Legacy and Wealth Transfer Planning

What Happens to It After You?

This is what drives me: helping people set up a legacy for their family for years to come. A plan is easier to make while you can still explain what you want. It starts with educating you and your family on how all of this gets passed along.

What We Go Through

• Beneficiaries. A beneficiary form on a life insurance policy, annuity or retirement account generally overrides your will. An old form can send money somewhere you never intended. Checking yours is one of the simplest things you can do.
• Life insurance. A death benefit generally reaches your beneficiaries free of income tax and outside of probate, which makes it a straightforward way to leave a set amount to someone.
• Annuities and retirement accounts. These pass under different rules, and your family may owe income tax on what they receive. Most non‑spouse beneficiaries of a retirement account have to empty it within 10 years, and some must also take a withdrawal each year along the way.
• Who your family calls. A plan works better when the people in it know where everything is and who can help.

Charitable Giving

If giving matters to you, there are several ways to include it, such as naming a charity as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy. If you’re 70½ or older, you may also be able to give directly from an IRA, which is something to raise with your CPA. I’ve been involved in charitable work since I was a kid, and I’m always glad to talk about this part of a plan.

Working With Your Attorney and CPA

I’m not an attorney or a tax professional. Wills and trusts need an attorney, and I work with one when you need it. Your CPA should see how any of this affects your taxes. My part is the insurance side.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Guarantees depend on the financial strength and claims‑paying ability of the issuing insurance company.