Have you written any Crummy letters lately? The vernacular of estate planning is rife with confusing terms and puzzling strategies. This confusion often leads to estate plans that are hard to explain to others and understand. Many estate plans may not meet client’s objectives because of lack of follow-through, life changes and reallocation of assets. Estate plans that are incomplete or lacking repair can cause unnecessary family grief, estate taxes, income taxes and other settlement costs. For example, improperly owned life insurance can be the cause of hundreds of thousands of dollars of death benefits being turned over to the IRS without proper planning.
The number of horror stories of estate plans that didn’t go as planned is numerous, not because estate attorneys don’t always do what is required, but because clients don’t know what questions to ask and where to start. The best place to start is with a Certified Financial Planner™ professional that can examine the big picture and help coordinate and design your estate plan before the attorney is consulted who drafts the estate documents and explains the legal aspects of various estate planning strategies. For most, just having a Foundation of the Estate Planning Pyramid built is sufficient. Some could use more advanced planning when appropriate and when understood.
Estate Planning Pyramid
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