The Puzzle of an Estate Plan

Crafting an estate plan is oftentimes like piecing together a complex puzzle.  There are 3 main categories of assets that have to align perfectly to ensure an estate plan is working as a client intends.

The first group of assets is jointly owned assets with rights of survivorship. These assets pass automatically to the surviving joint owner upon the death of the first owner.

The second group is beneficiary designation assets. Typically, these assets include retirement plans, annuities, and life insurance policies. They pass exclusively to the named beneficiary(ies) listed on those plans or policies.

The last group is assets titled individually in a client’s name that do not have beneficiary designations. These assets are governed by and pass through a detailed Will or Revocable Living Trust.

Unless these 3 groups are carefully coordinated with one another, a client’s assets might not necessarily go as they intend upon their death. Some common mistakes we encounter in our estate/trust administration practice are: (1) parents that name only one child as a joint account owner (typically in order to help them pay bills and manage finances), which results in that account passing exclusively to that child to the exclusion of other children, and (2) “stale” beneficiary designations – designations that name people no longer intended as beneficiaries by the client that haven’t been updated in years or even decades.

Here at Stewart Law, we take pride in our work as “planners” of our clients’ estates. Our clients walk away from their signing conference with detailed recommendations to align their jointly-held and beneficiary designation assets with their new estate plans. They leave with the full, clear, and complete picture of the puzzle that is their estate plan.

About the Author

John J. Long, Jr., JD 
Partner