Category: The Wealth Counselor

High School Seniors Can Use a Starter Estate Plan (Advisor Letter #1)

As summer fades into fall and school resumes, millions of seniors are entering the home stretch of their high school careers and marking their official entry into legal adulthood at age 18. 

According to cognitive scientists, some individuals’ brains do not finish developing until they are in their late 20s or early 30s, and many parents would be quick to agree. But in the eyes of the law, when a child reaches 18, they can vote, get married, sign a mortgage, join the military, move out of their parents’ home, and do many other things that only adults are allowed to do. This also includes creating an estate plan. 

While an 18-year-old may not need as many tools in their estate plan as adults further down the path of life require, they should at least have the foundational documents that address the new reality of their legal independence and the fact that their parents can no longer manage their affairs for them without their written consent. 

Turning 18 and the End of Parental Authority

Parents never stop being parents. No matter how old our kids are, we feel the need to nurture and protect them. 

Once a child reaches age 18, however, the law limits how involved parents can legally be in their child’s life. Parents no longer have the right to access their child’s financial and medical records or make decisions for them in an emergency—regardless of whether the child is still in high school, covered by their parents’ health insurance, or receiving monetary assistance from their parents. 

Parents who are unaware that their parental authority is severely limited after their child’s 18th birthday could find themselves helpless to intervene if their child suffers an accident and certain legal documents are not in place. Or maybe a child plans to enter the military or travel abroad when they graduate. Whatever their plans are, they should have a few basic estate plan documents when they turn 18. 

Estate Plan Documents Every 18-Year-Old Should Have

The point of discussing accidents, disability, and incapacity (a person’s inability to manage their affairs while they are alive) is not to scare parents and young adults unnecessarily but rather to stress the importance of estate planning for a young adult who will soon be graduating high school, starting the next chapter of their life, and entering the real world. 

Being an adult involves taking on greater responsibility, self-advocating, and addressing uncomfortable possibilities head-on. One of these possibilities is that something could happen that requires a parent—or somebody else—to step in and make decisions for them. 

Powers of Attorney

A power of attorney (POA) allows an adult child to appoint someone else to act on their behalf concerning the circumstances laid out in the document. Depending on state law, POAs can take effect immediately, at a future date, or upon a certain condition being met (e.g., incapacity due to injury or illness). They can be broad in scope or limited only to those actions and types of decisions specified in the document. Also, states have different rules governing POAs, and more than one form may be needed if a child is changing their residence to a different state than their parents.

• A medical power of attorney allows an adult child to designate another person to make medical decisions for them when they cannot communicate their own wishes. For example, it could allow a parent to direct treatments and consult with the physician regarding their 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 can sometimes feel invincible. Contemplating mortality, and planning for it, comes with age. 

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 medical condition and are unable to communicate. It will specify life-extending 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. Parents will likely need to be named in a HIPAA waiver even if their child is still covered under their health insurance.

What Can Happen If an Adult Child Does Not Plan for the Unexpected?

Without these documents, state law will choose an adult child’s decision-maker—most likely a parent. Although this could be whom the young adult would also choose, it takes time for a court to put decision-makers into effect. In an emergency, where every second counts, the family might not have any time to spare. 

It could also be the case that the child is estranged from their parents and does not want them to be authorized decision-makers. The parents may find this hurtful, but the choice belongs to the young adult.

The months ahead present a huge opportunity for advisors to work on an estate plan starter pack that includes POAs and related documents with any clients who have children approaching adulthood. If you or your clients would like to discuss this starter estate plan for new adults, give us a call.

Every client, regardless of the size of their estate or their age, can benefit from a will that gives legal effect to their inheritance plan. Even if they have a trust to manage asset distributions, a trust cannot address every estate planning consideration. Wills have limitations as well, but they belong in a comprehensive estate plan.

What a Will Does—and Does Not Do

Wills, along with trusts, powers of attorney, and living wills, are some of the most basic estate planning documents. A will states how someone (the willmaker) wants their assets (accounts and property) to be passed down when they die.

• It names who the beneficiaries are and how much they will receive. 
• It also names an individual (the executor or personal representative) who oversees paying off debts, distributing assets, filing all necessary paperwork with the probate court, and filing the appropriate tax returns.
• In addition to naming an executor, a will can name a guardian to care for the willmaker’s minor surviving children. 

These are the primary functions of a will, but it is equally important to understand what a will does not do. 

• A will only governs the disposition of assets held individually in the willmaker’s name without a beneficiary designation at the time of the willmaker’s death. 
• A will cannot dispose of assets that are owned jointly or governed by beneficiary designations or other contracts. Beneficiary designations on life insurance policies and retirement plans take precedence over a will, as do payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) designations on bank accounts. 
• Wills do not provide for incapacity planning. 
• Wills only take effect upon the willmaker’s death but can be revised any time prior to death, as long as the willmaker has the required mental capacity.

What the Client Owns Could Play a Role

Whether or not a will is an appropriate estate planning tool for a client may depend on the type and amount of assets the client owns. If most of what the client owns will be distributed according to a beneficiary designation, POD or TOD designation, or by operation of law due to joint ownership, a client may look at a will as a safety net in case there are assets that end up having to go through probate. If your client has modest accounts or property, the client may be okay with their loved one receiving their inheritance outright and may think that putting too many restrictions will eat into the inheritance being left behind. It is important to remind clients like this that they will be relying on the beneficiary designations to distribute their assets, so their designations need to be up-to-date.

Some Clients Want an Easy Solution

Although a will has its limitations, some clients are interested in estate planning tools that are easy to understand and that will be quick to put into action. With a will, the client is leaving instructions for what will happen at their death. Once the will is signed, the client retains ownership of their assets, and no additional paperwork is needed to put their plan in place (with the possible exception of updating beneficiary designations if changes need to be made). Compare this to a trust-based estate plan, in which all or most of the clients’ assets will need to be retitled to make the trust the new owner after the plan is signed.

A Third Party Can Be a Good Thing in Some Instances

While most people value their privacy and would not want the details of their assets and beneficiaries made public, using a will and having beneficiaries go through the probate process can sometimes be a good thing. If the client believes that there will be fighting among family members, going through probate allows a third party (the judge) to oversee the proceedings and make sure that everyone is on their best behavior. If the client is worried that their family will be too lazy to manage things on their own, probate can provide the required structure, timelines, and oversight to ensure that all the required tasks are completed in a timely manner.

The Importance of Financial Advisors in Estate Planning

Recent survey data shows 7 out of 10 Americans say that estate planning is important—yet just 26 percent have an estate plan.¹ The survey also found that working with a financial advisor is the largest variable in whether someone has an estate plan.² 

While estate planning strategies change over time, the documents that comprise a plan are tried and true. Wills can be thought of as the foundation of an estate plan that, when used strategically with other documents, supports a strong and lasting legacy. 

The ease and simplicity associated with setting up a will is a major selling point that can help to dispel the notion that estate planning is overwhelming or intimidating. Once a client has a will, you can steer them toward additional estate planning services that synergize their financial and legacy objectives. 

If you or your clients have questions about wills and estate planning, please reach out and let us know how we can help. 

1. New FreeWill survey data: a look at Americans’ views of estate planning and how it fits into overall financial planning, giving intentions, PR Newswire (Apr. 23, 2024), https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-freewill-survey-data-a-look-at-americans-views-of-estate-planning-and-how-it-fits-into-overall-financial-planning-giving-intentions-302123963.html. ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎

One of the most common reasons clients think they do not need a will is that they do not have enough assets. High-net-worth clients tend to be more proactive about estate planning. However, misconceptions about wills abound, which is a big reason many Americans do not have a will. Misunderstandings about what a will can and cannot do may also be holding a client back from creating—and making the most of—this basic yet crucial estate planning document.

Common myth #1: Wills can be used to avoid probate. 

Most clients prefer to minimize state involvement in their personal affairs. This preference can be used to motivate them to create a will and avoid dying intestate, an outcome that leaves the fate of their estate in the hands of the probate court and state inheritance law.

It should also be stressed that using a will alone is usually insufficient to avoid the probate process entirely. Most states have abbreviated or “shortcut” procedures for probate estates worth under a certain threshold set by state statute and for those estates without creditors. However, most estates are worth more than that lower threshold amount or have creditors and, therefore, will be subjected to the full probate estate proceedings.  

It is important to note that probate is not necessarily a bad thing. It does cost money in attorney fees and court costs and can delay distributions to beneficiaries, but it can also ensure that an estate is administered accurately and legally.

If clients strongly prefer avoiding probate, they may be interested in strategies to circumvent the process, such as using trusts and beneficiary designations on certain accounts and policies. 

Common myth #2: A will cannot be used for tax planning.

Tax planning involves significant overlap of financial planning and estate planning. 

With the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption amount set to decrease sharply at the start of 2026 and revert to pre-2017 levels, tax planning discussions are taking center stage in many advisors’ offices. Proposals to decrease the exemption have some clients worried and may justify employing advanced estate planning strategies now, ahead of the 2026 sunset.

Prior to the current era of super-high exemptions, trusts were frequently used in estate planning to reduce or eliminate estate, gift, and GST taxes. These strategies are still generally available today, but wills can also be used for tax planning. 

Trusts can be created by an individual during their lifetime or upon their death according to the terms of their will. The latter are known as testamentary trusts, a type of irrevocable trust created at the willmaker’s death. Unlike other trusts, testamentary trusts are subject to probate. The estate executor sets them up once the probate court has verified the will’s authenticity.

Testamentary trusts can be structured in various ways that may be utilized for estate and GST tax planning: 

• A qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust is established for the benefit of the willmaker’s surviving spouse. Assets transferred into a QTIP trust qualify for the unlimited marital deduction, mitigating estate taxes due upon the first spouse’s death. However, this may only defer estate taxes owed until the second spouse passes away. 
• The decedent can leave their entire estate (or a large part) to their spouse. The surviving spouse can then disclaim or say “no, thank you” to some or all of their inheritance from their spouse. This disclaimed portion goes into a bypass trust (which can go by many different names such as credit shelter trust or family trust), which can benefit the surviving spouse (and others chosen by the deceased spouse) during their lifetime but will not be included in the surviving spouse’s estate at death. This trust may be created to use the willmaker’s lifetime exclusion amount at their death instead of the unlimited marital deduction. 
• Because the GST tax exemption is separate from the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption, clients can take advantage of it with advanced will-based planning by creating generation-skipping trusts to allow more resources to flow to younger beneficiaries without having to worry about additional estate taxation at each generation. 

The creation of tax-saving trusts with will provisions can be quite complicated in practice, but your clients should know that will-based estate plans have a place in tax planning. 

Common myth #3: Creating a will is cheaper than creating a trust. 

Creating a basic will might be cheaper than creating a basic trust, though it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. 

Ultimately, it comes down to how complex the document is. Trusts tend to be more complex than wills and, therefore, are typically more expensive to prepare. However, trusts and wills can contain similar provisions that require a comparable amount of time to research and draft properly. 

The costs of creating the plan are just one cost factor. Postdeath administration costs also need to be factored in. Because wills are subject to probate, they may be more expensive to administer, especially if they contain provisions ordering a testamentary trust to be created. 

Cost is a consideration in every estate plan. So, the client must engage in a cost-benefit analysis. It is also important to understand the potential costs of not having an estate plan. The same analysis should apply when trying to reduce costs using online planning tools or cutting corners on a plan that deserves a higher level of thought and detail. Estate planning is not an area where it pays to save money. 

We recommend that clients refrain from becoming fixated on a set price that they want their estate plan to cost. It will be better for them in the long run to adjust price expectations based on the size and complexity of their estate and their needs. Unless a client is truly cost-constrained, in which case a simple, low-cost will is better than no plan at all, the budget should reflect a client’s particular circumstances and goals. 

The More You Know, the Better You Can Serve

Estate planning myths are helpful for identifying areas where a client could benefit from additional information and education. The more educated you are about estate planning, the more you can help clients recognize gaps in their plans and offer actionable solutions. 

We have only begun to scratch the surface of how estate planning intersects with financial planning on matters like wills, trusts, probate, and taxes. Many of the issues raised in this letter can—and do—fill entire books. To learn more about these topics and discuss specific strategies, please get in touch.

A Financial Advisor’s Guide to Navigating Different Types of Wills

Advisors should understand why most Americans do not have even the most basic estate plan in place. Advisors should also pay attention to the validity of wills for those people who do have a will or are engaged in the estate planning process. Will contests are surprisingly common, and nontraditional wills such as handwritten and oral wills, as well as do-it-yourself wills prepared without an attorney, may be less likely to meet legal requirements. 

Why Fewer Americans Are Making Wills

If you want to nudge a client toward creating a will, you need to understand why they have neglected this task—and what could inspire them to take action. The top reasons cited for not having a will in a recent Caring.com survey¹ are 

• procrastination (43 percent),
• a belief that they are too poor or do not have enough assets (40 percent),
• unsure how (16 percent), and
• costs too much (16 percent).

Respondents who say they do not have a will are made up of various ages and races and have a range of incomes and educational backgrounds. There are also different ages, genders, and income levels among those who reported what finally motivated them to create a will. But, unfortunately, among all groups, 23 percent said nothing would motivate them to get a will.² 

Types of Wills

A will is a legal document that states how a person wishes to pass down their assets (money and property) when they die. A will should reference the beneficiaries who will receive the deceased’s assets, how much each beneficiary will receive, who will administer their estate and wind down their affairs, and, if they have minor children, who will serve as their guardian (and backup guardian). 

Ideally, a will is typewritten and signed by the willmaker (the testator) and two or three witnesses (depending on state law). Additionally, it is recommended that the testator engage the assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney to help ensure that the will meets all applicable legal requirements. An attorney can also help navigate through potential issues that could otherwise lead to a will contest in the future.

Some states allow handwritten wills (known as holographic wills) and oral wills (known as nuncupative wills). 

• A holographic will is handwritten and signed in the testator’s own hand, and it may not require witnesses to be valid. Requirements vary in states that recognize holographic wills. 
• A nuncupative will, informally referred to as a “deathbed will,” is stated orally, usually in a recording or to a witness. Most states do not recognize oral wills as valid; if they do, only certain people under limited circumstances are allowed to use them. 

Why would somebody create a handwritten or oral will instead of a traditional, typewritten one? Often, it is because they have not yet created a formal will, and an emergency forces their hand. Sensing that time is of the essence, they either jot down their wishes or tell them to a loved one, hoping that their loved ones will follow their instructions after they have passed away.

Potential Issues with Oral and Handwritten Wills

Informally created wills can raise numerous issues. Such a situation famously occurred with the estate of Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Soul had a handwritten will that was recognized in her home state of Michigan. However, difficulty deciphering her intentions due to scribbles and hard-to-read passages led to a lengthy legal dispute among her heirs. 

This is a major issue with handwritten and oral wills: they are more prone to containing mistakes and ambiguities that cause confusion or lead to extensive litigation. The validity of holographic and nuncupative wills can also be harder to prove. 

It is up to the court to validate a will. If the court does not accept the offered will, state law—rather than the testator’s wishes—could dictate how estate assets are divided among loved ones. 

An unclear will can also lead to an heir contesting it. Research suggests that up to 3 percent of all wills in the United States are contested in court.³ Will contests undermine the testator’s intent and can deplete estate assets and turn loved ones against one another. 

Beyond Simple Wills

Planning how your money and property will be passed down to your loved ones is the most fundamental function of a will. Even the most basic will includes provisions naming a personal representative, beneficiaries, and guardians of minor children. A will can also include more advanced planning provisions that provide more context and details about distributions, such as instructions for pet care or for an inheritance left to a minor child or other individual who may need their inheritance managed and safeguarded for a period of time or indefinitely. 

A will is a must-have estate planning document for anyone 18 or older. It just scratches the surface, though. Clients, especially those with larger estates, should also consider a revocable living trust to manage their assets without court involvement, powers of attorney that provide trusted decision-makers the authority to make financial and medical decisions on the client’s behalf, and a living will (if allowed in your state) that gives instructions about medical care and end-of-life decisions. 

Financial Planning for the Present and Future

Working together, we can bring greater effectiveness and continuity to clients’ big-picture financial goals of investing, saving, tax strategies, estate planning, philanthropy, and legacy. Collaborating ensures we are serving the best interests of our clients.

To discuss how we can help you use estate planning considerations to deliver a better client experience, build loyalty, and introduce new revenue streams, please reach out and schedule a meeting. 

1. Rachel Lustbader, 2024 Wills and Estate Planning Study, Caring.com, https://www.caring.com/caregivers/estate-planning/wills-survey/ (last visited Jul. 31, 2024). ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. Margaret Ryznar & Angelique Devaux, Au Revoir, Will Contests: Comparative Lessons For Preventing Will Contests, 14 Nev. L. J. 1 (Jan. 15, 2014), https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1525&context=nlj. ↩︎

It is a scenario we have all dreamed about: discovering a hidden treasure trove tucked away in the dusty corners of an attic. 

But it was not gold coins or heirloom jewelry that an Ohio man found in a box that had belonged to his grandfather. It was a collection of vintage baseball cards for legends like Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Cy Young that experts valued at $2 to $3 million.¹ 

The card owner’s heirs agreed to sell most of the cards at auction and divide the money equally, avoiding a potentially messy legal battle over ownership rights. Things could have gone much differently, though, and they often do when valuable personal property is not accounted for in a client’s estate plan. 

Sports Memorabilia Is a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

Stories about a father or an uncle grumbling that their mom threw away their baseball card collection that would now be worth millions are something of a trope. But they might actually be true. 

The sports memorabilia market has never been bigger. Collectors’ items like cards, photos, clothing, and tickets, once the domain of hobbyists, are now part of an industry that is valued at more than $26 billion and is expected to top $227 billion by 2032.² 

Sale after record-breaking sale have driven the market for historic sports collectibles to new heights. Individual items, including a Michael Jordan game jersey and a Mickey Mantle card, have recently sold for more than $10 million.³ Many more have eclipsed the $1 million mark. 

According to the Robb Report, the sports memorabilia industry is becoming comparable to the art market, “replete with appraisers, ratings agencies, authenticators, specialized insurance, leased vaults, and elite security systems.”⁴

Amid the growing interest in, and increased value of, sports memorabilia, a Manhattan man sued his mom for not handing over two baseball cards he claims could fetch $25,000 apiece.⁵  She contends that her son actually gave her the cards because she was a fan and that according to her will, her grandchildren will be receiving them.⁶ 

How to Handle Valuable Sports Items in an Estate Plan

Assuming that a client-collector’s mom has not disposed of their cherished sports collectibles as many moms do when cleaning out their grown children’s left-behind childhood memories, they will need to be “disposed of”—that is, distributed or transferred, legally speaking—in the client-collector’s estate plan. 

Sports memorabilia is considered tangible personal property, just like jewelry, furniture, and other household items, for estate planning purposes. An estate plan can deal with tangible personal property in a few different ways: 

• Gift all tangible personal property to a single beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries through a will or a trust. 
• List specific items in a will or trust and who will receive them.
• Use a memorandum of tangible personal property that lists who will receive certain items. This document is separate from a will or trust but is usually referenced in the client’s will or trust as providing the instructions for what will happen to the client’s tangible personal property.
• Donate the collection to charity. 

Because a sports memorabilia collection can also have sentimental, nonpecuniary value to a client, it could fall into the category of estate items that the client may want left to nonfamily beneficiaries, such as a friend who is also into collecting baseball cards. 

Instead of distributing sports collectibles to family members who might not be interested in them—but would not mind inheriting their cash value—another option is to sell the collection and distribute the proceeds to those named in the client’s will or trust alongside other assets as part of the client’s estate. 

Memorabilia can also be gifted during a client’s lifetime so they can see the items enjoyed while they are alive. However, depending on the value of the item, this could trigger a gift tax and would count against their lifetime estate and gift tax exclusion. 

What Can Happen If There Is No Plan for Sports Memorabilia

Due to insufficient planning, a client’s family could end up finding binders and boxes full of sports memorabilia after the client’s death. They may not be sure what the items are worth, what they meant to the client, or what to do with them. 

With or without an estate plan, sports memorabilia can slip through the planning cracks. Consider these potential scenarios for a sports memorabilia collection that is not specifically planned for: 

• A will could address tangible personal property generally but fail to account for sports memorabilia specifically, so it would get lumped in with other items like clothing, books, and pictures—and could be left up for grabs among several beneficiaries. 
• If no mention is made of the sports memorabilia in the estate plan, the client’s family may see the items as worthless and either donate or throw them away.
• When a client does not have a will, their assets—both tangible and intangible—are subject to probate. In this scenario, the probate court distributes a client’s assets in accordance with state succession laws. The law will determine who gets what, how much, and when they will receive it.

Counseling Your Clients on Their Sports Memorabilia Collection

Fans love sports for the drama. To avoid any drama over a client’s memorabilia, however, you should advise them to protect their collection now and in the future by taking the following steps: 

• Make a detailed inventory of all important sports memorabilia and regularly update it.
• Consider getting the items appraised and authenticated and potentially insured.
• Inform their loved ones about where they keep their collection. If any part of the collection is stored in a safe, a safe deposit box, or a storage unit, the client should make sure a trusted loved one will have access to the items after the client’s death.
• Inform their loved ones about how and where items can be sold in case their loved ones do not want to keep them.
• Ensure that they have enough insurance to protect the items in case of damage or loss.
• Understand the tax implications of selling, gifting, and inheriting valuable items. 
• Create an estate plan that spells out who will receive their memorabilia and other tangible personal property. 

To discuss sports memorabilia estate planning strategies in more detail, please reach out to schedule a meeting.

1. Ohio Man Finds Batch of Vintage Baseball Cards in Late Grandfather’s Attic, May Be Worth $3 Million, Mass Live (July 10, 2012), https://www.masslive.com/news/2012/07/ohio_man_finds_batch_of_vintag.html.  ↩︎
2. Sports Memorabilia Collectibles Market Size, Statistics, Growth Trend Analysis and Forecast Report, 2022 – 2032, Market Decipher, https://www.marketdecipher.com/report/sports-collectibles-market (last visited June 27, 2024). ↩︎
3. The Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia and Collectibles in History, ESPN (Sept. 15, 2022), https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34465725/most-expensive-sports-memorabilia-collectibles-history.  ↩︎
4. Christina Binkley, How Sports Memorabilia Exploded into a Booming Billion-Dollar Business, Robb Report (July 30, 2023), https://robbreport.com/shelter/art-collectibles/sports-memorabilia-raking-in-millions-at-auction-1234865811.  ↩︎
5. Kathianne Boniello, Man Sues His Mom over Pricey Baseball Cards, N.Y. Post (Jan. 15, 2022), https://nypost.com/2022/01/15/man-sues-his-mom-over-pricey-baseball-cards.  ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎

Residential real estate is the largest asset class in the United States. Beyond its primary function of providing shelter, housing provides a store of wealth and increases individual economic growth. A residence—particularly a vacation property—can also have sentimental value to a family. 

Second homes are traditionally associated with wealthy Americans, but research shows that vacation homes are no longer just a luxury for the rich. This means that more of your clients than you think may benefit from a discussion regarding planning for multiple homes. The finances and feelings tied up in a vacation home can present unique estate planning challenges when a client is making plans to pass the home to the next generation. Family dynamics, ownership structure, taxes, and more need to be considered in the transition.

Vacation Homes: A Source of Wealth—but Not Just for the Wealthy

Andrew Carnegie famously said that 90 percent of millionaires got their wealth from investing in real estate. Those who are already millionaires are increasingly investing in second homes. Having more than one home is now the norm for wealthy Americans. But it is not only wealthy Americans buying second homes. 

According to a recent survey, 4 out of 10 Americans now own vacation homes.¹ The National Association of Home Builders puts the national stock of second homes at 7.15 million, accounting for around 5 percent of all housing.² 

Investing in a vacation home can be surprisingly affordable. Most survey respondents reported paying less than $200,000. And the return on investment can be impressive.

Vacation Home Estate Planning Strategies

While real estate often accounts for a large share of a client’s net worth, their second home may also be where family gatherings take place. Estate planning becomes more challenging in situations where a treasured family asset changes hands. This can be doubly true when the “treasure” is both tangible and intangible. 

The first step in formulating an estate planning strategy for a vacation home is to determine the client’s goals. The following questions can help guide your discussion: 

• Are they ready to pass the vacation home to their loved ones now, while they are alive, or are they planning to transfer it when they die? Their preference may depend on how much time they still spend at the property and whether they think their loved ones are ready to take on the responsibility and expense of managing it. 
• What is their preferred method for transferring the vacation home? Some options include selling it to a loved one, gifting it to them, passing it down through their will, using a transfer-on-death deed, or placing the home in a trust. Each of these methods comes with different tax savings and liabilities. 
• Who will have an interest in the property? The more family members who have a right to use the home, the more detailed the planning should be. Without a structure that addresses issues like who is responsible for paying for upkeep, taxes, and insurance, and without defining property usage rules, co-ownership rights and responsibilities could become unclear, leading to conflicts. 
• Do they want to set any limits on what can be done with the vacation home? The client, for example, should consider whether the vacation home can be used as a rental, if family members have the right to sell the vacation home or their interest in it to people outside the family, and conditions for one family member buying out another’s interest. 

Once you define your client’s goals for the vacation property, you can help them come up with appropriate planning strategies. During your discussion, address the following additional considerations: 

• If the property is mortgaged, they may need permission from the lender to transfer it.
• A trust can allow the client to maintain control by enabling the client to set rules about how the property is to be used and maintained. They can also transfer money into the trust to pay for ongoing expenses. The trust can be designed so that the client retains the right to use the vacation home until death, at which point it passes to their loved ones. 
• Clients can also establish a life estate that allows the vacation home to be transferred at their death while allowing them to continue using it until they die. 
• A business entity such as a limited liability company (LLC) or family limited partnership (FLP) could be created to own the home and potentially provide some asset protection.
• Clients need to consult with a tax professional to ensure that federal gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes; income and capital gain taxes; state-level estate and inheritance taxes; and state and local property taxes applicable to transferring and owning the property are properly considered in the vacation home succession plan. 
• Vacation homes in another state or country pose additional estate planning challenges and will likely necessitate local counsel or advisors. 
• If there are children who are not interested in owning the vacation home, the client may want to consider how they will equalize their children’s inheritances if treating everyone equally is an estate planning priority. 

Connect with Our Family of Estate Planning Advisors

It might seem like a simple decision to keep a vacation home in the family. But estate planning is rarely straightforward. Deciding how to handle a property that has served as a past gathering place—and hopefully a future one—can prove to be especially complicated. 

Whether a vacation home has been in a client’s family for generations or just a few years, it needs to be thoughtfully addressed in their estate plan. For advice on counseling clients about vacation home legacy strategies, reach out to our estate planning attorneys.

1. Andrew Lisa, 40% of People Have Vacation Homes: Where You Can Find One for Your Budget, GoBankingRates (June 16, 2023), https://www.gobankingrates.com/investing/real-estate/where-to-find-vacation-home-in-your-budget. ↩︎
2. Na Zhao, The Nation’s Stock of Second Homes, Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders (May 13, 2022), https://eyeonhousing.org/2022/05/the-nations-stock-of-second-homes. ↩︎

Ballots to Beneficiaries: How Potential Presidential Policies Could Shape the Future of Estate Planning

The 2024 presidential election is only a few months away. As campaign ads ramp up and we enter debate season, the candidates will sound off on their respective positions about a wide range of topics, from the economy, immigration, and education to national security, the environment, and the state of democracy. 

It is probably wise to avoid talking politics with your clients in the current polarizing climate. But you should be paying attention to the presidential front-runners and their stances on estate planning-related issues so you can advise your clients accordingly when the next federal government takes shape. 

Evaluating the Candidates Through an Estate Planning Lens

Leading up to the 2024 election, surveys consistently show that inflation, jobs, and the economy are the most important issues among voters.¹ 

However, there is significant variance in the way individuals view the economy and the economic issues that are most important to their own financial situation. Presidential candidates are unlikely to use the term estate planning, but they frequently use the language of tax policy to discuss issues that affect a person’s estate value and the inheritance they leave behind. 

Here are some policy terms to pay attention to from an estate planning perspective: 

• capital gains tax
• estate tax
• gift tax
• income tax
• tax credit
• tax deduction
• tax exemption
• trust income tax 

Where the 2024 Candidates Stand on Taxes²

Campaign promises set the tone for a potential presidential administration and what a candidate will prioritize if they take office. Here are the publicly stated estate, wealth, and capital gains policies of the 2024 candidates: 

President Joe Biden

If reelected to a second term, President Biden would reportedly tax long-term capital gains and qualified dividends at ordinary income tax rates for taxable income over $1 million and tax unrealized capital gains at death for amounts exceeding a $5 million exemption ($10 million for joint filers).³ 

President Biden also proposes a minimum effective tax of 20 percent on unrealized capital gains from assets such as stocks, bonds, and privately held companies; higher top individual income tax and corporate income tax rates; and tighter estate tax rules to reduce wealth accumulation through inheritance.⁴ 

Former President Donald Trump

Former president Donald Trump has said he plans to make permanent the 2017 individual tax cuts that he enacted during his term under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).⁵ He also wants to make the expiring estate tax cuts from the TCJA permanent.⁶ 

The unified gift and estate tax exclusion amount is set to expire on December 31, 2025, and revert to pre-TCJA levels that are expected to be around half of what they are in 2024 ($13.61 million per individual/ $27.22 million per married couple). 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

The only major tax policy that RFK Jr. has announced, according to the Tax Foundation, is exempting Bitcoin from capital gains taxes when the cryptocurrency is converted to or from US dollars.⁷ He has also expressed a desire to make tax code changes to discourage corporate ownership of single-family homes.⁸ 

Chase Oliver

Although the Libertarian Party’s candidate, Chase Oliver, has addressed many issues during his campaign, such as immigration, student loans, and closing regulatory loopholes that reward businesses with close relationships with government officials,⁹ he has not spoken on too many issues that would impact estate planning. However, the Libertarian Party has traditionally been in favor of limited government, the repeal of the income tax, and the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service.¹⁰

Jill Stein

The Jill Stein 2024 platform calls for raising taxes on the richest Americans. This includes applying the Social Security payroll tax to capital gains and dividends, as well as increasing the estate tax. ¹¹

Cornel West

West’s platform is heavy on economic justice but light on economic policy details. His campaign site says that the candidate would impose a wealth tax on all billionaire holdings and transactions and close all tax loopholes for the “oligarchy.”¹²

Planning for Tax Law Changes

Whether your clients intend to vote or not, they will be impacted by the next president’s policies on issues related to taxes and estate planning.

Prognostications about election outcomes are challenging, but the candidates present clear contrasts in their visions for America’s economic future. And with nearly $5 trillion of individual and other tax provisions passed in 2017 expiring at the end of 2025—including lower personal income tax rates, higher standard deductions, increased estate tax exemptions, and the expensing of business investment—it is probable that major tax legislation will be a priority for the incoming administration.¹³ 

While you might prefer to wait until after the election to offer any concrete estate planning advice to clients, you can begin discussions now about strategies to lock in the “bonus” estate tax exemption and manage potential capital gains exposure.

To discuss specific estate planning strategies for your clients based on their age, wealth levels, estate sizes, and legacy goals, please reach out to schedule a meeting. 

1. Kirby Phares, Inflation and the Economy Consistently Rank as Top Issues Among Likely Voters​​—and Here’s Our New Way to Ask Issue Importance, Data for Progress (Mar. 6, 2024), https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/3/6/inflation-and-the-economy-consistently-rank-as-top-issues-among-likely-voters-and-heres-our-new-way-to-ask-issue-importance. ↩︎
2. These are potential presidential candidates as identified by CNN. See 2024 Presidential Candidates, CNN Politics, https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/politics/presidential-candidates-dg (last visited July 2, 2024). ↩︎
3. Garrett Watson et al., Details and Analysis of President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Proposal, Tax Found. (Mar. 23, 2023), https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/biden-budget-tax-proposals-analysis. ↩︎
4. Garrett Watson & Erica York, Proposed Minimum Tax on Billionaire Capital Gains Takes Tax Code in Wrong Direction, Tax Found. (Mar. 30, 2022), https://taxfoundation.org/blog/biden-billionaire-tax-unrealized-capital-gains. ↩︎
5. Tracking 2024 Presidential Tax Plans: Where Do the Candidates Stand on Taxes?, Tax. Found. https://taxfoundation.org/research/federal-tax/2024-tax-plans/#Candidates (last visited June 27, 2024). ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Id. ↩︎
8. Jing Pan, “Robbing Americans of the Ability to Own Homes:” RFK Jr. Has Promised Wall Street Reforms. Here’s His Plan, Yahoo!Finance (May 30, 2024), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robbing-americans-ability-own-homes-101400283.html. ↩︎
9. Platform: What Chase Stands For, Chase Oliver, https://www.votechaseoliver.com/platform (last visited July 1, 2024). ↩︎
10. Platform, Libertarian: The Party of Principle, https://www.lp.org/platform/ (last visited July 1, 2024). ↩︎
11. Platform: People’s Economy, Jill Stein 2024, https://www.jillstein2024.com/platform (last visited June 27, 2024). ↩︎
12. Policy Pillars for a Movement Rooted in Truth, Justice, & Love: Economic Justice, Cornel West 2024, https://www.cornelwest2024.com/platform (last visited June 27, 2024). ↩︎
13. Andrew Lautz, The New Cost for 2025 Tax Cut Extensions—$5 Trillion, Bipartisan Pol’y Ctr. (May 13, 2024), https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/the-new-cost-for-2025-tax-cut-extensions-5-trillion. ↩︎

Creative Uses for Life Insurance

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

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

Increased Interest in Life Insurance

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

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

Lesser-Known Life Insurance Benefits

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

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

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

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

How to Fit Life Insurance into a Client’s Plans

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naming a Spouse or Children as Beneficiaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naming a Charity as Beneficiary 

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

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

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

Creating a Trust for a Loved One

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

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

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

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

Advising Clients on Life Insurance 

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

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

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

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

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

Mistake #1: Not Having Enough Coverage

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

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

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

Mistake #2: Relying on Employer or Group Insurance

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

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

Mistake #3: Not Listing a Beneficiary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mistake #5: Not Updating Beneficiaries

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

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

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

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

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

Enhance Your Advisory Services with Estate Planning 

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

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

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