August 4, 2008
How to choose an estate planner
- Estate planning requires more than just a lawyer. You need a lawyer to draft documents like a will, but you need an estate planning TEAM to fully obtain the best financial and estate plan that is possible for your situation.
- Your estate planning lawyer, must coordinate with your investment advisers about:
- Title to accounts.
- Current and future financial condition.
- Beneficiary designations.
- And more…..
- Your estate planner must coordinate with you accountant about:
- Tax status.
- How estate planning affects tax returns.
- And more……
- Your estate planner must coordinate with your insurance consultant with regard to:
- Long term care insurance.
- Life insurance to protect your loved ones.
- Life insurance to pay estate tax.
- And more…….
- With the understanding of the TEAM you need, you can now best consider how to select an estate planning attorney:
- The attorney must be a team player.
- You don’t want an attorney who is selling you insurance, preparing a tax return, or other parts of your planning.
- The attorney should have a substantial portion of their practice devoted to estate planning. You don’t want someone who writes a couple of wills now and then. Estate planning is much more.
- Ask what the attorney normally recommends as an estate plan. If the recommendation doesn’t include at least the following, you have the wrong planner:
- Power of attorney.
- Living will.
- Health Proxy.
- Will.
- Review of financial status and beneficiary designations.
- Review of how assets are owned (titled).
- The attorney should bill either hourly or a fixed fee for routine matters, or a combination of the two. The billing should be clear and unrelated to the size of your estate.
- The attorney should be independent of your other advisers. You don’t want someone getting paid by an insurance agent doing your planning, because he will probably have a hidden agenda.
- The attorney should be able and willing to deal with personal, and not just legal, issues.
The above is a summary of a radio show on MMFN Money Matters Financial Network, on August 4, 2008 with host