Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog: Top Eight Estate Planning Mistakes

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March 29, 2012

Top Eight Estate Planning Mistakes

Estate planning attorneys occasionally make errors, and LifeHeathPro recently asked several estate planners to identify the most common estate planning mistakes they see made by others. The top eight mistakes named are below:

1. Estate planners frequently complete beneficiary designations improperly (e.g., failing to change a beneficiary after a death or divorce).
2. Some attorneys fail to change asset titles to trusts after incorporating revocable trusts into a client?s estate plan.
3. Advisors tend to incorrectly assume a cleints? goals without taking the time to truly listen to the client?s objectives.
4. Some advisors allow clients to name minor children outright as primary or contingent beneficiaries of life insurance or retirement plans in which event the court must appoint a bonded guardian if the parents die before the children reach maturity.
5. Many attorneys also name a financial institution as successor trustee/executor instead of or after a surviving spouse.
6. Advisors often draft both a health-care power of attorney and a living will for the same client?too documents that can be in conflict with each other.
7. Advisors sometimes fail to research a state?s estate exemption amount which can differ from the federal estate exemption amount.
8. Attorneys also tend to fail to address asset protection planning with couples nearing retirement.

See Ed McCarthy, 8 Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid, LifeHealthPro, Mar. 1, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.

March 29, 2012 in Estate Planning - Generally | Permalink

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