Whether they give their wealth to others during their lifetimes or after they’ve passed away, clients will want to minimize taxes and ensure that beneficiaries are well-informed. Few things are as important to your clients as their financial legacy and the well-being of their heirs. Help your clients understand the importance of estate planning with this education guide that outlines basic estate planning tools, the importance of taxes, estate planning and children, and more. Developing a sound estate plan can help give clients confidence and security about their legacy beyond their life. Further, developing relationships with your clients’ heirs helps to build your practice. This includes beneficiary education, tax support, and coordination of asset allocation and Federal estate tax planning in conjunction with external CPAs and accounting professionals.
Why a Financial Planner is a Key Player in the Estate Planning Proce


You may have a vacation home that you built or purchased with the dream that your loved ones would continue to use it after you are gone, or you may have a homestead that you would like to pass on to someone in your family. A Qualified Personal Residence Trust ("QPRT") is an irrevocable trust that holds the Trustmaker's primary residence or vacation home as its only asset. This can be especially important if your son-in-law or daughter-in-law should remarry or have more children. Depending on the circumstances, you might still consider naming your son-in-law or daughter-in-law as Trustee on behalf of the grandchildren, but the HST makes it clear that the funds are only to be used for the grandchildren's benefit. The Heir Safeguard Trust allows you to bypass your son-in-law or daughter-in-law and set the funds aside for grandchildren. With a "simple" Will, you might leave things equally to your children when you die.
Relief from financial waste
The benefit is that, because the property is no longer yours, it’s unavailable to satisfy claims against you. We discussed tax planning, avoiding probate, and steps to provide for financial management if either or both spouses become incapacitated. Clients should consult their legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions. Bank of America, Merrill, their affiliates, and advisors do not provide legal, tax, or accounting livingtrustlivingwillavoidprobate.com advice. A trust could help with this by, say, allowing your second wife to benefit from trust income during her life, with the principal reverting to your children from your first marriage upon her death.
After the parents died, a cousin took over as co-trustee of the trust — and now works closely with Bank of America to ensure that the daughter will have everything she needs. She was finally convinced that a trust could benefit her children and grandchildren by removing assets from her estate while at the same time reducing her family’s exposure to certain future risks. When customized properly under New York law, these trusts provide one of the most powerful estate planning tools available to high-net-worth families seeking both protection and flexibility across the generation

What Is a Revocable Trust?
A pour-over will transfers the residue of a decedent’s estate to a living trust established by the decedent and that they could have revoked before death if they had chosen to do so. A pour-over will is a will that transfers any remaining estate assets to a revocable living trust at your death. Pour-over wills and trusts act in conjunction to simplify probate avoidance by ensuring that any assets not held in the trust at the time of your death will automatically "pour over" into the trust. Copyright ©2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Nolo ® Self-help services may not be permitted in all state


"Holistic Planning is different because of the depth they go into to understand every part of your plan." Tom Taylor "I feel like they take care of us like we're the only customer they have." Jim Elder Trust and related services are provided by Edward Jones Trust Company, an affiliate of Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P. An estate plan accounts for even more, including establishing trusts and other legal documents such as powers of attorney which address your needs in the event you become incapacitated. Drafting a will is an important step in estate planning.
Access an Educational Partnership
We’ll work with you to identify and address the communication, planning and family governance issues that can help keep future generations unified around the goals that are important to you. Trusts allow you to specify how and when your clients' assets will be distributed after death. Let our tax-efficient investing strategies show you potential ways to preserve clients’ wealth. As an advisor, you can add significant value by helping clients build tax efficiency into their estate pla


As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. Many retirees are reluctant to spend down their assets, fearing they might live longer than expected or experience poor investment returns at the wrong time. A nationwide poll conducted in 2022 by Athene in partnership with Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine revealed that 75 percent of Americans ages 50 and older want more guaranteed income than they already have or expect to have for retirement. Outcomes will depend on investment returns, which may be less than the assumed 6.0 percent (3.4 percent adjusted for inflation