Planning for clients at our firm is not done with a lone ranger approach. We recommend to our clients that they should have a team of professionals to ensure that they meet their estate planning and financial goals. So who should be your teammates?

As you go through your life, you may have an accountant, a banker, a financial planner, an insurance agent, as well as your family. Each of these people have a role to play in helping you make your estate planning decisions.

Your accountant or CPA will be aware of your tax situation and many of your decisions involving estate planning include issues of estate taxes. If you have a business, your accountant will be familiar with its structure and profitability, enabling you to make plans for exiting your business, either by selling it or leaving it to a family member. If living trusts are set up as part of the estate plan, your accountant will need to prepare the trust tax returns. If you give gifts to family members and others during your lifetime, your accountant may need to file gift tax returns, depending on the size of the gifts.

Your banker is familiar with the amount in your bank accounts, in whose name they are in, and whether any of the accounts have “pay on death” designations. All of this information is important when talking to your lawyer about your assets and which assets are part of your estate.

Your financial planner is the person who is informed about the rest of your monetary assets – your stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, and your children’s college funds. These assets, plus your bank accounts, are the core of the wealth that you wish to transfer to your family and loved ones. Your financial planner needs to know what your plan will be and he/she will be the one changing the names on the accounts to your living trust or to your heirs.

Finally, if you have a spouse or children that you are supporting, then life insurance should be part of your estate plan. Life insurance provides immediate cash after you die, cash that will replace your income. If your spouse can work, and your children are grown up, then you may not need life insurance. But, if you do have life insurance, your insurance agent can be helpful in updating your beneficiary designations after you create your estate plan.

Our firm understands that each of these professionals plays an important role for your estate planning needs. If any of these roles are not filled we can get you connected with a professional that will fit well on your team