Undoubtedly, successful estate planning is a complex and time-consuming process.  Such complexity may cause us to overlook the importance of beginning and working through the planning steps now—at this moment—while we are able and of sound judgment.  Nearly everyone can agree that planning for a health care crisis is certainly not pleasant business.  It is, however, vital in order to ensure that our health care and financial wishes, not someone else’s, will be legally honored.  The estate planning attorney specializes in creating an individualized set of documents for each and every client.

      Without the care of a specialized estate planning attorney, a family could lose thousands of dollars in taxes, probate, and administration expenses.  Ed Slott, a leading IRA expert, details an important example in his 2005 book Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune.  Bill inherited $90,000 from his mother in 2002.  When his taxes were prepared, he learned that he owed $30,000 in tax for his recent inheritance.  He also owed state tax along with the usual taxes on his regular income. But that wasn’t all.  The added inheritance money pushed Bill into a higher tax bracket, which resulted in all of his earnings being taxed at this much higher level.  The inheritance also disqualified Bill for tax benefits he had previously enjoyed such as medical deductions, child tax credit, and work-related tax deductions.   Slott claims that “through weak links along the entire chain—most of what [Bill and his siblings’] mom had worked for was wiped out instead of having a chance to blossom” (4).  Unfortunately for Bill, the poor planning on his mother’s part transferred into taxes he was required to pay.   

      Without the aid of a qualified estate attorney, slipups in the legal process can be quite easy, as well as quite costly.  Disastrous testimonies like Bill’s are far too common.  According to Slott, “…even if you make no mistakes and your beneficiaries do everything as instructed, a slipup on the part of your financial advisor, or other financial institution (bank, broker, mutual fund company) holding your IRA, can kill the chance to grow the account into a fortune by making the IRS your biggest beneficiary” (x).  Therefore, it is vital to include the expertise of a talented estate attorney in the estate planning process. 

       An estate planning attorney concentrates all efforts on the client’s needs.  However, there are some lawyers who attempt to be all things to all people.  Therefore, it is possible to find a divorce attorney who will draft a will, or a personal injury attorney who attempts to coordinate the distribution of a probate estate.  These sorts of practices allow the drafting of estate planning legal documents, such as trusts and wills, to become so standardized that the true art of the plan is often lost.  The lack of a specialized, individualized set of documents for the individual client becomes a rarity.  Just as doctors specialize in specific areas of the body, many attorneys focus on specific areas of the law.  For instance, it isn’t recommended to visit a podiatrist for a vision problem any more than it is recommended to visit a property lawyer for a messy divorce. 

       With the estate planning attorney’s attention to detail, an expertly designed estate centers on the client’s needs and goals.  Structured properly, the estate planning attorney can save the client and her heirs thousands of dollars in taxes, probate, and administration expenses.  An estate planning attorney can also provide for the client’s future generations, as he develops a method to safeguard the client’s legacy for generations to come.  Therefore, it is critical for the success of an estate to use a qualified and talented estate planning attorney in order to ensure safety and security while providing for the client’s loved ones and her future generations.   

 

 

 

References

Slott, Ed.  Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune.  New York: Penguin, 2005.