We believe estate plans should be as simple and straightforward as they can be.

That doesn’t mean there’s never a place for complexity. Sometimes there absolutely is. But every additional trust, restriction, or strategy should have a clear purpose. Families change. Assets change. Laws change. Priorities change. A good estate plan needs enough flexibility to change with them.

When we talk with clients about their estate plans, one of the first things we look at is the attorney drafting the plan.

Do they specialize in estate planning in your state? Do they serve other clients like you? Are they responsive? Do you trust them? Are their fees reasonable for the work they’re doing? And maybe most importantly: Is this someone you’d feel comfortable having your children work with someday?

We’ve intentionally chosen not to have an estate attorney on staff at Hill. Estate planning attorneys have different specialties and strengths, and the more complex a client’s situation becomes, the more important it is to have the right attorney for that particular work. We’d rather help our clients find the right fit and then work closely with that person.

As for the estate plan itself, reviewing your plan every five years is a good rhythm. Of course, life and tax laws don’t always follow a five-year schedule. A marriage, divorce, death in the family, move to another state, business transaction, or significant change in wealth could all be reasons to revisit things sooner.

Part of our job is helping clients recognize when it’s time to take another look. And if we haven’t reviewed your estate plan recently, that doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong or has been overlooked. You may just not have hit one of those checkpoints yet.

We also want to make sure your estate plan and investment plan are actually working together. That means checking things like beneficiary designations and account titling, thinking through where cash will come from for taxes or family needs, and making sure any charitable giving is structured in a way that gives your family the flexibility you intended.

None of these topics is particularly flashy, but they’re often the details that determine whether an estate plan works the way you hope it should.

Our role isn’t to design the most sophisticated estate plan possible. It’s to ask excellent questions, identify things that may not line up, and work alongside your attorney to get them resolved.

At the end of the day, the goal is pretty simple: a plan that reflects what you want, can adapt as life changes, and isn’t unnecessarily complex for the people you’re ultimately creating it for.

Have a question about your own estate plan? Click here to schedule time to talk with us.