Assisting estate planning requirements
At Heron Wealth, we assist our investment management clients with their estate planning requirements, such as tax planning, wills and more.
You have made the necessary investments over your lifetime to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But how do you protect your wealth and create your legacy?
As a result of the complex, ever-changing tax landscape, estate planning is vital to protecting your wealth. We work with you, your children and your grandchildren to ensure that your family’s lifetime accumulation of wealth can be preserved for the benefit of future generations.
We assist our investment management clients with their estate planning requirements. We explore potential tax gaps between your existing estate plan and your intentions (i.e. your will) and if there is no estate plan we will work with your trust & estate attorney to create and document a strategic and purposeful distribution of your wealth.
Estate Planning Case Study
The Situation
Our clients Nancy and Bob* retired a few years after they started working with us. Both Nancy and Bob had successful executive careers which allowed them to accumulate over $5 million in investment assets, managed by Heron Wealth. Nancy and Bob had no worries about enjoying a comfortable retirement, but the couple struggled with a non-financial concern.
Nancy and Bob have two adult children. Bill, who has his own successful career and is married, and Scott, who suffers from terrible depression and has struggled to hold on to jobs his entire life. Scott is divorced and the father of two small children.
Nancy and Bob had prepared a conventional will years ago, dividing their assets evenly between their two sons, but they were now concerned that when the time comes, Scott may not be able to responsibly handle a large bequest. Nancy & Bob wanted to ensure that their bequest to Scott was used for the support and education of their grandchildren.
The Solution
Nancy and Bob reached out to David Edwards, our president and wealth advisor, for advice. Over the course of nine months, David worked with the couple and their trust & estate attorney to prepare revocable living trusts for themselves which left them in complete control of their assets while alive**.
On their passing, the assets will transfer into two new trusts, one for Bill and one for Scott. Each trust is designed with a description of intent for the use of funds and spending limits. After weighing the pros and cons of a professional trustee versus a relative or family friend, Nancy and Bob decided to make Bill the trustee of Scott’s trust, a choice that both Bill and Scott were comfortable with.
** We changed our clients' names to protect their privacy. **
We advise our clients on:
Eldercare | Life Insurance Strategies | Long-term Care Analysis | Medicare & Medicaid Planning | Memorable Family Experiences | RMD Calculations for IRA’s | Retirement Income Needs | Risk Management & Asset Protection | Social Security Benefit Options | Retirement Planning | Setting Up Trust Accounts | Tax-Efficient Distribution Of Wealth
Heron Wealth advisors are not attorney and cannot draft wills or trusts on your behalf. However, our advisors are experienced in helping clients draft objectives, based on their financial plan, to review with clients’ trust & estate attorney. Heron Wealth advisors review drafts of the estate documents to make sure that our clients’ objectives are properly incorporated and that the administration of the trust will run smoothly.
While Heron Wealth assists with these functions on our clients’ behalf, we do not provide legal or tax advice as it pertains to estate planning issues. The preparation of legal documents such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, guardianship and living wills must be prepared by a duly licensed attorney of your state of residence. Heron Wealth can provide general advice on such documents, but must always defer to your legal counsel.