Category: The Wealth Advisor

Fall is a time of transition. Depending on where you live and your family’s traditions, the shorter days and cooler temps of autumn could signal that it is time to ditch the short sleeves in favor of long sleeves, pack away the bicycles and tune up the ski equipment, store the lawnmower and test the snowblower, and swap the spooky season decorations in favor of Thanksgiving décor. 

Those of us who live in more southern climates may have less to prepare for weather-wise. However, fall is still a period of change that can put demands on our time, both at home and at work. School is back in full swing, the holiday season is ramping up, and there may be projects you want to complete before the year is over. 

This is the perfect time to take stock of the past year and tie up loose ends before a frenetic last few weeks that can be equal parts stressful and celebratory. Having a fall to-do list can make the challenges of balancing family and professional commitments more manageable during this busy season. 

Tax Day 2025

Like the holidays, tax season has a way of sneaking up on us. 

Next year’s Tax Day is scheduled for April 15, 2025. While that is months away, you can still take steps now to enhance your tax benefits for this year and put you in a strong financial position headed into next year. 

For example, you may want to make additional charitable contributions, maximize annual contributions to retirement accounts, and defer income or accelerate deductions to optimize your current year tax bracket. This is a great time to meet with your CPA or accountant to weigh your options.

If you have incurred capital gains during the year, you can offset those gains by selling investments at a loss, a strategy known as tax-loss harvesting that can reduce your taxable income and tax liability. And if you must take required minimum distributions from your tax-deferred retirement accounts, you must do so by year’s end. Consider meeting with your financial advisor or developing a relationship with one to determine the best strategy for your circumstances and goals.

The end of the year is also a good time to get your tax and financial records in order so that when you meet with your accountant before Tax Day, you will have solid bookkeeping to inform your tax decisions and strategies. 

Holiday Gifting and Gift Taxes

We spend a great deal of time selecting the perfect gifts for our loved ones, but many people are content to receive cold hard cash. 

A survey from Statista shows that the most desired Christmas gift in 2023 was money (43 percent of respondents). ¹ Seven in ten Americans told a Yahoo Finance/Ipsos poll they would be happy to receive an investment as a holiday gift, including over 40 percent who said they would be “very happy.” ² Among the top reasons cited for wanting to receive an investment were saving for the future, building wealth, and paying off debt³. 

The annual gift tax exclusion for 2024 is $18,000 per person or $36,000 per married couple. That means you and your spouse can give up to $36,000 to each of your kids, each of their spouses, and each of your grandchildren in 2024 without having to file a gift tax return or pay any tax.However, the annual limit is time-sensitive, so you must make 2024 gifts prior to December 31, 2024. 

Gifts exceeding the annual exclusion amount may require filing a gift tax return (IRS Form 709), but they will not necessarily result in a requirement to pay gift taxes unless the total amount of all gifts you have made during your lifetime over the annual exclusion amount exceed your lifetime exemption ($13.61 million for a single taxpayer in 2024 and double that for married couples). 

An added incentive to make a generous holiday gift in 2024 is that the currently high exemption amounts are set to expire at the end of 2025. Capitalizing on the current window to make large gifts can be part of an estate planning strategy to move money out of your estate and avoid or minimize federal estate taxes. 

Estate Plan Review

Looking back on the past year is a useful exercise for your estate plan. The rhythm of the seasons and our daily lives produce a regularity that can blind us to the many small changes that are constantly occurring. Add them all up, and you could be in a very different position headed into 2025 than you were starting 2024. 

Was there a birth or death in your family this year? A change to your income? A falling out or reconciliation with a loved one? Did you move to a new state, buy a new home, or receive an inheritance? Do you have a child headed off to college in the spring?  

Any of these situations—and many others—should prompt you to revisit your estate plan. Whether there has been a change in the law or a change of heart, your estate plan should reflect where things stand now—not where they stood a year ago or when you first made your plan.

Refocusing on What Matters Most

Being around family during the holidays usually produces one or two moments that remind us of what we are ultimately working toward and saving for. 

The holidays only come once a year, but your estate plan can have repercussions for your family far into the future. Before you get wrapped up in the celebrations, vacations, and fun temptations that surround the holidays, make time to sit down with your attorney to conduct your own personal year in review and make any necessary adjustments to your estate plan. 

1. Alexander Kunst, Christmas gifts most desired by U.S. consumers in 2023, Statista (Nov. 30, 2023), https://www.statista.com/statistics/246622/christmas-gifts-desired-by-us-consumers.  ↩︎
2. Jennifer Berg & Talia Wiseman, Most Americans would be happy to receive investments as holiday gifts, Ipsos (Nov. 27, 2023), https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/most-americans-would-be-happy-receive-investments-holiday-gifts. ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎

November is an exciting time in the world of sports. Baseball is fresh off the World Series, the NBA and NHL seasons are starting to hit their stride, and the NFL is at the halfway point as the annual Thanksgiving slate of games approaches. 

Football is by far the most popular sport in America and has been for over five decades.¹ The Thanksgiving matchups in 2023 each drew an average of more than 34 million viewers²—an impressive feat in our age of fractured media and streaming services. 

No other cultural event today, sporting or otherwise, brings people together the way football does. It has permeated the way we speak, with terms like moving the goalposts and two-minute drill commonly used in everyday situations.

Why has football captured the American imagination like nothing else? Some say football is a metaphor for life that can teach us lessons about discipline, teamwork, and overcoming adversity to reach a goal. 

In the spirit of our national pastime, we present to you your estate planning team, football-style. 

Your Offensive Team

Meet the offensive players on your own personal estate planning team: your attorney, financial advisor, and tax professional. 

Working together, we help you move the ball—in this metaphor, your estate plan—toward the end zone, which represents your goals of saving for retirement, building wealth, and leaving money behind for loved ones. 

• Attorney: As the quarterback of your estate plan, we lead the team and make critical decisions under pressure. Things do not always go according to plan, so we are adept at planning for contingencies. A play that looked perfect on paper may need to be changed at the line in response to what we see on the other side of the ball, how much time is left on the clock, and other factors. On a given down, we may need to call an audible and change plays, hold onto the ball and run it ourselves, or pass the ball to another player on the team.
• Financial advisor: A financial advisor creates a game plan based on the situation. They survey the field (your finances and market conditions) and adjust strategies to capitalize on opportunities. Your financial advisor has a variety of designed plays (think investments like stocks, bonds, real estate, and retirement accounts) proven to work in certain situations to go along with the occasional trick play—a higher-risk, higher-reward strategy—that they are ready to dial up at the right moment in the game. 
• Tax professional: A tax professional has a unique skill set the team can deploy to exploit mismatches (i.e., favorable tax rules) and swing game momentum at a critical juncture (tax season). They may be on the field for only a few plays a game, but when their number is called, they can make a big impact, helping you to gain field position and create scoring opportunities by finding ways to maximize tax refunds, reduce taxable income, or uncover tax savings. 

Your Defensive Team 

High-powered offenses are widely heralded in football today. A team that does not score enough points and is constantly playing from behind usually comes up short.

However, many teams and coaches still follow the mantra “defense wins championships.” To achieve your goals, you have to do more than move the ball down the field. You must also protect your own end zone with a strong defense, led by your chosen decision-makers: 

• Executor/personal representative: This is the leader of your defense.You have entrusted them with a game plan for after you pass away that involves filing your will with the probate court; taking stock of and distributing your money and property; paying for your final expenses, debts, and taxes; coordinating with beneficiaries; and closing the estate. They have a great deal on their plate, and hopefully, they have been “coached up” before game time by you or your attorney so that they know what to expect when you pass away and they take the ball. 
• Successor trustee: Building a strong football teamrequires having depth at every position—players who can step in when a starter goes down.If you set up a living trust as part of your estate plan, you need somebody to administer the trust after you die or become incapacitated. This person—your successor trustee—must be ready to step in at a moment’s notice and execute the plan you drew up, ensuring continuity and leadership. 
• Power of attorney agent: Depth is crucial in football because injuries are common. Until an injured starter returns, their backups must competently fill their role in the meantime. In your estate plan, your backup is your agent under a medical or financial power of attorney. They can make decisions about your healthcare and finances when you are incapacitated and cannot make these decisions yourself. 

Put Together Your Estate Planning Team

Forty-one percent of US adults say football is their favorite sport³, but only one-third of Americans have created an estate plan⁴. 

We know it is hard to get as excited about an estate plan as it is for “the Big Game.” Football may be a metaphor for life, but at the end of the day, the stakes of a football game cannot compare to what is at stake in your estate plan: everything you have ever worked and saved for and the future of those you love. 

Not having an estate plan amounts to playing a game without a playbook or a full roster. It is relying on luck—a Hail Mary—instead of preparation and execution. It is just as important to revisit an estate plan regularly and make in-game adjustments to account for new and changing circumstances. 

A football team needs a strong offense and defense working together with defined roles to achieve success. Likewise, you need an estate planning team that works together to take what you have and execute plays that carry out your wishes and result in success. 

Do not let your estate plan come down to a two-minute drill when time is running out. Huddle up with us now so that we can talk about how to put you, your finances, and your family in a winning position. 

1. Jeffrey M. Jones, Football Retains Dominant Position as Favorite U.S. Sport, Gallup (Feb. 7, 2024),
   https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx.  ↩︎
2. NFL sets Thanksgiving Day audience record for second straight year, averaging 34.1 million, Spectrum News 1 (Nov. 29, 2023), https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2023/11/29/nfl–thanksgiving-day-audience-record–second-straight-year–viewership.  ↩︎
3. Jones, supra note 12. ↩︎
4. Lorie Konish, 67% of Americans have no estate plan, survey finds. Here’s how to get started on one, CNBC (Apr. 11, 2022), https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/11/67percent-of-americans-have-no-estate-plan-heres-how-to-get-started-on-one.html.  ↩︎

In many parts of the United States, football is more than a sport—it is a way of life and a passion that we often share across generations. 

While a fan might pass down their love for an NFL or college football team to family, passing down season tickets to them is another matter. Each team has a different policy about transferring season tickets, and teams may restrict transfers during the ticket holder’s lifetime and after.

Season Tickets Are a Contract

Football has been America’s favorite sport since the 1970s¹. For season ticket holders, the athleticism and elements of entertainment are part of the fun. However, they must also heed the fine print.

Legally speaking, a season ticket is a contract between the team and the ticket holder. Even though a fan pays for a season ticket, it is considered the team’s property. As a result, the team can generally put whatever terms and conditions it wants on the contract, including a ticket transfer policy. When a fan purchases a season ticket, they agree to comply with this policy and the other stated terms and conditions. 

What constitutes a season ticket “transfer” might be different than what you assume. A physical ticket is not transferred. Rather, the name of the official ticket holder changes on the ticket holder account. 

Like other contracts, a season ticket holder agreement can run to several pages and contain dense legalese. Consider the Season Ticket Member Agreement Terms and Conditions from the Buffalo Bills. Section 10 deals with Transfer Requests and states: 

A “Transfer” is defined as change of ownership on an account when the name of the Official Season Ticket Member of Record is changing from one name to another . . . . All Transfer requests are subject to review by the Bills and the Bills reserve the right to approve or deny any such request in its sole discretion. Transfer requests may be received from February 15 to March 31².

Navigating these agreements, while daunting, is necessary if the fan wants to transfer their season tickets properly during their life or at their death.

Season Ticket Transfer Policy Varies Widely by Team

Team policies about ticket holder transfer rights are as varied as team colors. Some have open transfer policies; others are more restrictive. Many teams restrict transfers to a single individual or certain family members, such as a surviving spouse. 

A team may also have a specific policy regarding season ticket transfers upon the death of the ticket holder. Not all teams publicly announce their policy, if they have one at all. The only way to learn about it may be to contact the ticket office. 

Here are a few more examples of what NFL teams allow fans to do (and prohibit them from doing) with their season tickets: 

• The New England Patriots have a policy regarding the transfer process when a season ticket member dies that says, “Family members of the Season Ticket Member of record can submit a request to transfer the account into someone else’s name, and the Patriots will review the request.³”
• The Denver Broncos’ policy is that only the personal representative or executor of a deceased season ticket holder may sign the transfer form on behalf of the ticket holder.⁴ Further, the Broncos limit transfers to spouses, children, siblings, and parents⁵. 
• The Green Bay Packers permit transfers to qualifying heirs upon the death of a season ticket holder using the Packers-approved transfer form and the ticket holder’s will⁶. Green Bay allows only one individual to own season tickets, so if the deceased leaves their season ticket to more than one child—and the children cannot agree on the new owner—the ticket reverts to the team. 

There is also a wide range of season ticket transfer policies in college football. 

• The Oregon State Beavers’ policy is that the season ticket holder on record can transfer “the opportunity to order season tickets” to a spouse, domestic partner, or child⁷. However, tickets cannot be transferred to a trust⁸. 
• Alabama season ticket transfers are permitted only in the case of the death of a season ticket holder, and seats can be transferred only to the deceased’s surviving spouse⁹. Alabama requires a copy of the deceased’s death certificate and a seat transfer agreement signed by the surviving spouse¹⁰. 
• The Michigan Wolverines allow nonstudent season tickets to be transferred to a recipient who is 18 years or older during the ticket holder’s lifetime, subject to a transfer fee based on seat location. 

Plan Ahead to Transfer Your Season Ticket

Including season tickets in an estate plan can be a way to intertwine your personal legacy with a team’s legacy. To avoid a botched handoff, huddle up with your attorney before the snap and go over the x’s and o’s so you can take proactive steps now, such as contacting the team and completing a ticket transfer form that can be stored with your other estate planning documents. 

1. Jeffrey M. Jones, Football Retains Dominant Position as Favorite U.S. Sport, Gallup(Feb. 7, 2024), https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx.  ↩︎
2. Buffalo Bills, Season Ticket Member Agreement: Terms and Conditions (Feb. 1, 2024), https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/upload/v1707165749/bills/alltrlghyghynrn3rsky.pdf.  ↩︎
3. New England Patriots, Pass It On Program: Frequently Asked Questions, https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/upload/patriots/shblqisotp1brt6bmqap.pdf (last visited Oct. 30, 2024).  ↩︎
4. Season Ticket Transfers, DenverBroncos.com, https://www.denverbroncos.com/tickets/seasontickets/transfers (last visited Oct. 30, 2024). ↩︎
5. Id. ↩︎
6. Transferring Packers Season Tickets, GB, https://www.packers.com/tickets/transferring-season-tickets (last visited Oct. 30, 2024).  ↩︎
7. Season Ticket Transfer Policy, OSUBeavers.com, https://osubeavers.com/sports/2020/1/13/season-ticket-transfer-policy (last visited Oct. 30, 2024). ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
9. 2023 Football TIDE PRIDE and Season Ticket Pricing, Rolltide.com, https://rolltide.com/sports/2022/12/16/tide-pride-changes-for-2023 (last visited Oct. 30, 2024). ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎

The results from the 2024 election are in, and although we still have weeks remaining before the 119th Congress takes office and the new president is inaugurated, there is finally clarity about an election that has been called the most important in our lifetime—and even in US history.

Hyperbole is the norm in any election year, but it is no exaggeration to say that the 2024 election has significant implications for estate planning due to proposed changes in estate taxes, capital gains, and wealth transfer regulations. 

Estate Planning Issues That a New Administration and Congress Could Address

According to many commentators, 2025 could be the most critical year for tax legislation since the 2017 enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). If several TCJA reforms are not extended, more than $4 trillion in tax increases will take effect January 1, 2026. ¹ And if the tax cuts are extended, Congress could be forced to explore new tax increases to offset them². 

• Estate and gift tax exemption: The lifetime estate and gift tax exemption, currently $13.61 million per individual or $27.22 million per married couple under the TCJA, is scheduled to revert to $5 million adjusted for inflation on January 1, 2026, if Congress does not act.
• Capital gains tax: There could be changes to the way appreciated assets are taxed. The TCJA lowered taxes on long-term capital gains; current law allows heirs to inherit property without paying capital gains taxes on the appreciation that occurred during the deceased owner’s lifetime because the basis of those assets was adjusted at the original owner’s death.
  

The incoming government could modify other issues, including retirement accounts, trust rules, interfamily asset transfers, and deductions or incentives for charitable giving. 

Policies can affect estate planning both directly and indirectly. For example, the expiring 20 percent qualified business income deduction for pass-through entities included in the TCJA, along with the TCJA’s lower individual income tax rates, resulted in tax savings for many small-business owners. The ³estate tax exemption and treatment of capital gains are also crucial to many clients, including small-business owners engaged in succession planning, which impacts estate planning. 

Specific policies and their possible effects on an individual’s estate planning goals should be discussed with an experienced attorney. 

What to Expect from the President and Congress 

The gap between campaign vows and governance realities can be vast. Politicians make big promises on the campaign trail. A review of 18 studies of campaign promises found that political parties fulfilled two-thirds of their promises⁴. 

How the president and Congress will govern is far from certain, but what candidates said on the campaign trail, as well as proposals made in party platforms and budgets, offer a blueprint for what we can expect heading into 2025. 

President Donald Trump

Returning to the White House for a second term, Donald Trump has laid out an economic and tax plan that builds on policies from his first term. The Tax Foundation says that Trump will seek to make permanent the individual and estate tax cuts of the TCJA and lower the corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 20 percent or, for companies that make their products domestically, 15 percent.⁵ 

Trump has also proposed replacing the individual income tax with tariffs, uncapping the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, and exempting Social Security benefits from income taxes⁶. Also, according to the 2024 Republican party platform, the party, including Trump, is in favor of cutting taxes broadly (“large tax cuts for workers”) and mentions extending the TCJA provision that doubled the standard deduction⁷. 

The Republican Party Will Have the Majority in Both Houses of Congress

Republican tax policy experts and members have made several proposals in recent months and years that should be monitored in the 119th Congress. 

Of particular note is the FY 2025 budget from the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a prominent conservative congressional caucus, highlighting how many in the party would like to govern in their upcoming terms. The budget contains 285 individual bills and initiatives from 192 members.

The RSC budget would eliminate the federal estate tax and index the capital gains tax to inflation. 

Plans from President Trump and the GOP do not explain in detail how they would offset the cost of TCJA extensions. 

A Great Time for Clients to Review Their Estate Plan

Aside from the changes that can occur following an election, the general recommendation is that clients review and update their estate plan every three to five years or when there is a major life event (such as a marriage, divorce, birth, death, job change, or move) or a change in tax laws. 

Although it remains to be seen how the legislative agendas of the new president and Congress will play out, it seems all but assured that changes are on the way that may impact estate planning for Americans across the wealth spectrum. We are committed to keeping you up to date so you can keep your clients informed about changes as they occur.

Estate planning is multifaceted and highly individualized, making it crucial to work with an estate planning attorney who can help you navigate legal changes and ensure that clients’ plans align with their long-term goals. Call us to discuss ways we can work together to address our mutual clients’ estate planning needs.

1.  KPMG report: Tax provisions expiring in 2025 affecting individuals and families, KPMG (Sept. 4, 2024), https://kpmg.com/us/en/taxnewsflash/news/2024/09/tnf-kpmg-report-tax-provisions-expiring-in-2025-affecting-individuals-and-families.html. ↩︎
2.  Watching the sunset: Tax provisions expiring in 2025, p. 3, KPMG (Sept. 4, 2024), https://kpmg.com/kpmg-us/content/dam/kpmg/taxnewsflash/pdf/2024/09/tnf-report-expiring-provisions-2025-final-sep4-2024.pdf.
   ↩︎
3.  Huaqun Li, How the TCJA Affected Legal Business Forms, Tax Foundation (June 19, 2024), https://taxfoundation.org/blog/tcja-pass-through-business-tax-reform/.
   ↩︎
4.  François Pétry & Benoît Collette, Do They Walk Like They Talk?: Speech and Action in Policy Processes 65 (Louis M. Imbeau ed., 2009), https://www.google.com/books/edition/Do_They_Walk_Like_They_Talk/GeBerBIPvm8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=do+they+walk+like+they+talk. 
   ↩︎
5.  Erica York, et. al., Donald Trump Tax Plan Ideas: Details and Analysis, Tax Foundation (Oct. 14, 2024), https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/donald-trump-tax-plan-2024/.
   ↩︎
6.  Emily Wilkins and Kevin Breuninger, Trump floats eliminating U.S. income tax and replacing it with tariffs on imports, CNBC (June 13, 2024), https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/13/trump-all-tariff-policy-to-replace-income-tax.html.
   ↩︎
7.  2024 Republican Party Platform, The American Presidency Project (July 8, 2024), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform.
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Rain Man is one of the most iconic American movies of the 1980s. Starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, it won four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and was the highest-grossing film of 1988. 

Although secondary to the main plot, several estate planning threads run through Rain Man, including those related to trusts, beneficiaries, and how to plan for children who have very different personalities and needs. 

Two Brothers and an Inheritance

Charlie Babbitt (Cruise), the estranged son of a millionaire, is dismayed to learn that his late father, Sanford Babbitt, left him only a ’49 Buick Roadmaster and some rose bushes. The rest of his father’s $3 million estate was put in a trust for the benefit of a mystery person. 

That person turns out to be Raymond Babbitt (Hoffman), Charlie’s long-lost, autistic-savant brother who is institutionalized at a facility for people with developmental disabilities. The trustee of the trust, Dr. Bruner, is the director of the facility and Raymond’s doctor. 

Charlie tries to convince Dr. Bruner that he is entitled to half the money in the trust. When that strategy fails, Charlie takes Raymond out of the facility without permission in an effort to use him as a bargaining chip. 

On a weeklong road trip from Cincinnati to Charlie’s home in Los Angeles, Charlie bonds with his quirky brother and has a change of heart. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Charlie finds that he is more interested in caring for Raymond than getting the money and gives up his fight for the inheritance. 

Estate Planning Issues and Lessons

For parents, ensuring that children are provided for in an estate plan is top of mind, but estate planning is not one-size-fits-all. What makes sense for one child may not be suitable for another.

This is one lesson we can learn from Sanford Babbitt and the different treatment his sons receive in his estate plan: you are under no legal obligation to provide equally for your children. Indeed, equal treatment may not be in their best interests.

When a Child Cannot Handle Their Inheritance

Both Charlie and Raymond get different inheritances, both in what they receive and in whether they receive it outright or in trust, motivated by different factors. 

We learn in the movie that Charlie spent time in jail and he and his father had a falling out. Reading between the lines, it seems that Sanford viewed Charlie as too immature to handle a large inheritance. He may have thought, as many parents do in his situation, that a large inheritance would only further enable Charlie to follow the wrong path. 

Raymond’s neurodivergent condition requires professional care in an institutional setting. This is clearly why Sanford placed money for him in a trust and named a doctor as trustee who would ensure his special needs were met for the rest of his life.

We are not sure what type of trust Sanford created for Raymond or what special instructions (if any) were imposed on the trustee. In real life, the trust may have been structured as a special needs trust, which can benefit a disabled individual without jeopardizing their eligibility for government assistance. 

Sharing Information Before Death Can Reduce Conflicts

While Sanford probably could not have predicted that Charlie would find Raymond and hold him for ransom, he could reasonably have anticipated, based on Charlie’s history, that Charlie would go looking for the money and that trouble would follow. He could have avoided trouble by sharing his inheritance plans with Charlie before he died. Instead, the news came as a total shock to Charlie and might have pushed him to act irrationally. 

Likewise, Charlie’s surprise at learning about a brother he did not know existed set the stage for dramatics befitting a Hollywood blockbuster. In hindsight, things worked out between the Babbitt brothers. In reality, most parents would want to avoid such theatrics. 

Parents have reasons for keeping personal information from their children. However, secrecy should be weighed against the explosive power of revelation, especially if the parents will no longer be around to explain the motivation behind their actions. 

Using an Estate Plan to Bring Family Together

Careful estate planning can not only help stave off family conflicts but also strengthen familial bonds. Whether a child has a disability or a track record of worrisome behavior, or the parents simply want to instill their values in their children, a trust can have provisions that guide beneficiaries toward a specific desired outcome or deter bad behaviors. 

Instead of cutting Charlie out of the trust, for example, Sanford could have structured the trust to benefit both of his sons and demanded that Charlie only receive distributions if he helped to care for Raymond. Becoming active in Raymond’s life could have incentivized Charlie to take a more mature course of action while bringing the brothers together. 

Rain Man has a happy ending, with Charlie returning Raymond to Dr. Bruner and promising to visit him. But happy endings are not nearly as common in life as they are in Hollywood, and this happy ending was mostly accidental. Imagine the drama that may have been avoided if Sanford had stated that Charlie could benefit from the trust if he just spent time with his brother, got to know him, and looked after him.

Write Your Legacy Script with Help from an Estate Planning Attorney

Rain Man won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Director, showing the magic that can result when all the elements of a movie come together.

Bringing a successful estate plan to fruition, like making a successful movie, requires a collective effort. If you are the author of your legacy script and the star of your life’s movie, then think of us as the director, working behind the scenes to interpret the script and maintain the creative vision throughout the process, from preproduction meetings to the final edit. To create or update your estate plan, please get in touch with us to schedule a meeting.

Picture this: You are standing on a piece of land that has been in your family for generations and has been handed down through a trust. The land is imbued with memories from your childhood, your children, and family gatherings. You want to keep the land in the family for years to come. However, the family trust is set to end soon, and when it does, you and your cousins will each own a share of the property. 

At that point, the land will likely be subdivided, sold off, and developed. You look at old photos of your family on the land and convince yourself that is not what they would have wanted, and it is not what you want either. Other family members want to sell, however, and cash in. 

What can you do, legally, to protect the land while keeping your family members at bay? 

The Descendants Movie Showcases Trustee Challenges

The above scenario is the plot of the 2011 movie The Descendants, starring George Clooney and based on a novel of the same name. 

Although fictional, The Descendants has some basis in fact and reflects a common estate planning challenge that many families face when attempting to hold and manage assets (accounts and property) for multiple generations. 

Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaii attorney and sole trustee of a family trust established by his great-great-grandparents, a Hawaiian princess and an American banker. The trust’s most valuable asset is a 25,000-acre parcel of pristine coastland on the island of Kauai. The land has been in the family since the 1860s, but the trust is set to end in seven years. 

Matt, one of about 20 beneficiaries of the trust, is not reliant on it for income and does not want to sell the land. However, many of his cousins have squandered their inheritance and need the money. 

Worried that distributing the land to his cousins would be a “trainwreck”—alluding to the likelihood that the co-owning cousins would end up in a complicated and costly partition lawsuit—Matt must decide what to do with the land. 

Right before he is about to sell to a developer, Matt has a change of heart. He decides against selling the family’s “piece of paradise,” which his ancestors would not have wanted developed; he then has seven years to find a way to preserve it and the legacy imbued in it. 

Matt’s decision sets the stage for litigation between him and his cousins, who prefer to sell. 

Some Lessons about Trusts from The Descendants 

The author of The Descendants reportedly drew inspiration from family trusts that were in the news around the time she was writing the novel.¹ To this day, large pieces of land are still held in Hawaii by so-called Ali’i trusts that were set up more than a century ago to hold the assets of Hawaiian royalty. 

The Descendants offers estate planning lessons about issues like a trustee’s power to act unilaterally, the duties that trustees owe to trust beneficiaries, problems associated with co-ownership of valuable undeveloped land, and more. 

• Whenever property must be distributed among multiple family members, like the land held in Matt King’s family trust, the potential for family conflict exists. The “trainwreck” that Matt King envisions centers on the likelihood of his cousins fighting over how to divide their interests in the land when they become co-owners. This situation can put tremendous pressure on a family trustee, especially one who is also a beneficiary, to remain objective in the face of family demands. 
• While it is not specified in the movie how Matt became sole successor trustee, multigenerational trusts need a mechanism for selecting successor trustees who can take over for the initial trustees and those successors who follow them.
• Matt, as the sole trustee, has a legal duty to carry out the trust’s purpose in a way that serves the beneficiaries’ best interests. When he asks his cousins what they view as being in their best interests, almost all of them want to sell. However, just because a beneficiary says they want something or consents to a trustee’s proposed action does not mean they cannot later sue the trustee for a perceived breach of duty if their decision was bad in hindsight. 
• A third-party professional trustee or co-trustee may be better suited than a family member to navigate the types of real-life family inheritance issues depicted in The Descendants. A corporate trustee from a bank or trust company can also provide continuity over multiple generations. 
• The person who sets up a trust and transfers their accounts and property to it should be clear about their intentions so that future heirs do not have to wrestle with the type of decision that Matt agonized over. 

Write a Legacy Script for Your Descendants 

You do not have to be the descendant of Hawaiian royalty to struggle with the sorts of estate planning quandaries that Matt King faces in The Descendants, and it does not have to be a piece of land you are trying to protect. It could be any assets that are placed in a trust and accumulate wealth for successive generations. 

The longer the duration being planned for, the greater the potential challenges. Let us help you write a legacy script that honors your family’s past and secures the financial well-being of your future beneficiaries. 

1. Julia Flynn Siler, ‘The Descendants’ Aims to Lay Down the Law in Hawaii, The Wall Street J. (Nov. 26, 2011), https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-68005. ↩︎

An Estate Plan Is Your Script to a Lasting Legacy

“We are all storytellers, and we are the stories we tell,” wrote American psychologist Dan McAdams. Narrative thinking refers to how we view our own role in the story of our lives. It is a more formal way of describing “main character energy” or “main character syndrome,” two terms that originated on social media to describe when someone puts themselves first and takes control of their narrative. 

Viewing yourself as the main character in the movie of your life is associated with greater psychological well-being. It can make you feel more competent, autonomous, and effective. One way to take control of your story is to create an estate plan, enabling you to write a script for your legacy. 

An Estate Plan as Your Legacy Script

Storytelling is an art as old as humanity itself. Our brains are designed to think in narratives. We cannot resist a good story that reels us in with intriguing characters and develops into a tension-filled middle and a satisfying ending. From bedtime stories as children to Netflix binges as adults, our predisposition toward narratives is a deep-seated human impulse. 

As natural-born storytellers, we instinctively understand that every story needs certain dramatic ingredients to succeed. Screenwriters typically identify three elements—characters, conflict, and resolution—as key to crafting compelling narratives. 

An estate plan can also be broken down into these storytelling elements to help you visualize your life story and write your legacy script. 

Characters

If you are the main character, or protagonist, in your own movie, then your loved ones are the supporting characters. In estate planning terms, they may be the beneficiaries—those who stand to inherit your money and property. 

On-screen and in an estate plan, supporting characters are just as important as the main character. They add depth to the story and are integral to the main character’s experiences. Without them, the narrative would fall apart. 

When you think of a movie with just one main character, Tom Hanks in Cast Away may come to mind. But even Hanks’s character in Cast Away has flashbacks to his life from before the plane crash that color his experience on the island and motivate him to seek rescue. 

The best characters, whether main or supporting, have fully developed backstories, goals, and needs. We become invested in characters we can relate to as we learn more about their lives and the experiences that shaped them.

As estate planning attorneys, getting to know not only you, the main character in your movie, but also your beneficiaries, the supporting characters in your life who stand to inherit from you, is essential to understanding what motivates you and how we can best plan for your future. 

Conflict

Conflict is the foundation of any good story. It identifies the challenges the characters face, introduces tension, and forces the main character to take actions that move the story toward resolution. 

Conflicts are by their nature unpleasant and uncomfortable, which is what makes them so impactful. They are ultimately what allow viewers to become emotionally invested in a story and force the main character to grow and evolve. A conflict does not have to be bad, but it is hard to tell an engaging story when the characters have no obstacles to overcome. 

No family is conflict-free. There may be an antagonist in your family, such as an individual with a substance abuse disorder who requires special planning considerations. Maybe there is a scandalous backstory, like a child from an earlier, secret marriage who now figures into your estate plan. Or it could be more mundane interfamily squabbles over things like money, favoritism, and resentment that rear their ugly head. 

Applying the narrative element of conflict to estate planning means exploring potential issues in your family story and how they might play out in the future so that we can effectively plan around them. 

Resolution

A story’s payoff comes in the form of the resolution, when the characters overcome obstacles, tie up loose ends, and end the story. The resolution usually takes up very little screen time relative to the time spent fleshing out the characters and conflicts, but it is what everything has been leading up to. 

Writing a strong estate plan, like writing a strong resolution, can be tricky. It involves coming up with an ending that ties the story’s other elements together and is emotionally satisfying. There is nothing wrong with a plot twist—as long as the resolution provides a sense of closure. 

The resolution of the estate planning process is a set of tools, like a will, trust, power of attorney, and medical directive. These documents give you peace of mind that your legacy is secure and your loved ones will be cared for after you are gone, leaving no chance of lingering uncertainty. 

What Is Your Story?

We all have stories to tell. When you add those stories up over the course of a lifetime, you get something that looks much like a movie. 

A recent study found that people who view themselves as a major character in their life story, rather than a minor character, are more likely to pursue goals that are personally meaningful and align with their values.¹ 

If you see yourself as the main character in your life’s movie, the question is, who’s writing the script? 

Your estate plan, like your life story, is unique. We can help you write a plan that resolves family conflicts and provides for the supporting characters in your life. Ultimately, though, it is your story to tell. 

It is not too late to write the perfect ending: get in touch with an estate planning attorney. 

1. Eric W. Dolan, Seeing yourself as a main character boosts psychological well-being, study finds, PsyPost (July 20, 2024), https://www.psypost.org/seeing-yourself-as-a-main-character-boosts-psychological-well-being-study-finds/#google_vignette. ↩︎

Young adults are not known for being the most fiscally responsible people. Yet financial planning is more important than ever for a generation that is struggling with high inflation and debt and has a tendency to prioritize spending over saving. 

If your advice is falling on deaf ears, try putting yourself in your child’s position and seeing the current economic environment through their eyes. Professional guidance can also help break through money management barriers and prepare a young adult for a lifetime of financial success. 

Tuition Costs Have Never Been Higher

Eighty-three percent of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2010) say that a college education today is “very important” or “fairly important.”¹ But a growing number of zoomers are choosing to skip college and enter the job market due in large part to affordability concerns.² 

College costs have been trending upward for the last two decades and currently average nearly $110,000 for four years at an in-state public institution and $234,512 for four years at a private university.³

High school seniors who pursue higher education should make sure they understand what they are signing up for when they take out student loans. Private student loan interest rates are primarily based on creditworthiness, so it is important to establish a good credit score before applying. 

Student loan debt is notoriously difficult to discharge, and loan rates are typically fixed for the life of the loan. However, there are ways to manage student debts, such as interest rate discounts for automatic payment withdrawals, paying extra principal, and enrolling in federal programs such as the new Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. 

Paychecks Are Not Going As Far

While more recent high school graduates are opting not to attend college and instead enter the workforce, this choice can present its own financial challenges. 

On paper, Gen Z workers are earning more than some in the older generations, but much of this comes from freelancing and rideshare jobs.⁴ 

Historically high inflation is eating into Gen Z’s earnings. Zoomers have been disproportionately impacted by rising prices and are spending more on essentials than preceding generations. 

Gen Z is contending with 32 percent inflation in the past decade. Compared with young people 10 years ago, Gen Z is paying 31 percent more for housing, twice as much for car insurance, and 46 percent more for health insurance.⁵ This can cause them to feel like they are starting further behind financially than their parents and grandparents were at their age and cannot afford the American Dream.⁶ 

Inflation deserves a large part of the blame for why Gen Z is living on a financial cliff. However, members of Gen Z may share some of the blame. Today’s young people have a much “softer” approach to investing and personal finance than previous generations. This approach is more about personal growth and mental well-being in the here and now than it is about saving for an uncertain future. 

Three in four Gen Zers say the current economy makes them hesitate to set long-term financial goals.⁷ Then again, this could be a “chicken-and-egg” scenario. 

Credit Cards Are Not the Answer to Inflation

In response to higher inflation and its corollary, less discretionary income, Gen Z is racking up credit card debt at an unprecedented rate. 

Eighty-four percent of Gen Zers are using credit cards, research from TransUnion shows. ⁸And roughly one in seven have maxed out their cards—more than any other generation.⁹ These trends are particularly worrisome because credit card interest is at an all-time high of around 22 percent. 

However, there are smart ways to use cards to build credit and earn rewards for an upcoming trip or purchase. Having a balance available in an emergency can also serve as a temporary self-funded loan. But in order to take advantage of these benefits, young adults need to understand the consequences of using a credit card. 

More Ways to Invest Than Ever

Younger investors are less confident that they can achieve above-average returns solely with stocks and bonds. Thus, instead of engaging in traditional investment strategies, Gen Z shows a greater preference for alternative investments such as crypto, private equity, direct investments in companies, socially responsible investing, and automated or robo-advisor investing.¹⁰

When looking to invest, it is important that young adults have a good strategy in place. A long-term investment strategy that relies on buying and holding specific assets is one of the best hedges against inflation.¹¹ Passive investing almost always beats active investing, even among money managers.¹²

Give Your Teen the Gift of Financial Literacy

The “real world” is often the crucible in which money lessons are learned the hard way. That does not mean a young adult should go off to college or enter the workforce without a basic financial education. Help your soon-to-be high school graduate establish—and meet—their financial goals by scheduling a consultation with an advisor. 

1. Tara P. Nicola, Majority of Gen Z Consider College Education Important, Gallup (Sept. 14, 2023), https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/509906/majority-gen-consider-college-education-important.aspx.  ↩︎
2. Steven Schwartz, The College-to-Corporate Pipeline Is Facing Extinction. Here’s Why, FastCompany (July 10, 2024), https://www.fastcompany.com/91150442/genz-college-internet-economy.  ↩︎
3. Melanie Hanson, Average Cost of College & Tuition, Educ. Data Initiative (May 28, 2024), https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college.  ↩︎
4. Adam Palasciano, Does Gen X Make More at Work Than Millennials or Gen Z Do?, Yahoo!Finance (Feb. 25, 2024), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/does-gen-x-more-millennials-210036258.html.  ↩︎
5. John L. Dorman, Gen Zers Pay More for Housing Than Millennials Did—Why It Matters, Bus. Insider (June 23, 2024), https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-millennials-housing-costs-insurance-debt-election-trump-biden-2024-6.  ↩︎
6. Bailey Schulz & Kathleen Wong, “They Can’t Buy into That American Dream”: How Younger Workers Are Redefining Success, USA Today (Oct. 17, 2023), https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/09/26/gen-z-millennials-face-unique-financial-challenges/70910672007.  ↩︎
7.  Intuit, Prosperity Index Study (Jan. 2023), https://www.intuit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Intuit-Prosperity-Index-Report_US_Jan-2023.pdf.  ↩︎
8. Gen Z Consumers Are Using Credit More, and Differently, Than Their Millennial Counterparts at the Beginning of Their Credit Journeys, TransUnion (May 8, 2024), https://newsroom.transunion.com/gen-z-using-credit-differently.  ↩︎
9. Matt Egan, 1 in 7 Gen Z Credit Card Users Are “Maxed Out,” CNN (May 17, 2024), https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/business/gen-z-credit-card-users/index.html. ↩︎
10. Will the “Great Wealth Transfer” Transform the Markets?, Merrill,  https://www.ml.com/articles/great-wealth-transfer-impact.html (last visited Aug. 27, 2024). ↩︎
11. E. Napoletano, Best Investments to Beat Inflation, Forbes (July 30, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/best-investments-to-beat-inflation.  ↩︎
12. Active vs. Passive Investing: What’s the Difference?, Investopedia (Sept. 6, 2023), https://www.investopedia.com/news/active-vs-passive-investing.  ↩︎

As our client—and as a parent—you know that having a comprehensive estate plan ensures that your children will be taken care of if something happens to you. But what if something happens to your child? Should they have a will, too? And if they do not, what happens then? 

These are some of the questions a parent might ask themselves and their child when broaching the topic of estate planning. While it might not be the most comfortable conversation, getting your child to step out of their comfort zone and encouraging them to think about their legacy can help their transition to adulthood. 

Motivations for a Young Person to Get a Will

When your child turns 18, they are legally an adult and can make a will. Although this is one of the less glamorous aspects of being an adult, it can foster a sense of independence and control over one’s actions and decisions.

The percentage of people who have an estate plan is low across all age groups. Oddly enough, however, the percentage of young adults with a will increased from 16 percent in 2020 to 24 percent in 2024, according to research from Caring.com.¹ Among the 18- to 34-year-old cohort, these were the top motivators for getting a will²: 

• Media coverage (34 percent)
• Family expansion (34 percent)
• Home purchase (28 percent)
• Current events (26 percent)
• Upcoming travel (22 percent)

Most Young Adults Own Some Traditional and Digital Assets

It should be stressed that, even if your child does not own much, they still probably have things of value, such as a bank account, pet, vehicle, or personal possessions (collectibles, art, jewelry, heirlooms, or memorabilia). They could also have an inheritance they are already in possession of or that you are managing for them through a family trust. 

While you probably have a good sense of the monetary and tangible accounts and property your children own, their online, digital assets may be less known to you but just as real to them as traditional assets—and in some cases, just as valuable. Digital assets are worth real-world money and include the following types of assets: 

• Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
• Nonfungible tokens (NFTs)
• Funds in PayPal, Venmo, and other payment apps
• Money owed to them from selling products through an online store such as Amazon or Etsy
• Rewards program points
• Monetized content channels that produce ad revenue
• Website domain names
• Copyrighted digital works
• Online wagering and sports betting account funds

It is worth noting that a young adult may also have other digital assets that are valuable from a more sentimental perspective, like extensive photo or video libraries stored in a digital cloud. 

Explain to your child where the estate in estate planning comes from. An estate consists of everything a person owns when they die. A young person may think they do not have enough money and property to warrant a will, but in terms of the law, a person can have an estate even if they die with $1 to their name. 

And if your young adult child owns anything of any value—even if it is just sentimental value—and cares about what happens to it, they should think about creating a will. 

Why Everyone Needs a Will

Parents who want to encourage their child to create a will can start by talking to them about the first step—taking inventory and making a list of all of their items and accounts. Next, you can raise the question of what would happen to these things if they were to pass away. 

When discussing the importance of a will, you should stress what occurs when somebody dies without a will: 

• Without a will, everything a young adult owns will likely have to go through probate court and eventually pass to their parents according to state statute. Some children may be fine with this, but others may prefer that a sibling, stepparent, stepsibling, significant other, friend, or somebody else receives their belongings. 
• A charitably minded young person might also be interested in making a gift to a cause they are passionate about.
• Even if a child has only one specific item they want to leave to someone at their passing or only one person they want to receive all of their assets, this could be enough to warrant a will.

A will also allows someone to name an executor to settle their affairs. The executor distributes a person’s money and property—both digital and nondigital—based on the instructions in the person’s will and can be granted power and control over their online accounts. This power allows the executor to do things like deactivate social media, email, and gaming accounts; access and pay online bills; and transfer and share digital content and account access. 

If the person does not name an executor in a will, the court will choose one for them. Unfortunately, the chosen executor may not be their first choice. 

Debt is another point to consider. Young adults aged 18 to 23 have an average debt balance of nearly $10,000.³ Tell your child that debts are part of an estate every bit as much as their money and property are. Debt that cannot be paid off from what they leave behind will likely disappear and will not transfer to you or other family members. But acknowledging what happens to our debt when we die can be part of the estate planning discussion. 

A Will Is a Big Step into Adulthood

When a child turns 18, they may be eager to show off their new adult status. Creating a will is one of the things that only a legal adult can do. While it may not rank high on their priority list, they can benefit from knowing what a will is, how it works, and why it is important. 

Talking about wills entails broaching the topic of death, which could discourage your child from taking the next step. But when they are ready to take it, they should have a foundational understanding to build on and a trusted advisor they can turn to for advice. If you would like to meet with us and your soon-to-be adult child to discuss the importance of an estate plan, please give us a call.

1. 2024 Wills and Estate Planning Study, Caring.com, https://www.caring.com/caregivers/estate-planning/wills-survey (last visited Aug. 27, 2024). ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. Megan DeMatteo, The Average American Has $90,460 in Debt—Here’s How Much Debt Americans Have at Every Age, CNBC (Nov. 14, 2023), https://www.cnbc.com/select/average-american-debt-by-age.  ↩︎

High School Seniors Can Use a Starter Estate Plan

The long, carefree days of summer are nearing an end. If you have a high school senior at home, childhood is also coming to an end for them as they prepare to graduate, turn 18, and enter the “real world.” 

You have done everything you can to prepare your child mentally, emotionally, and financially for what comes next. But are they—and you—legally prepared for their official start of adulthood? 

Soon, your child will be able to vote, get married, and sign a mortgage. They will also be emancipated from your parental authority. This means that, without signed legal documents, you could find yourself helpless to intervene in an emergency or other situation where your adult child requires aid. 

Adventures in Adulting 

Parents never stop being parents. No matter how old our kids are, we feel compelled to nurture and protect them. However, our ability to do so is severely limited once our kids turn 18.

It is debatable whether an 18-year-old is truly an adult. Scientists who study the brain say the transition to adulthood is cognitively much more nuanced and, for some, brain development is not complete until people reach their late 20s or early 30s. 

Brain research helps explain why many young people engage in risky behavior well beyond the time they reach the age of legal adulthood. The transition out of adolescence is fraught with potential health risks. 

The point here is not to scare you but rather to prepare you and your soon-to-be adult child with the resources to meet unexpected possibilities head-on. 

Although you may recognize the dangers that await your child in the adult world, you may be unaware that if something happens to them and they have not signed certain estate planning documents and cannot communicate their wishes, you will likely have to petition the court before you can obtain information about them and make decisions for them. And that takes time you might not have. 

It does not have to be something bad, like an accident, that triggers the need for a trusted decision-maker. Maybe your child plans to enter the military, attend an out-of-state university, or travel abroad after they graduate. Whatever their plans are, they should have a basic estate plan when they turn 18. 

The 18-Year-Old’s Estate Plan Starter Pack 

While an 18-year-old may not need a full estate plan, they should at least prepare a few forms that address the new reality of their legal independence and the fact that a parent no longer has the right to manage their affairs. 

Powers of Attorney

A power of attorney (POA) document authorizes someone else to act on your behalf concerning the circumstances laid out in that document. Depending on state law, POAs can take effect immediately, at a future date, or upon a specific condition being met (e.g., incapacity due to injury or illness). The latter is known as a springing power of attorney. 

A POA can be broad in scope or limited only to those actions and types of decisions outlined in the document. Also, states have different rules governing POAs, and more than one form may be required if your child is changing their residence to a different state than you.

• A medical power of attorney allows an adult child to designate another person to make medical decisions for them. For example, it could allow you to step in and direct your child’s care in a medical emergency. 
• A financial power of attorney grants a designated person the authority to conduct financial and legal matters, such as paying bills, filing taxes, and managing banking and investment accounts, on another’s behalf. 

Advance Directive/Living Will

Young people tend to feel invincible. But contemplating mortality, and planning for it, is a part of growing up. 

One way to plan for a health crisis is with an advance directive or living will, which is a set of instructions that a person uses to outline their healthcare wishes if they suffer a debilitating injury or illness and are unable to communicate. It will specify end-of-life medical treatment preferences such as whether they want a feeding tube, artificial hydration, or a breathing machine to keep them alive. 

These tools are commonly confused with a DNR (do not resuscitate) order. DNR orders are not typically included within an estate plan but are instead executed within specific medical facilities like hospitals or assisted living facilities. 

Advance directives are not legally recognized in all states, but where they are, they can provide helpful guidance to the person acting under a medical power of attorney.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Waiver 

As either a separate document or included in a medical power of attorney, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) waiver grants named individuals access to the adult child’s protected health information. You will likely need a HIPAA waiver even if your child is still covered under your health insurance. 

Talk to Your Teen about Estate Planning

At some point, a parent and teenager should sit down and talk about the legal rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Stress to your teen that, without documents like financial and medical powers of attorney, state law will choose a decision-maker for them, most likely a parent, in the event they are unable to manage their own affairs. If they want a different person making decisions for them, they must name them in legal documents. Also, let them know that preparing legal documents in advance will help them avoid the lengthy and public process of having someone appointed as their decision-maker. 

Ready to talk to your teen about estate planning? We are happy to join the conversation and offer professional guidance.