth Mgmt. (Oct. 2024), https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/en-us/insights/plan-ahead-for-potential-long-term-care-expenses. ↩︎
9. RBC Wealth Mgmt., Taking Control of Health Care in Retirement 5 (2023), https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/assets/wp-content/uploads/documents/insights/taking-control-of-health-care-in-retirement.pdf. ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎
11. D.A. Davidson Survey Finds That Two-Thirds of Americans Do Not Have an Estate Plan, DADavidson, https://www.dadavidson.com/Perspectives-Insights/Perspectives-Insights-Article/ArticleID/1391/D-A-Davidson-Survey-Finds-That-Two-Thirds-of-Americans-Do-Not-Have-an-Estate-Plan (last visited Aug. 26, 2025). ↩︎

Happy National Stepfamily Day to all who celebrate it! Amid shifting family structures, there is a good chance that you are part of a stepfamily—or know somebody who is—which makes September 16 a perfect day to celebrate.

At its heart, National Stepfamily Day is a celebration of second chances and the resilience it takes to embrace the unique challenges of blending families. Those challenges extend beyond trying to get along as “one big happy family” and into financial and legal realms where planning for the future requires as much care and sensitivity as navigating the family relationships themselves.

The Evolution of Stepfamilies

The “traditional” American family—two parents, first and only marriage for both, all children in common—is no longer the dominant household structure and has not been for decades.

With higher divorce rates, increased remarriage rates, and evolving social attitudes, today’s families are increasingly diverse. 

In 2025, an estimated 41 percent of first marriages will end in divorce.¹ As of 2021, more than 2.4 million stepchildren live in US households, according to the US Census Bureau.² 

However, even as the ranks of nontraditional families are expanding, the term stepfamily is falling out of favor. Some say that it carries a stigma and confers second-class status on stepparents and stepsiblings. 

More families have adapted to embrace terms such as blended or bonus families to reflect their unique dynamics in a positive light and foster a sense of inclusion and connection. The law, however, has not evolved as quickly. 

How the Law Treats Stepchildren

You may see no distinction between step- and blood relatives, but the law often does, and that can affect how your estate plan works.

• In most states, stepchildren do not automatically inherit from a stepparent under the default rules (intestacy laws) that decide what happens when someone dies without a valid will or trust. These state laws generally direct your accounts and property to biological or legally adopted children and a surviving spouse. Stepchildren are usually omitted by default.
• Formal legal adoption of a stepchild is typically the only exception. Without it, even decades of parenting a stepchild may carry no legal weight.

Blended families are also vulnerable to unintentional disinheritance. One common scenario occurs when a stepparent leaves assets outright to their surviving spouse, the stepchild’s biological parent. If that spouse later remarries, changes their estate plan, or simply spends down the inheritance, there is no guarantee that your stepchildren, or even your own biological children, will receive what you intended them to have.

Estate Planning Steps for Including (or Excluding) Blended Family Members

Steprelations can present some of the most personally sensitive and legally complicated estate planning conversations. It is important to be clear about whether you want to include stepchildren in your plan, exclude them, or structure inheritances to balance the needs of a surviving spouse, biological children, and stepchildren.

Including Stepchildren

You may want to treat stepchildren as equals to biological children in your estate plan for the following reasons:

• You have developed deep bonds.
• Your stepchildren may have little or no other family support.
• You value fairness or want to avoid divisions and treat all children equally.

Strategies and Tools

If you want to be certain that your stepchildren are included in your legacy, you will need to use particular planning tools to make your wishes legally enforceable. When engaging in proactive planning, remember the following:

• Specific naming and instructions. Use full legal names and clear instructions in your will or trust. Terms such as my children will usually refer only to biological or adopted children.
• Living trusts. A trust can be drafted to specifically name your stepchildren as beneficiaries, ensuring that they receive the share you intend and bypassing default state laws that would otherwise exclude them. With a living trust, you can decide whether your stepchildren receive the same shares as your biological children or different ones and set identical or tailored distribution terms for each.  
• Qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts. Incorporating QTIP trust provisions in your living trust can be a creative way to balance priorities—providing for your surviving spouse’s needs while ensuring that your children and stepchildren ultimately receive their intended share of your estate.
• Beneficiary coordination. Review and update beneficiaries on retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts to achieve the right balance of distributions or integrate a living trust that you have created.
• Lifetime gifts with purpose. Consider giving to stepchildren during your lifetime for milestones, educational goals, or other meaningful needs. This not only supports them in the moment but also reinforces your intent, helping to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings or disputes after you are gone.

Excluding Stepchildren (or Managing Inheritance Indirectly)

Not every stepfamily is close, and your estate plan does not need to pretend otherwise. You may choose to exclude stepchildren from your estate plan for the following reasons:

• There is emotional distance or past conflict.
• Your stepchildren will inherit from their own biological parent or family.
• You want to preserve your money and property solely for your biological children. 

Strategies and Tools

If you exclude stepchildren from your legacy, it is important to make that intent clear and legally binding. Consider the following when structuring your estate plan:

• Clear and affirmative language. If exclusion is the goal, say so outright in your will or trust. Simply omitting someone from your plan can invite confusion and conflict.
• Living trusts. Use proactive planning tools such as a living trust to limit inheritance to your biological children and descendants while still caring for your spouse. If the goal is to not completely disinherit a stepchild, you could leave them a specific monetary gift or a smaller percentage of the overall estate.
• Guard against the “second spouse” problem. Avoid leaving everything outright to a surviving spouse if your true intent is to benefit your biological children, since your surviving spouse will have no legal obligation to pass along any remaining inheritance to them.
• Keep up with change. Regularly update documents and beneficiary designations after major life events such as remarriage, estrangement, or reconciliation to take into account new family dynamics and changing wishes.
• Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. If your current marriage is a subsequent one, these agreements can specify how assets will be divided at your death, protecting children from prior relationships and preventing unintended disinheritances.

The Next Step: Talk to an Estate Planning Attorney

Blended families bring added complexity, and with it, more opportunities for miscommunication or disputes. Unequal treatment of biological children and stepchildren can create tension or resentment, especially when estate plans are vague, outdated, or unclear.

Keeping your plan current and talking openly with your family can help reduce conflict and ensure that your legacy is passed on the way you intend. However, these conversations can be highly emotional and nuanced. There may be thoughts you hesitate to say out loud, such as “They are not really my kids,” “My spouse will take care of them,” or “We want to treat everyone equally.”

We can help you create an estate plan that reflects your intentions—whatever they may be. Anything you tell your attorney will be kept confidential, and any estate plan documents you create can be kept private until they are needed. 

Let’s take the next step and talk about how to build a plan that honors the full picture of your family and legacy.

1. Robert McAllister, Divorce Rates in US 2025 – Current Trends and Analysis, NCH Stats (Dec. 11, 2024), https://nchstats.com/divorce-rates-in-us. ↩︎
2. National Stepfamily Day: September 16, 2023, U.S. Census Bureau (Sept. 16, 2023), https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/stepfamily-day.html. ↩︎

Bookending the first week of September with Labor Day is a less recognized holiday that may not get much national attention but should if you are planning for your future: National 401(k) Day.

Though we are in an era of overall declining economic confidence, many Americans are still somewhat upbeat about their retirement savings. However, how you feel about your 401(k) account may not reflect what is actually in it. National 401(k) Day is an ideal opportunity to take stock and ensure that your plans keep pace with your expectations—for both yourself and your loved ones.

The State of the 401(k) in 2025

The 401(k) has become one of the most essential tools for building and transferring wealth in America.

As a product of late 20th-century tax policy that shifted the responsibility for retirement savings from employers to individuals, today roughly 6 out of 10 Americans say that they have a 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored defined contribution plan. In 2025,¹ the average 401(k) balance for Americans across all age groups is $315,820, but that number varies widely.²

Vanguard data shows that people earning $75,000–$99,999 annually have a median balance of $53,112 in retirement savings—nearly double the median for those earning $50,000–$74,999 ($27,528).³ Age matters too: Empower reports that workers in their 40s tend to have more than twice the savings of workers in their 30s ($158,093 versus $77,546, respectively),⁴ underscoring the power of compounding growth and the importance of saving early and consistently. 

Why Long-Term Planning Is So Hard—and So Important 

If you have struggled to prioritize long-term savings or estate planning, you are not alone, and it is not simply a discipline issue. Poor planning is inherently human. Well, sort of. 

A major reason that many people find it difficult to plan for the future is that we are just wired that way.⁵ We have all sorts of cognitive biases that reward short-term wins over long-term gains. The further away the goal, the more abstract—and harder to act on—it becomes. 

Experts call this the “time horizon problem,”⁶ and it helps explain why estate planning lags even further behind than retirement saving. About twice as many Americans have a retirement account (6 in 10)⁷ as have an estate plan (1 in 3).⁸

And while retirement savings concepts, such as tax-deferred growth, employer contributions, and spending goals, may feel familiar and straightforward, estate planning can seem daunting, time-consuming, and filled with legal jargon. 

Passing on Your 401(k): Directly or Through a Trust?

For most people, a retirement account and their primary residence are among the most valuable assets they will ever own.⁹ However, the rules for passing them on to loved ones are very different.

You may have named a beneficiary when you first opened your 401(k) account, but is that designation still what you want? If your life has changed since then (think marriage, divorce, birth of children, estrangement, etc.), your current beneficiary form may no longer reflect your wishes. In addition, leaving the account outright by beneficiary designation to that person may not be the most secure or protective way to pass on an inheritance. 

If your 401(k) passes directly to a beneficiary, that person receives full access to and control over the account immediately and with no restrictions. That may be fine for a financially responsible adult or spouse with no creditor concerns or divorce risk, but what if your beneficiary is a minor, has special needs, or is irresponsible with money?

Instead of naming individuals directly as beneficiaries of a retirement account, you can protect your loved ones by naming a revocable living trust as the beneficiary in your estate plan. Not just any living trust will do; there are specific things to consider when using trusts for retirement planning so your beneficiaries remain protected.

Conduit and Accumulation Trusts for 401(k)s

If you designate a trust (such as a revocable living trust or a standalone retirement trust) as the beneficiary of your retirement account but the trust does not meet certain Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, the entire account usually has to be paid out within five years—which often means a bigger income tax bill. A trust that does follow the IRS rules is called a see-through trust. This type of trust allows the IRS to “see through” the trust and treat the trust’s beneficiaries as if they were named directly as beneficiaries of the retirement account. This type of trust often results in a 10-year payout term, which often means a smaller income tax bill. For this reason, if you plan to name a trust as your retirement account’s beneficiary, it is crucial that you work with an experienced attorney who will ensure that the trust qualifies as a see-through trust.

Once you know you have a see-through trust, the next key decision is whether it will be structured as a conduit trust or an accumulation trust, each of which handles retirement account distributions differently. 

Conduit Trust: The Pass-Through Option

You may find that a conduit trust best aligns with your goals and your beneficiaries’ needs. Here are some of the main features of a conduit trust: 

• The withdrawals that your trustee takes from your 401(k) must be distributed to the trust beneficiaries within the same calendar year.
• Distributed funds are taxed at the beneficiary’s personal income tax rate.
• Once distributed, the funds are no longer protected by the trust—meaning less control and limited protection from the beneficiaries’ creditors.
• Under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, most nonspouse beneficiaries must withdraw all the funds from the account within 10 years. While this requirement could create a large taxable lump sum in year 10, a conduit trust allows the trustee to choose when to take the withdrawals instead of leaving the decision in the hands of the beneficiary, enabling distributions to be spread over the 10-year period while potentially reducing the tax impact. 

Accumulation Trust: The Discretionary Option

If you do not want retirement account withdrawals to be immediately distributed to your trust beneficiaries, you may find that an accumulation trust best aligns with your goals and your beneficiaries’ needs. Here are some of the main features of an accumulation trust: 

• The trustee must withdraw all funds from the retirement account within 10 years, but in contrast to a conduit trust, is not required to distribute them to trust beneficiaries right away; rather, they can choose to retain the funds in the trust.
• Retirement account withdrawals that remain in the trust beyond the calendar year in which they are taken are taxed at the trust’s compressed income tax rates; if funds are distributed during that year, the beneficiary pays income taxes at their personal rate.
• Funds retained in the trust remain protected from creditors, lawsuits, or reckless spending, which may align with your overall estate planning goals. 
• The trustee can spread withdrawals over the 10-year period to better manage taxes and preserve the inheritance without being required to immediately pass those withdrawals to the beneficiary. Such flexibility can make accumulation trusts a better choice for minor children, beneficiaries with poor financial habits (spendthrifts), or beneficiaries with special needs. 

Take Some Time to Reflect on (and Look Ahead to) National 401(k) Day 

National 401(k) Day may not bring fireworks or parades, but as Labor Day festivities wind down and summer fades into fall, it is a day worthy of pause and reflection. 

While you are out with your family enjoying summer’s final days, remind yourself of the hard work and sacrifices that have brought you to this place. You may be still contributing money into a 401(k) or finally enjoying its fruits. Either way, you want it to last as long as possible. You and your family may be enjoying good times now, but what about 10, 20, or even 50 years down the line? 

The trust structure you choose today can help ensure that your 401(k) not only supports your own future but also protects and provides for your heirs after you are gone. However, trust-based 401(k) planning is not as simple as filling out a beneficiary form. An attorney can help you avoid earlier-than-expected distributions, unnecessary tax bills, and missed opportunities for protection. 

Time may not actually be moving faster, but you do not have forever to work on your estate plan. To discuss all your planning options for a 401(k) and your other accounts and property, schedule a time to talk.

1. What Percentage of Americans Have a Retirement Savings Account?, Gallup (June 2, 2025), https://news.gallup.com/poll/691202/percentage-americans-retirement-savings-account.aspx. ↩︎
2. Paul Deer, The Average 401(k) Balance by Age, Empower: The Currency (July 15, 2025), https://www.empower.com/the-currency/life/average-401k-balance-age. ↩︎
3. Vanguard, How America Saves 2025, at 51 (June 2025), https://institutional.vanguard.com/content/dam/inst/iig-transformation/insights/pdf/2025/has/2025_How_America_Saves.pdf. ↩︎
4. Deer, supra note 2. ↩︎
5. George Michelsen Foy, Humans Can’t Plan Long-Term, and Here’s Why, Psych. Today (May 12, 2025), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shut-up-and-listen/201806/humans-cant-plan-long-term-and-heres-why. ↩︎
6. Brad McMillan, The Time Horizon Problem, Commonwealth (Sept. 16, 2016), https://blog.commonwealth.com/independent-market-observer/the-time-horizon-problem. ↩︎
7. Gallup, supra note 1. ↩︎
8. D.A. Davidson Survey Finds That Two-Thirds of Americans Do Not Have an Estate Plan, DADavidson, https://www.dadavidson.com/Perspectives-Insights/Perspectives-Insights-Article/ArticleID/1391/D-A-Davidson-Survey-Finds-That-Two-Thirds-of-Americans-Do-Not-Have-an-Estate-Plan (last visited Aug. 26, 2025). ↩︎
9. Rakesh Kochhar & Mohamad Moslimani, 4. The Assets Households Own and the Debts They Carry, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Dec. 4, 2023), https://www.pewresearch.org/2023/12/04/the-assets-households-own-and-the-debts-they-carry. ↩︎

Born into an impoverished Houston household in 1949, George Foreman lived a rags-to-riches tale of pure Americana: Olympic gold medalist, heavyweight boxing champion, ordained minister, global pitchman, and father to a dozen children. 

At the time of his death on March 21, 2025, his estate was estimated to be valued at $300 million. Surprisingly, most of his wealth came not from his triumphs in the ring but from his success as a businessman—specifically from the popularity of the George Foreman Grill.¹ From the boxing ring to the boardroom, Foreman built a brand that outlasted his gloves and redefined what a postretirement legacy could look like for a champion athlete. 

Unlike many celebrities, Foreman was considered relatable and connected to his audience. That relatability extends to many of the estate planning issues he had to navigate as someone with multiple marriages, a large blended family, and adopted children. 

Spousal Support

Foreman was married more times (five) than he was crowned world heavyweight boxing champion (twice). 

Foreman’s final marriage, to Mary Joan Martelly, lasted nearly 40 years, a testament to the kind of second act that defined much of his life. His four earlier marriages lasted a total of about nine years.

We do not know whether alimony was part of any of his prior divorce settlements or if Foreman remained liable for any support at the time of his death; the details remain private. However, every ex-spouse is a potential long-term liability unless outstanding or existing obligations are clearly addressed through coordinated estate planning. 

In most cases, alimony ends when either spouse dies—but not always. A divorce decree can explicitly require that financial support payments continue after the payor’s death—often being satisfied through a life insurance policy naming the ex-spouse as beneficiary. Regardless of whether the life insurance policy lapses or the provision in the divorce decree is forgotten, the estate may still be on the hook for any unpaid obligation of the decedent. A divorce may also create complications after death, such as unresolved child support obligations, property settlement issues, or outdated beneficiary designations on things such as retirement accounts or life insurance policies. 

Without complete documentation and follow-through, any of these arrangements, buried in decades-old court files, could resurface as claims against the estate after someone dies.

If you have been married more than once, it is important to review each divorce decree and support order, confirm that any past obligations have been resolved or you have plans to resolve them, and make sure that your account titles and beneficiary designations match your current family structure.

Foreman the Father

Foreman often spoke about using his namesake grill to cook for his large family, which included twelve children: five sons (all named George Edward Foreman) and seven daughters, two of whom were adopted. 

He also spoke frequently about the importance of family. In one interview, he said his children were “one thing I’m most proud of” and that “you may have . . . an ex-wife or an ex-husband, but you can never have ex-children.”² 

Foreman’s devotion to fatherhood leaves little doubt that his children (and possibly his grandkids and great-grandkids) will be beneficiaries of his estate, regardless of whether they were part of his family through birth or adoption. Foreman said that “each child is different and you’ve got to treat them differently.”³ According to daughter Georgetta, he made each child feel special with dedicated days that would focus on just one child at a time.⁴ Accordingly, Foreman’s estate plan may have followed a “fair but not equal” inheritance structure that recognizes differing needs, life paths, and circumstances among heirs and avoids a one-size-fits-all approach.

Fairness in your estate plan does not necessarily mean that each beneficiary receives identical treatment. Equal shares are not always what they seem, and “fair” does not always mean the same.

For example, a daughter running a family business might inherit more operational control than a son pursuing a music career, and a special needs heir might be provided for through a supplemental needs trust while others receive outright distributions.

Which George? 

What’s in a name? When the name is George Foreman, a great deal. 

Foreman explained on many occasions that he named all his sons George to unite his children.⁵ “I wanted them to have something in common . . . I tell them if one goes up, we all go up. If one gets in trouble, we’re all in trouble.”⁶

However, having many children with the exact same name could lead to trouble in legal or financial documents if each George Edward Foreman was not clearly differentiated as a distinct beneficiary. “To my son George”  works only if you have just one. If you have five, clarity is critical.

The boxer gave each son a nickname (George Jr. is “Junior;” George III is “Monk”; George IV is “Big Wheel”; George V is “Red”; and George VI is “Little Joey”) so “they’re recognized and treated as individuals.”⁷ He may have referenced these nicknames on an estate planning document, such as a will or trust, or in joint accounts, beneficiary designations, or other financial arrangements where his sons were beneficiaries, to ensure that each “George Edward Foreman” was correctly distinguished. 

You probably do not have several identically named sons or daughters, but multiple people sharing the same name within a family is a common way to pass names down through generations and honor family members. To avoid any confusion or legal complications, always use as much specific identifying information in official documents as possible (e.g., middle initials or full middle names, dates of birth, addresses, or Social Security numbers) when dealing with beneficiaries who share the same (or similar) name. 

Business Champ

Foreman earned significantly more money from his endorsement deal for the George Foreman Grill than from his boxing career.⁸ 

The Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine reportedly earned him more than $250 million in royalties and naming rights.⁹ At one point, Foreman earned up to $8 million per month from his profit-sharing deal with Salton, Inc. (now Spectrum Brands).¹⁰ In 1999, the company paid him $138 million in cash and stock for the right to use his name on the grill in perpetuity.¹¹ To date, the grill has sold over 100 million units.¹² 

For someone whose name became a commercial empire, clear planning around intellectual property and brand management was essential. It is possible that Foreman’s estate plan addressed these issues using tools such as a family trust or business entity (e.g., a corporation or limited liability company), perhaps allocating control or residual income among his loved ones. 

Anyone who owns a business, earns royalties, or has valuable intellectual property must look beyond how their financial accounts and property will be divided in their estate plan. It is equally important to consider who will manage, protect, and benefit from those intangible, yet highly valuable, assets.

Ask yourself, “Who owns the intellectual property or business interest? Who, if anyone, is named as successor or manager? Are royalty rights, control rights, and income distribution clearly addressed in my estate plan?” 

Create a Plan That Performs After the Final Bell

Even a champion like George Foreman, who went toe-to-toe with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, could not duck the need for a comprehensive estate plan that addresses specific needs and circumstances. 

Our estate planning attorneys can help you land the right combinations before the final bell so that, when it sounds, your beneficiaries do not have to rely on a controversial scorecard for a decision. 

1. George Foreman Net Worth $300 Million, Celebrity Net Worth (Mar. 22, 2025), https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-boxers/george-foreman-net-worth. ↩︎
2. Rod Thomas, George Forman on Fatherhood, CBN, https://cbn.com/article/not-selected/george-foreman-fatherhood-0 (last visited July 30, 2025). ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Makena Gera, George Foreman’s Kids: All About the Boxing Legend’s Sons and Daughters (and Why He Named All 5 of His Sons George, People (Mar. 22, 2025), https://people.com/all-about-george-foreman-kids-8683510. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Deanna Janes, Why did George Foreman name his 5 sons George? He’s offered a few reasons, Today (Mar. 22, 2025), https://www.today.com/parents/celebrity/george-foreman-kids-rcna134106. ↩︎
8. George Foreman Net Worth $300 Million, Celebrity Net Worth (Mar. 22, 2025), https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-boxers/george-foreman-net-worth. ↩︎
9. Brian Warner, How George Foreman Knocked Out a Quarter-Billion Dollar Payday With an Unlikely Invention, Celebrity Net Worth (Mar. 12, 2025), https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/george-foreman-reveals-exactly-much-made-famous-grill. ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎
12. Id. ↩︎

Regis Philbin, the Guinness World Record holder for the most hours on US television, was a familiar face in millions of homes for decades. By the time he retired from his show Live with Regis and Kelly in 2011, he had spent more than 16,740 hours in front of the camera.¹ 

Philbin passed away in 2020, leaving behind an estate worth approximately $150 million² that was likely divided between his wife, Joy, and children. He had four children: Danny (who died in 2014) and Amy from his first marriage and daughters Joanna and Jennifer with Joy. While Philbin accumulated most of his net worth as the host of game and talk shows, his estate planning documents and court records show that he also left millions in other assets behind. 

More Properties, More Problems

At the time of his passing, Philbin owned at least two properties: a Manhattan apartment³ and a Beverly Hills condo.⁴ 

According to Radar Online, Philbin’s estate filed a will with New York Surrogate’s Court (i.e., probate court) that listed $16.5 million in property and millions more in stocks, bonds, and cash to be overseen by Joy as the executor of his will.⁵ However, a large portion of his estate was placed into a trust containing assets not listed in the will, court documents show.⁶ 

That trust could have contained his New York and California homes, which would have spared Joy and the rest of his loved ones considerable hassles by having to probate properties in multiple states. 

Real property titled in an individual’s name (as opposed to being held in a revocable living trust) that is located in a state other than where the individual lives may require a separate probate proceeding in each state where the property is located. State laws vary, but New York’s probate process is notoriously slow and burdensome (especially in New York County, where Manhattan is), while California’s comes with both statutory attorney and statutory executor fees based on the estate’s gross value. 

Predeceased Heirs and Plan Updates

A notable aspect of Regis’s plan was that he updated it following the death of his son, Danny. 

Born with a spinal cord defect, Danny died of natural causes in November 2014, predeceasing his father by nearly six years.⁷ 

Regis signed his final will just two months later, on January 15, 2015.⁸ The timing of these events is probably not a coincidence. Regis’s 2015 estate plan is a case study in why estate plans must change with life. The death of a child, the birth of a grandchild, a new marriage, or a change in financial circumstances are some key life events that should trigger you to revisit your plan. An outdated estate plan may not reflect your wishes at the time of your death and could result in outcomes you would never have chosen. 

My Three Daughters

Blended families are becoming increasingly common in America. Today, approximately one in six children grows up in a blended household, and nearly two in five families include a stepparent.⁹ These numbers continue to rise as remarriage becomes more common. 

While Philbin did not necessarily live in a blended household, he did have children from different relationships. It would not be uncommon in this situation to face challenges when deciding how to fairly structure an estate plan. Reports indicate that Philbin took a thoughtful approach, providing for his surviving spouse and their children in common while also making provisions for the children from his earlier relationship. 

However, when it came to appointing someone to carry out the terms of his will in probate court (called the executor in New York), Philbin prioritized his wife and their children by leaving clear instructions: “I appoint my spouse, Bette Joy Philbin, as my Executor of this Will,” Philbin’s will states.¹⁰ “If my spouse shall not qualify or, having qualified, at any time shall not continue to act, then I appoint my daughter Joanne Philbin as successor Executor of this Will.”¹¹ “If Joanne Philbin shall not qualify or, having qualified, at any time shall not continue to act, then I appoint my daughter, Jennifer Philbin, as successor Executor of this Will.”¹² This language provides a crucial estate planning lesson: to build contingencies into a plan, including having backup decision-makers and heirs. 

While Danny’s passing underscores the need to update documents as circumstances change, some changes could occur after your death, which is why every estate plan should include backup executors, trustees, and beneficiaries to ensure that someone you trust—and chose—is always available to step in.

However Philbin ultimately structured his estate plan, he was wise to put one in place. By doing so, his intentions and wishes had the force of law. Without a clear and carefully designed plan, blended families often face confusion, disagreements, or even legal disputes over inheritance. Philbin’s example shows how proactive estate planning can help avoid conflict and preserve family harmony.

Your Estate Plan Is a Lifeline

As a former host of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game show, Philbin gave contestants three “lifelines” to help them answer a question if they needed it: narrowing down their multiple choice options from four to two, phoning a friend to ask them for their insights, or polling the audience. You need a more reliable strategy for your estate plan, however. Philbin did not leave his “final answer” up to chance and neither should you. 

Instead of phoning a friend, call us to schedule a time to work on your estate plan—a lifeline for you and your loved ones. 

1. Most hours on US television, Guinness World Records Limited 2025, https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-hours-on-us-television (last visited July 30, 2025). ↩︎
2. Regis Philbin Net Worth $150 Million, Celebrity Net Worth (Jan. 30, 2025), https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/regis-philbin-net-worth. ↩︎
3. Mike Mishkin, Upper West Sider, Regis Philbin, Dies at 88, I Love the Upper West Side (July 25, 2020), https://www.ilovetheupperwestside.com/upper-west-sider-regis-philbin-dies-at-88. ↩︎
4. Teles Cofounder Ernie Carswell Reps Regis Philbin in Condo Buy, Medium (Mar. 2, 2016), https://medium.com/real-estate-reimagined/teles-cofounder-ernie-carswell-reps-regis-philbin-in-condo-buy-effed2929507. ↩︎
5. Douglas Montero, Regis Philbin’s Will Reveals TV Legend Left Behind $16 Million In Property, Put Wife Joy in Charge of Estate Worth $150 Million, Radar (June 1, 2021), https://radaronline.com/p/regis-philbin-will-16-million-wife-joy-kids-millions-kelly-ripa. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Stephanie Dube Dwilson, Daniel Philbin’s Cause of Death: How Did Regis Philbin’s Son Die? (EntertainmentNow (Dec. 19, 2024), https://entertainmentnow.com/news/daniel-philbin-regis-son. ↩︎
8. Douglas Montero, Regis Philbin’s Will Reveals TV Legend Left Behind $16 Million In Property, Put Wife Joy in Charge of Estate Worth $150 Million, Radar (June 1, 2021), https://radaronline.com/p/regis-philbin-will-16-million-wife-joy-kids-millions-kelly-ripa. ↩︎
9. Kristin McCarthy, M.Ed., Blended Family Statistics: A Deeper Look Into the Structure, Love to Know (Aug. 5, 2021), https://www.lovetoknow.com/parenting/parenthood/blended-family-statistics. ↩︎
10. Douglas Montero, Regis Philbin’s Will Reveals TV Legend Left Behind $16 Million In Property, Put Wife Joy in Charge of Estate Worth $150 Million, Radar (June 1, 2021), https://radaronline.com/p/regis-philbin-will-16-million-wife-joy-kids-millions-kelly-ripa. ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎
12. Id. ↩︎

Actor Val Kilmer’s passing in April 2025 highlights estate planning issues that can affect almost anyone. Although Kilmer was a celebrity, these issues—including managing real estate in more than one state, deciding what happens with digital assets, and using charitable gifts to leave a legacy and help reduce estate taxes—are concerns that can be especially important for individuals who have an out-of-state summer home or cottage, a creative or online-persona-based career, or a favorite charity they want to support after their death.

Kilmer, best known for playing Iceman in Top Gun, Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Jim Morrison in The Doors, and Batman in Batman Forever, died with an estimated net worth of $10 to $25 million.¹ At the time of his death, he was a divorced father of two adult children. He also owned a California home, a New Mexico ranch, and digital assets that included a synthetic recreation of his voice. 

Public Life, Private Death 

While his two children are expected to inherit most of his estate, his estate plan details have not been made public, as is typical of celebrities and other high-profile individuals who want to protect their privacy and that of their loved ones. It is usually only when beneficiary or creditor conflicts emerge and subsequent court filings are made that estate plan details leak to the public. 

That may be the first lesson from Kilmer’s estate: it appears that he was proactive in his estate planning, which likely helped reduce conflict and keep his affairs private. For someone who spent his later years retreating from Hollywood to his New Mexico ranch, privacy was likely a priority.

Estate Taxes 

Kilmer’s net worth may have exceeded the 2025 federal estate tax exemption of $13.99 million per individual, meaning that his estate could be subject to federal estate tax.

California (where Kilmer died) has no state-level estate tax, and neither does New Mexico (where he owned a ranch), so state estate taxes should not be a factor. However, the federal estate tax could take up to 40 percent of the value of Kilmer’s estate above the federal exemption limit.

Unlike married couples, unmarried individuals cannot take advantage of the unlimited marital deduction, which allows spouses to transfer accounts and property to each other estate tax-free. 

Estate tax reduction strategies available to both married and unmarried individuals include making lifetime gifts, applying valuation discounts for certain assets, and using special types of trusts, such as a grantor retained annuity trust. Charitable giving may also be an effective technique for lowering estate taxes while supporting causes that matter to you.

Charitable Planning

There is a good chance that philanthropy figures largely in Kilmer’s estate plan. He was involved in numerous causes throughout his life, supporting organizations focused on environmental issues, animal rescue, human rights, poverty, families of police officers who were killed on 9/11, and more.² If he used charitable tools such as charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, or donor-advised funds as part of his estate plan, he may have reduced taxes while supporting causes he cared about. You do not have to be ultrawealthy to use these strategies. Charitable giving at any income level can be a meaningful way to create a legacy and express your values in a tax-advantageous way.

Real Estate in Multiple States

Kilmer owned real estate in both California and New Mexico, which may have triggered an ancillary probate proceeding—a second probate process that takes place in the state where you own real property that is outside the state of your primary residence.

An ancillary probate can mean more paperwork, delays, and legal fees. State laws differ, and if you pass away owning real estate in more than one state, your family could be left dealing with multiple court systems that often require different approaches to administration.

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid ancillary probate. For example, you can transfer out-of-state property into a revocable living trust to avoid probate while keeping your affairs private. Other tools—such as transfer-on-death deeds, life estate deeds, or titling property jointly with someone else can also minimize or eliminate the need for probate as long as these methods are legally recognized in the state where the property is located.

If Kilmer had a revocable living trust, it might have streamlined the administration of his real estate, avoided probate, and maintained privacy—key considerations for anyone with real estate in multiple states. 

Spousal Support

Kilmer married actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met during filming of the cult classic film Willow, in 1988. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, not long after the birth of their son. 

A person’s past divorce can create headaches if things were not properly cleaned up at the time of their death. For example, if the person never changed the beneficiary on their life insurance or retirement accounts, an ex-spouse might still be entitled to that money, even if that was not the deceased person’s intention. Also, while there is no public record of Kilmer owing ongoing support to his ex-spouse at his death, unpaid spousal or child support can become debts of the estate, reducing the inheritance that heirs and beneficiaries receive. Property that was supposed to be transferred to the deceased person in the divorce may still be in the ex-spouse’s name (either individually or jointly with the deceased person), leading to confusion and possible legal disputes. To avoid these complications, it is a good idea to review divorce paperwork and ensure that all financial responsibilities are settled and incorporated into the estate plan, and all accounts and property are properly titled or have beneficiary designations that align with their new life circumstances.

Digital Assets

Whether you are a blockbuster movie star, an influencer earning income on YouTube or Substack, or someone who simply keeps their photos in the cloud or has a Venmo account, digital assets are part of everyday life, presenting new questions—and challenges—for estate planning.

In Kilmer’s last appearance in a major film, Top Gun: Maverick, a company called Sonatic helped Kilmer digitally recreate his voice (lost after throat cancer treatment) using AI technology and past recordings.³ This voice recreation has financial value, so what happens to the legal rights to it now that Kilmer has passed away? That answer will largely depend on state law. California law extends a person’s rights to their name, image, and voice for 70 years after their death.⁴ This means that Kilmer’s children, who presumably control his estate, have the exclusive right to approve any future use of his likeness, such as a film cameo, commercial appearance, or holographic performance.⁵

Kilmer’s digital estate may also include intellectual property such as unpublished writings, scripts, digital art, or other assets stored on devices or in the cloud. Any intellectual property stored digitally, either locally or remotely, including notes, photos, and videos, could be considered a digital asset and should be planned for in an estate plan accordingly.

For noncelebrities, the types of digital assets at stake may differ, but the need to plan is just as urgent. We now live in the age of the microcelebrity, where being an influencer is a career goal for over half the members of Gen Z,⁶ and digital assets (e.g., videos, photos, online courses, and virtual goods) are core to personal branding, income generation, and legacy. They may also hold deep sentimental value for people who are not “internet-famous.” 

If you have digital photos, videos, online accounts, or cloud storage accounts, creating digital asset inventories, establishing powers of attorney with explicit authority over digital access and management, and appointing a digital executor or trustee are essential first steps for creating a plan for such assets. Digital asset planning is an evolving area that requires creativity and ongoing updates.

We’re Your Huckleberry

Kilmer’s legacy reminds us that even the most iconic lives require careful planning to preserve their voice—literally and figuratively—for the next generation. 

When it is time to plan your own estate, find an advisor who can look you in the eye and confidently tell you (as Kilmer’s Doc Holliday said in Tombstone), “I’m your huckleberry.” 

1. Val Kilmer’s Net Worth in 2025: Top Gun Star’s Fortune and Inheritance Plan Revealed, FM. (Apr. 2, 2025), https://www.finance-monthly.com/2025/04/val-kilmers-net-worth-in-2025-top-gun-stars-fortune-and-inheritance-plan-revealed. ↩︎
2. Val Kilmer: Charity Work, Events, and Causes, Look to the Stars; The World of Celebrity Giving, https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/val-kilmer (last visited July 30, 2025). ↩︎
3. Philip Ellis, Fans of Val Kilmer Can Hear His Voice Again Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, Cancer + Careers (Apr. 2022), https://www.cancerandcareers.org/newsfeed/news/posts/2022/4/fans-of-val-kilmer-can-hear-hi. ↩︎
4. Sam Fielding, Val Kilmer’s Legacy: Who Controls His Voice, Image, and Royalties After Death?, Lawyer Monthly (Apr. 2, 2025), https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2025/04/val-kilmer-estate-voice-image-legacy. ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. Gili Malinsky, 57% of Gen Zers want to be influencers—but “it’s constant, Monday through Sunday,” says creator, MakeIt (Sept. 14, 2024), https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/14/more-than-half-of-gen-z-want-to-be-influencers-but-its-constant.html. ↩︎

There is nothing quite like ice cream on a warm summer day served just the way you like it. 

You are outside, maybe on a shaded bench or strolling down the boardwalk, sun on your face with a light breeze cutting the heat. The cone is crisp, the flavor is superb, and the toppings are piled high without sliding off. However, that perfect moment depends on everything coming together: the temperature, timing, texture, and a little planning ahead.

We tend to think of ice cream as a simple pleasure, but beneath that sweet surface is actually a complex, carefully structured mixture. If the conditions shift even slightly, it can melt too fast or harden into freezer-burned disappointment.

Estate plans are similar in that way. When made right and kept fresh, they deliver exactly what you want. However, when they are neglected or exposed to too much heat, they can turn messy fast.

That is why regular reviews are so essential. They help keep your plan at just the right consistency: ready to be served to perfection at the right moment. 

What Melting Ice Cream Teaches Us About Estate Planning

Ice cream is a delicate balance of fat globules, ice crystals, air bubbles, and sugar suspended in a watery base. Once the temperature climbs above freezing, the ice crystals start to melt. The structure weakens. Air bubbles expand. Fat molecules soften. Without its frozen framework, your favorite treat loses shape fast.

Likewise, a well-structured estate plan relies on a careful balance of people, documents, instructions, and timing. However, under the pressure of life’s rising “temperatures,” even the most thoughtfully crafted plan can melt. The following factors can affect the “melting point” of your estate plan: 

• Complexity. A bigger scoop holds up longer. But when it melts, it melts fast. More ice cream and toppings (e.g., a plan with trusts, business interests, or layered provisions) mean more chances for something to go wrong—and more of a mess to clean up when it does. 
• Structure. A tightly packed pint holds its form longer than a lopsided scoop, the way a well-designed trust packed with built-in contingencies is more resilient than a basic one-size-fits-all will. However, neither is immune to the long-term effects of change.
• Ingredients. Rich, high-fat ice cream melts slower. In estate planning, the “fat content” and other ingredients are your cast of characters: beneficiaries, executors, trustees, and agents. When “ingredients” (i.e., relationships) change, the estate plan “recipe” needs to be adjusted.
• Homemade versus store-bought. Homemade ice cream behaves differently than store-bought. A do-it-yourself estate plan might feel personal, but it often lacks the structure and durability of a professionally made plan. 
• Varying recipes. Ice cream brands have varying formulas that make some melt faster than others. The same goes for an estate plan. What works for one person might not work for another, and the “melting point,” i.e., the sensitivity to life changes and the need for frequent updates, can vary significantly. The key is understanding your ideal formula.
• Temperature flares. Big life events such as marriage, divorce, births, deaths, health changes, and financial shifts turn up the heat on your plan. If not addressed, these “flash points” can make your plan melt away quickly.
• External factors. Ice cream melts faster with air circulation. Even a light breeze (changes in tax laws, state statutes, or court rulings) can speed up a plan’s meltdown. 

Freezer Burn: When Plans Go Stale

While life’s major events can “melt” your estate plan, leaving it in the deep freeze for too long, forgotten and untouched, causes a different problem: freezer burn.

Freezer burn dulls the flavor and ruins the texture of even the best ice cream. Though not technically spoiled, it is not something you would want to serve your loved ones.

Estate plans can suffer the same fate. A will, trust, or power of attorney might technically still be “edible,” or valid, after a number of years, but if left untouched for too long, it can become rigid and unusable. Beneficiaries may no longer make sense. Fiduciaries may no longer be appropriate. The instructions regarding how your loved ones are to receive their inheritance may no longer reflect your goals or current law. What was once a well-crafted plan is now too hard to handle. 

Sticky Situations: When Sweet Intentions Turn into a Mess

Ice cream left in the glare of the sun or the back of the freezer can change into something unpalatable and unfit for consumption. Here are a few common ways outdated plans can melt (or harden) into a mess:

• Forgotten flavors: Afterborn children or grandchildren are left out. You might have created your estate plan and then left it in a drawer (the “back of the freezer”), not realizing that new additions to the family such as children, grandchildren, or steprelatives may not be included the way you want unless your plan is pulled out and “thawed” (i.e., revised).
• Lingering tastes: An ex-spouse is still named. Divorce may not automatically remove an ex-spouse or their family members from your plan. Without an update, they could still have control over your finances or healthcare—or inherit from you. At the very best, their continued inclusion can lead to costly court battles to ensure that the right beneficiary receives your money and property.
• Missing ingredients: A new spouse is not included. Marriage does not always override old documents. If a new spouse is not specifically named, they may receive less than you intend or be left out altogether.
• Changed preferences: Outdated decision-makers and beneficiaries. Relationships shift over time. A former “flavor of the day,” someone who once seemed like the perfect choice to act as your healthcare proxy or trustee, may no longer be close, available, or aligned with your values.

The Mess Left Behind

On a summer afternoon, you might stroll past a melted ice cream cone on the warm pavement and wonder what happened—and who is going to clean it up. When that mess is an outdated estate plan, it is your loved ones who are left to deal with it. 

• An unexpected trip to probate court. Outdated or incomplete plans can force families into a time-consuming, costly, and public probate court proceeding during your life or at your death to handle the following issues:
  • Appointing someone to make urgent healthcare decisions
  • Managing your accounts and bills for you when you cannot
  • Deciding who inherits what after you pass away

• The wrong people holding the spoon. If documents are not updated, people who are no longer a part of your life may end up with decision-making power and even a share of your money and property.
• Some loved ones left without a taste. New family members might be unintentionally excluded. Outdated distribution provisions may no longer reflect your values or wishes. Spouses or afterborn children can be left with too little or nothing at all.

Keep It Fresh, Keep it Clean: No Mess Left Behind for Your Family 

No one wants to leave behind a sticky mess for their loved ones. Like ice cream, your estate plan holds up best when it is well-made and properly kept. 

Whether life has been heating up with big changes or your plan has been sitting in the back of the freezer, a quick review can keep things fresh and ready to serve: no drips, no freezer burn, no cleanup. 

If it has been a few years (or a few milestones) since you last updated your documents, now is the time. This National Ice Cream Month, treat your estate plan like your favorite dessert: something worth preserving, enjoying, and keeping unspoiled for the people who matter most. Call us today to review your existing estate plan.