The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning

The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning is Wealth.com’s white paper for advisors to share directly with clients, covering the four documents that form the foundation of every estate plan, the roles of executor, trustee, and beneficiary, and the advanced structures that come into play once an estate grows more complex.

Inside, you’ll find why the goal is to route as few assets as possible through the will, what probate actually costs in time and dollars, and the trust structures worth raising with clients who have business interests, blended families, or charitable goals.

Inside the guide:

• The four documents everyone needs: How a durable power of attorney, healthcare proxy, revocable trust, and will function as one integrated system, why the power of attorney should be effective immediately rather than triggered by a declaration of incapacity, and why the will should carry as few assets as possible since anything left outside the trust falls into probate.
• Who does what: The differing responsibilities of the executor, trustee, and beneficiaries, why a trustee’s term can run for decades where an executor’s job ends at settlement, and the tradeoffs between naming a friend, a child, or a corporate trustee.
• The real cost of probate: Why the process typically consumes 3 to 7 percent of an estate’s value and takes 12 to 24 months to settle, with California’s statutory fees alone running roughly $56,000 on a $1.5 million estate before additional costs.
• Advanced structures for complex estates: How irrevocable trusts, silent trusts, and pet trusts address business interests, beneficiary disclosure concerns, and animal care, and how the 40 percent federal estate tax applies only above $15 million per individual ($30 million per married couple) in 2026.