Finding the right estate plan just got easier, smarter, and more personalized. We revamped our matching quiz to bring you recommendations built directly on 2026 legal trends and attorney consensus.
What’s New & How It Helps You
Attorney-Backed Guidance:We surveyed our national attorney network to align our quiz with current local legal best practices. Whether your situation calls for a standalone Will (with or without sub-trusts), a Joint Revocable Trust, or an Individual Revocable Trust, your results directly reflect what experienced local estate planners recommend.
State-Specific Probate Matching: Probate is the court-supervised process of settling an estate after someone passes away. Because recent legal updates simplified probate in several states, we refined our quiz to pinpoint the specific states where probate remains unusually long, expensive, and complex.
If you live in a high-cost, high-friction probate state, the quiz guides you toward a Trust-based estate plan to help your family avoid court delays and heavy administrative fees.
If you live in a state with a streamlined, low-cost probate process, the quiz takes that into account to help you evaluate if a simpler, Will-based plan makes sense for you.
Enhanced Transparency: We overhauled the results experience, so you understand the exact reasoning behind your match. You’ll get clear, step-by-step explanations covering crucial factors like privacy, avoiding court, managing out-of-state real estate, and handling unique family dynamics.
This update ensures you can move forward with complete confidence, pairing data-driven precision with the clear context you need to make the best decision for your family.
This material is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, or valuation advice. Clients should consult qualified professionals regarding their individual circumstances.
Any estate planning attorney or financial advisor can attest that it’s common to hear a client say they know they’ve done some estate planning in the past, but aren’t sure what it actually says. Legal documents are often dense with legalese, and even identifying what type of document you have can be tricky for non-lawyers.
With Wealth.com, our user-friendly workflows and visualization tools help you understand what kind of document you’re creating and what your plan says—and make it easy to come back and update your plan as life changes.
Before you start a new estate plan on Wealth.com, it helps to know what you already have. If you have a Will-based plan, you may want to replace it or explore a Revocable Trust instead. If you have an existing Trust, you may want to restate it.
How do you know if you have a Will-based plan or a Trust-based plan?
1. Check the titles of your documents.
If a previous provider gave you a binder or a stack of documents, look for a cover sheet or table of contents (for example, “The Estate Plan of John and Jane Doe”). These aren’t estate planning documents themselves—they just help you navigate to the real ones. If the table of contents lists one or more Trusts along with Wills, that’s a sign you have a Trust-based plan.
2. Look for “Last Will and Testament” or “Will of [Name].”
This is your Will.
3. Look for “Trust” in the title.
For example, “The Jane Doe Living Trust,” “The Jane Doe Revocable Trust,” or even a name that doesn’t reference you directly, like “The Woodway Street Trust.” Any document with “Trust” in the title is a Trust agreement. (Whether it’s an Individual or Joint Trust is covered separately.)
4. If you have a Trust, you likely also have a Will.
Usually one Will per person, since joint Wills are rare. But the Trust is the document doing the real work of directing how your assets are distributed. The Will typically just “catches” any assets left outside the Trust and directs them into it after your death.
5. Even without a separate Trust document, your Will might create a Trust.
For example, parents who planned while their kids were minors often included a trust for their children. But if that trust only takes effect within the Will at your death—with no separate, signed trust document—you have a Will-based plan.
How do you know if your existing trust is a Joint Revocable Trust or an Individual Revocable Trust?
Review the title of your Trust, which is usually found at the top of the first page. An Individual Trust usually has one person’s name only (The Jane Doe Revocable Trust), whereas a Joint Trust usually names two people (The John and Jane Doe Revocable Trust).
Read the first paragraph of your Trust—who is listed as the “grantor,” “settlor,” or “trustor’? An Individual Trust names one person in that role, whereas a Joint Trust names two people.
Similarly, an Individual Trust usually includes one trustee (typically the same as the grantor/settlor/trustor), whereas a Joint Trust usually has two trustees (both of the grantors/settlors/trustors).
This material is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, or valuation advice. Clients should consult qualified professionals regarding their individual circumstances.
Your client may call the company an asset. That description is technically correct and practically incomplete.
The business may generate the household’s income, employ family members, own real estate, guarantee debt, fund retirement, and represent most of the client’s net worth. It may also depend heavily on the owner’s relationships, judgment, and daily involvement.
If that owner dies or becomes incapacitated, every one of those roles can be disrupted at once.
That is why estate planning for business owners cannot be treated as a standard will-and-trust engagement with a company interest added to the asset list. The personal estate plan, business succession plan, governing documents, valuation, liquidity strategy, and tax plan must work as one system.
For advisors, this creates an opportunity to lead one of the most consequential planning conversations a client will ever have.
What does estate planning for business owners involve?
Estate planning for business owners coordinates what happens to the company’s ownership, control, and economic value if the owner dies, becomes incapacitated, or exits the business. It aligns the owner’s personal estate documents with the company’s governing agreements, succession strategy, valuation process, liquidity sources, and family goals.
The objective is not simply to transfer an asset. It is to protect the business as an operating enterprise while preserving the wealth it represents for the people the owner cares about.
Why a business is different from almost every other estate asset
A marketable investment portfolio can generally be valued, divided, and sold. A closely held business may be difficult to value, impossible to divide without affecting control, and costly to sell under pressure.
It also carries multiple forms of value that do not always pass together:
Economic value: The right to profits, distributions, or sale proceeds.
Voting control: The authority to make major decisions or select leadership.
Employment: A salary, benefits, and a professional identity for the owner or family members.
Operating continuity: The relationships and institutional knowledge that keep the company functioning.
Family meaning: The founder’s legacy and, sometimes, the inheritance family members expect to receive.
A plan can successfully transfer the equity and still damage the company. It can preserve the company and still treat heirs unfairly. It can minimize one tax exposure while creating a liquidity problem somewhere else.
Effective business owner wealth planning has to account for all of these outcomes together.
Business succession and estate planning answer different questions
The terms are often used interchangeably, but they solve different parts of the problem.
Business succession planning asks:
Who will lead the company, make decisions, retain key employees, and maintain relationships with customers, lenders, and vendors?
Estate planning asks:
Who will own the interest, receive its economic value, exercise voting rights, and ultimately benefit from it?
An integrated plan asks the harder question: How do leadership, ownership, and wealth transfer change together without destabilizing the business or the family?
Consider an owner with two adult children. One has worked in the company for 15 years. The other has built a separate career. A personal estate plan that divides everything equally may appear fair, but an equal division of voting equity could leave the active child without clear control. Giving the entire business to the active child could create a different problem if the remaining estate lacks enough value for the other child.
There is no universally correct answer. There is, however, a clear need to distinguish equal treatment from equitable treatment and to model the consequences before the family is forced to live with them.
The six planning questions advisors should lead
1. What does the client actually own?
Start with the legal and economic ownership structure, not the name of the company.
The client may own voting and nonvoting interests, interests in multiple operating entities, intellectual property, real estate leased to the business, shareholder loans, or equity held through a trust or holding company. The client may also have personal guarantees tied to company debt.
A complete ownership map should identify:
Each entity and the client’s ownership percentage
Voting, management, and distribution rights
How each interest is titled
Transfer restrictions and rights of first refusal
Business-owned and personally owned insurance
Debt, guarantees, and obligations connected to the owner
Which interests are included in or outside the taxable estate
Without that foundation, the planning team may be solving for an incomplete version of the client’s wealth.
2. Who can act if the owner cannot?
Many business plans focus on death and overlook incapacity. For an owner-led company, incapacity may create the more immediate operating crisis.
The planning team should determine who can exercise voting rights, manage the ownership interest, access necessary accounts, communicate with lenders, and authorize major decisions. A personal financial power of attorney may be part of the answer, but it must be reviewed alongside the company’s operating agreement, bylaws, shareholder agreement, and other governing documents.
The person best suited to manage the client’s personal finances may not be the right person to operate the company. The plan should make that distinction explicit.
3. Who receives control, and who receives value?
Ownership does not have to be treated as a single, indivisible concept. In some plans, voting control and economic benefit may be allocated differently. In others, the business may pass to active family members while life insurance, investment assets, or other property helps provide value to heirs outside the company.
The advisor can help the client explore questions such as:
Should active and inactive family members inherit the same type of interest?
Does the intended successor have enough authority to lead?
Will trusts receive business interests, and can the selected trustees manage them?
Could a mandatory buyout create an unsustainable cash demand?
What happens if no family member wants or is qualified to run the company?
These are financial, legal, operational, and emotional questions. Addressing them early gives the client more choices.
4. What is the business worth?
Business valuation in estate plans is not a one-time compliance exercise. It influences transfer strategies, insurance coverage, buyout obligations, potential estate tax exposure, and whether the client’s intended division of wealth is realistic.
The IRS has long emphasized that closely held business valuation depends on the facts and circumstances of each case, including the company’s history, financial condition, industry outlook, earning capacity, and other relevant factors. Its guidance makes clear that there is no single formula appropriate for every closely held company. See the IRS memorandum discussing Revenue Ruling 59-60. The IRS also instructs examiners to review governing documents, prior sales, appraisals, and five years of relevant financial records when evaluating a closely held interest. See the IRS examiner guidance.
Advisors should help clients establish a repeatable valuation process and revisit it after material events, including:
Rapid growth or contraction
A major financing round
An acquisition offer
The loss of a key customer or executive
A change in ownership
A new buy-sell agreement
A significant shift in the industry
A valuation provision written years ago can produce a number that no longer reflects the company, the agreement’s funding, or the owner’s estate plan.
5. Where will liquidity come from?
Liquidity planning for owners is often the point where a plan that looks sound on paper fails in practice.
The owner’s estate may need cash for taxes, debt, administration expenses, family support, or equalization among beneficiaries. The business may simultaneously need working capital, funds to recruit new leadership, money to redeem an owner’s interest, or reserves to reassure employees and customers.
Those demands may arrive when the family is least prepared to sell the company or borrow against it.
Potential liquidity sources can include personal liquid assets, business cash, life insurance, borrowing capacity, a planned sale, or payments under a buy-sell agreement. Each source has different legal, tax, valuation, and operational consequences.
Federal law also permits certain qualifying estates in which a closely held business exceeds 35 percent of the adjusted gross estate to elect installment payment of eligible estate tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 6166. That relief is subject to detailed requirements and should be evaluated by qualified tax and legal professionals. It is a potential tool, not a substitute for a liquidity strategy. See 26 U.S.C. § 6166.
The essential planning question is simple: If the client were unavailable tomorrow, where would every required dollar come from, and when?
6. Do the business agreements and estate documents tell the same story?
A client may have a will, trust, buy-sell agreement, operating agreement, insurance policy, and succession plan, each prepared by a capable professional. The risk is that they were created at different times, for different purposes, using different assumptions.
Buy-sell agreements in estate planning deserve particular attention. The planning team should review:
The events that trigger a purchase or sale
Who has the right or obligation to buy
How the purchase price is determined
How frequently the valuation is updated
How the transaction will be funded
Who owns and benefits from related insurance policies
Whether the agreement aligns with the client’s will and trusts
How the structure affects the company’s and estate’s tax exposure
The importance of coordination was reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Connelly v. United States. The Court held that life insurance proceeds paid to a corporation increased the corporation’s fair market value and that the company’s obligation to redeem the deceased shareholder’s shares did not offset those proceeds for federal estate tax valuation. The ruling does not make every entity-redemption structure inappropriate. It does show why insurance, valuation, agreement design, and estate tax consequences must be reviewed together. See the Supreme Court opinion.
What integrated entrepreneur estate planning looks like
Imagine a client who owns 80 percent of a manufacturing company. Her daughter is the chief operating officer, while her son does not work in the business. The client’s revocable trust divides the remaining estate equally between both children. The company has a buy-sell agreement, but its stated value has not been updated in seven years. Most of the client’s wealth is tied to the business and the real estate it occupies.
Viewed one document at a time, the client appears to have a plan. Viewed as a system, several questions emerge:
Would the trust divide the business interest in a way that undermines the daughter’s control?
If the daughter must buy her brother’s interest, where would the money come from?
Does the old agreement value meaningfully reflect the company today?
Is the business real estate transferred with the operating company or separately?
What happens to personal guarantees and company debt?
Can the business continue paying employees and serving customers during the transition?
The advisor’s role is not to choose a legal structure in isolation. It is to make the full set of tradeoffs visible, help the client define the desired outcome, and coordinate the attorney, CPA, valuation professional, insurance specialist, and other experts needed to implement it.
The advisor as the integrator
Business owners often have sophisticated professionals around them. What they may not have is one person making sure every professional is working from the same facts and toward the same outcome.
Advisors are well positioned to fill that role because they understand the client’s family, cash flow, portfolio, retirement goals, risk tolerance, and broader wealth picture. They can lead the process by:
Mapping the system. Document the entities, ownership, decision-makers, agreements, assets, liabilities, and family relationships involved.
Defining the client’s priorities. Clarify whether the primary goal is continuity, a family transfer, a third-party sale, employee ownership, family equity, tax efficiency, or some combination.
Identifying conflicts and gaps. Surface stale valuations, unfunded obligations, inconsistent documents, unclear authority, and concentrated liquidity risk.
Modeling alternatives. Show how different transfer, sale, growth, and liquidity events could affect the business, taxes, estate distributions, and family members.
Coordinating specialists. Bring the estate attorney, corporate counsel, CPA, valuation professional, and insurance specialist into a shared planning process.
Tracking implementation. Confirm that documents are executed, titles and beneficiary designations are updated, policies are properly owned, and agreed actions are completed.
Establishing review triggers. Revisit the plan after a valuation change, financing, ownership transition, major hire, family event, tax law change, or acquisition discussion.
The advisor does not need to replace any of these specialists. The advisor creates value by ensuring that no important decision remains trapped inside a professional silo.
Why generic estate planning tools struggle with business owner complexity
Many estate planning tools are built around a simple path: identify an asset, identify its owner, and identify its beneficiary.
Business owner clients rarely fit that model. Their plans may involve layered entities, trusts, voting and nonvoting interests, transfer restrictions, insurance funding, real estate, guarantees, future liquidity events, and family members with different roles. A change to one part of the structure can affect control, tax exposure, cash needs, and estate distributions elsewhere.
Wealth.com is built to help advisors capture and communicate that complexity. Advisors can aggregate and visualize ownership across individuals, entities, and trusts; centralize estate-related documents; and use tools such as the Ownership Balance Sheet, Heritage Map, Report Builder, and Scenario Builder to clarify current structures and compare potential outcomes. Scenario Builder can incorporate future events, including asset sales and liquidity events, so planning conversations can move beyond static documents to the consequences of real decisions. Explore Wealth.com’s platform.
That visibility matters. Clients are more likely to act when they can see how the business, the estate plan, and the family connect.
A business owner estate plan should evolve with the business
The strongest plan is not the one with the most documents. It is the one in which ownership, authority, liquidity, valuation, and intent remain aligned as the company and family change.
For advisors, estate planning for business owners is an opportunity to move beyond a narrow discussion of asset transfer. It is a chance to help protect the enterprise a client built, the wealth it created, and the people who will live with the decisions that follow.
The work begins by putting the whole system in view.
Ready to help business-owning clients connect estate planning, tax considerations, and their broader wealth strategy?
Frequently asked questions about estate planning for business owners
Does a buy-sell agreement replace an estate plan?
No. A buy-sell agreement governs specific ownership transfers under defined events. The estate plan addresses the owner’s broader assets, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, incapacity, and wealth transfer goals. The two must be reviewed together so their instructions, valuations, and funding mechanisms align.
How often should a business valuation be updated for estate planning?
There is no universal schedule. Many owners benefit from regular valuations and additional reviews after material events such as rapid growth, a financing, an acquisition offer, an ownership change, or the loss of a key customer or leader. The appropriate frequency should be determined with a qualified valuation professional and the client’s legal and tax advisors.
What is the difference between business succession planning and estate planning?
Business succession planning focuses on future leadership and operating continuity. Estate planning focuses on ownership, authority, and the transfer of economic value. Business owners need both plans to work together.
How can a business owner create liquidity for estate obligations?
Potential sources include personal liquid assets, company cash, life insurance, borrowing capacity, a planned sale, and payments under a buy-sell agreement. The appropriate mix depends on the company, the owner’s estate, tax considerations, and the timing of expected obligations.
What should a financial advisor review with a business-owning client?
The advisor should review entity ownership, governing agreements, estate documents, decision-maker authority, business valuation, insurance, debt and guarantees, liquidity, family roles, succession goals, and implementation status. Legal, tax, valuation, and insurance professionals should advise within their respective areas.
This material is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, or valuation advice. Clients should consult qualified professionals regarding their individual circumstances.
Their financial life may look almost exactly as it did the day before. They may be preparing for college, working a summer job, or still relying on their parents for nearly everything. They probably do not have meaningful assets to manage.
But an important planning threshold has arrived.
Once a child becomes a legal adult, parents should not assume they will retain the same access to medical information or the same ability to act on the child’s behalf. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains that only an individual or the individual’s personal representative has a right to access the person’s medical records. An advance directive can provide instructions for medical care if someone cannot communicate and, depending on the document and applicable state law, can allow that person to name someone to make health care decisions for them.
For families, this creates a real and often overlooked need. For advisors, it creates a natural opportunity to help.
Turn a one-time gesture into a named client benefit
Rather than addressing this need only when a client happens to ask, firms can formalize the experience as a Family Milestones Program.
The experience can include a brief educational meeting, completion of the document, and clear instructions for signing, storing, and sharing it.
The service can be offered as an included benefit of the family’s relationship with the firm.
That distinction matters. A named program is easier to explain, easier to operationalize, and easier for clients to remember. It can appear on the firm’s website, in onboarding materials, during annual reviews, and in client benefit summaries. Instead of simply saying the firm serves the whole family, the advisor can point to a specific way it does so.
The best time to meet the next generation is before there is anything to sell them
Many firms first focus on the next generation when a wealth transfer becomes imminent. By then, the adult children may already have their own financial relationships, preferences, and perceptions of their parents’ advisor.
A Family Milestones Program starts much earlier.
The objective is not to gather assets this quarter. In many cases, there will be no account to open and no immediate revenue opportunity. That is precisely what makes the interaction meaningful. The advisor is showing up at an important moment without attaching a sales pitch to it.
The young adult receives something useful. The client sees the firm investing in someone they love. The advisor earns an introduction based on service rather than solicitation.
Over time, that first conversation can become the foundation for future ones. The same young adult may eventually need help with workplace benefits, a first investment account, marriage, a home purchase, children, business ownership, or an estate plan of their own. There is no guarantee that the relationship will develop that way, but the firm will have earned something more valuable than a cold lead: familiarity, trust, and a history of being helpful.
This is a long-term relationship strategy, and it should be measured like one.
Why the program creates value now
The strategic payoff may take years, but the client value is immediate.
It makes multigenerational planning tangible
Advisors often talk about serving the whole family. This program turns that promise into a specific experience clients can see and use.
It gives clients another reason to value the relationship
Clients do not experience their financial lives as a collection of investment accounts. Helping them prepare a child or grandchild for adulthood demonstrates that the firm is paying attention to the people and transitions surrounding the wealth.
It creates a natural, permission-based introduction
The milestone gives the advisor a legitimate reason to meet the next generation. The conversation begins with the young adult’s needs and choices, not the firm’s services.
It differentiates the firm’s client experience
Plenty of firms say they offer comprehensive planning. Far fewer can name a repeatable benefit designed specifically for the families of their clients.
It gives estate planning an ongoing role
Estate planning should not be treated as a project that happens once and disappears from view. A milestone-based program helps make planning a continuing part of the relationship.
How to launch a Family Milestones Program
The strongest version of this program is simple, consistent, and easy for the advisory team to explain.
Step 01
Define the benefit
Start with one clear milestone and one clear outcome. For example:
When a client’s child or grandchild turns 18, the firm offers a short planning session and access to an advance health care directive through Wealth.com at no additional cost.
Specify who is eligible, what is included, and whether the benefit extends to children, grandchildren, or both. Review the design and all client-facing language with the firm’s legal and compliance teams.
Step 02
Give the program a name
“Family Milestones Program” is broad enough to grow with the firm while remaining easy to understand. A formal name helps advisors introduce it consistently and makes it feel like a genuine component of the client experience, not an occasional favor.
Step 03
Capture the right family information
During onboarding and annual reviews, ask clients whether they would like the firm to recognize upcoming family milestones. Record the names and relevant timing for children and grandchildren in the firm’s CRM, consistent with its privacy and data-handling policies.
The firm does not need to wait for perfect data. It can begin with interested clients and expand participation over time.
Step 04
Build a simple workflow
Create a CRM reminder 60 to 90 days before the young adult’s 18th birthday. The workflow might include:
An advisor note to the client explaining the benefit
An invitation for the young adult to participate
A short educational meeting centered on the young adult’s choices
Completion of the appropriate document through Wealth.com
Instructions for execution, storage, and sharing
A brief follow-up after the process is complete
The young adult should be treated as the decision-maker throughout the experience. The parent’s role is to make the introduction, not to make choices on the new adult’s behalf.
Step 05
Make the experience feel like a milestone
The program should feel warmer than an administrative task. Congratulate the young adult. Explain why the document matters in plain language. Give them a concise checklist of what to do with the completed document. If appropriate, follow up with a handwritten note or a small welcome gift from the firm.
The details do not need to be expensive. They need to feel intentional.
Step 06
Measure relationships, not immediate revenue
Traditional campaign metrics will miss the point. Better early indicators include:
Eligible family members identified
Invitations sent
Young adults who participate
Documents completed
Next-generation relationships established
Client feedback and referrals connected to the program
Follow-up planning conversations over time
Assets may eventually follow, but they should not be the program’s first test of success.
Client-facing copy firms can use
Advisors can include language like this on a website, client benefit page, or service overview:
Website or service overviewFamily Milestones Program
New planning needs often arrive before financial complexity. When your child or grandchild turns 18, we will help them understand and establish a foundational health care directive through Wealth.com. This benefit is included as part of your family’s relationship with our firm.
An advisor can also introduce it during a review with a simple question:
Annual review conversation“Do you have any children or grandchildren turning 18 in the next year? We offer a Family Milestones Program that helps them put a foundational health care directive in place. It is included as part of our work with your family.”
That question is specific, helpful, and easy for a client to act on.
Start with 18, then build around the family’s life
The 18th birthday is an ideal place to begin because it combines a clear trigger with an immediate planning need. Once the workflow is working well, firms can decide whether the broader program should recognize other transitions, such as a first job, marriage, the birth of a child, a home purchase, or the launch of a business.
Each milestone can prompt a different planning conversation. Together, they can create a client experience that follows the family across generations.
The value of a Family Milestones Program is not that every 18-year-old becomes a profitable client. The value is that the firm helps at a moment that matters, demonstrates what multigenerational service actually looks like, and begins a relationship with no immediate expectation in return.
Clients remember the firms that help them care for the people they love. The next generation will, too.
Document names, legal requirements, age-of-majority rules, and execution formalities vary by state and individual circumstances. Firms should use applicable state-specific workflows and review the program and its communications with legal and compliance professionals.
Your client just wrote a tuition check, co-signed a housing form, and paid the first health insurance premium of the year. In the eyes of the law, none of that gives them the right to make a single phone call to their child’s doctor.
The day a child turns 18, the default access a parent relied on for eighteen years quietly disappears. Without the right documents, that parent may not be able to receive medical information, speak with a treating physician, or step in when their adult child cannot speak for themselves.
Your expertise isn’t measured by your ability to define estate planning documents. It’s measured by your ability to identify planning opportunities, navigate client questions with confidence, and use each conversation to strengthen the client’s overall plan. This playbook focuses on those conversations because that’s where advisors create the most value.
The college health care documents, in one screen
This is the part you can hand a client or summarize in thirty seconds. Three instruments, with three different jobs:
1
HIPAA authorization
Governs access to information. It lets a provider or health plan share protected health information with the people named in it. It does not grant decision-making power.
2
Health care proxy or power of attorney
Governs decisions. It names someone to make health care decisions when the student cannot make or communicate them. When in effect, that agent generally becomes the HIPAA personal representative as well.
3
Advance health care directive
Usually the broadest instrument, often combining the proxy appointment, living will language, end-of-life instructions, and organ donation provisions in one state form.
The part that is actually hard: it changes by state
HIPAA is federal. Health care decision-making documents are not. The same family need produces a different document structure depending on where the client lives. This is nuance no advisor can reliably hold in their head, and it is also where preparation matters most.
Arizona recognizes a dedicated Mental Health Care Power of Attorney, offered as a separate form, that lets an adult name someone to make mental health treatment decisions if they are later found incapable. Without that document, an agent under a standard health care power of attorney may make those decisions, subject to statutory exceptions. Connecticut addresses the same need within a combined advance directive covering both physical and mental conditions, with no standalone mental health form.
Advisor takeawayNever assume a client’s home state and school state work the same way, and never assume a Mental Health POA exists in the same form everywhere. Evaluate the client’s state and the actual document set in front of you.
Handling the three objections you will hear
“My kid would never sign that.”
Reframe it from surveillance to access in an emergency. The student chooses who is named, and the authorization can be narrow. Most 18-year-olds will sign a form that says, “If I am in a hospital and cannot speak, my parent can find out what is happening,” especially when the alternative is a parent locked out at a registration desk during a crisis.
“We already have a will, so we are covered.”
A will is a death document. It does nothing during a living medical emergency, which is exactly the scenario at issue here. This is a different instrument for a different moment. Pointing that out is often the first time a client realizes their existing plan has a gap.
“Isn’t the form the college gave us enough?”
Usually not. Campus health forms and the school’s FERPA waiver cover educational records and on-campus treatment, not decision-making authority at an off-campus hospital where a real emergency may land. A form that never leaves the student health center will not help in an ICU two states away.
How to raise it without practicing law
You do not need to give legal advice to create value. You need to surface the gap and route the family to the right execution. Two questions do most of the work:
“Your child is turning 18. If there were a medical emergency tonight, who would legally be allowed to receive information?”
“If your child could not make a health care decision, who would be authorized to step in?”
The silence after those questions is the planning gap, and naming it is not legal advice.
That framing keeps you on the right side of the line while still owning the relationship.
Turn a form into a full plan
The HIPAA gap is the smallest possible entry point, which is exactly what makes it a good one. A family that just learned their access to medical decisions evaporated at 18 will immediately grasp that their access to financial decisions did too.
That opens the natural sequence. A durable financial power of attorney lets a parent handle banking, tuition disputes, and tax matters when an adult child is abroad or hospitalized. A FERPA authorization closes the educational-records gap. Once a household is thinking about the documents their child needs, they are one step from confronting the documents they themselves are missing.
One college conversation becomes a full estate review, and a single form becomes an expanded relationship.
The cross-sell logicYou are not selling a HIPAA form. You are using it as the lowest-friction reason to open the whole plan.
Advisor checklist
Confirm age and both states.
The conversation sharpens at 18. Note the student’s legal residence and the school’s state, since law and local practice can differ.
Identify who should receive information.
This could be one parent, both parents, a guardian, or another trusted person.
Locate the HIPAA language.
Determine whether it is a standalone authorization or embedded in another document. Read the authority and disclosure sections, not simply the title.
Name a decision-maker.
Address the health care proxy, health care power of attorney, or advance directive.
Address mental health authority.
Some states use a dedicated Mental Health POA. Others address it within the standard health care document.
Pre-empt the objections.
Have the “not surveillance,” “a will is not enough,” and “the campus form is not enough” responses ready.
Add the financial POA and FERPA waiver.
Complete the adult-transition document set, then bridge the conversation to the household’s own plan.
Execute, store, and review annually.
Witnessing and notarization rules vary by state. Named individuals and school locations can also change.
Bring the college conversation to your next client review
Wealth.com generates state-correct health care documents, with HIPAA authority built into the appropriate instrument for every jurisdiction, so you can raise the conversation and let the platform support execution.
Probate is the court-supervised legal process through which a person’s estate is administered and distributed after they have passed away.
There are a few functions of a probate proceeding:
It validates the deceased person’s Will, if they have one
It appoints a person responsible for administering the estate (called a personal representative, executor, or administrator)
It identifies and inventories the assets of an estate, and establishes and confirms valid debts, taxes due, and expenses of the decedent’s estate
It ultimately distributes the balance of the estate’s assets to the beneficiaries or heirs
When Is Probate Required?
Generally, probate is required when a person dies owning assets solely in their individual name, such as real property or bank and investment accounts, without a designated beneficiary or survivorship feature.
Probate is generally not required for assets that pass outside of the estate by operation of law. This includes jointly held property with rights of survivorship, assets funded during lifetime to a revocable trust, life insurance proceeds and retirement accounts with a beneficiary designation on file, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts.
Small Estate Procedures
Many states offer streamlined versions of probate that require little or no court involvement. If the “probate” estate falls below a certain dollar value and/or excludes real property, assets can be collected and distributed through a small estate affidavit or summary administration process instead of formal probate.
$10K-$150K+
Typical small-estate dollar thresholds vary widely by state. Some also exclude assets like homestead property or vehicles from the calculation.
Independent vs. Supervised Administration
Some states bifurcate their formal probate procedures into two forms of administration.
Independent Administration
The personal representative manages and distributes assets with minimal court oversight, selling property, paying claims, and making distributions without prior court approval. Less expensive and faster; more common where available.
Supervised Administration
The personal representative must obtain court approval for most significant actions, selling real property, paying claims, issuing final distributions. More protective, but more time-consuming and expensive.
Some states only provide for supervised administration, while others require it for estates with disputes among beneficiaries, concerns about the representative’s fitness to serve, or when the will or state law requires it.
How Can I Avoid Probate?
The most common approach to avoiding probate entirely is to create a revocable trust and fully fund it with all of the assets that would otherwise pass through your probate estate, for example, bank accounts, investment accounts, and real property. IRA and life insurance accounts avoid probate separately, through beneficiary designations.
Is a Revocable Trust the Only Way to Avoid Probate?
No. You may also be able to avoid probate in a Will-based plan by naming beneficiaries on accounts like retirement plans or life insurance, or by titling property jointly with someone else.
However, there are two things to keep in mind:
01
Any account with a beneficiary designation, or any asset you retitle during your lifetime, will pass outside your Will. It won’t follow the instructions in your Will.
02
Adding a joint owner can cause that asset to lose its “step-up in basis” at your death, a tax benefit it would otherwise get if it stayed solely in your name or your revocable trust.
Because of these tradeoffs, if you want to avoid probate with a Will-based plan using beneficiary designations or joint ownership, we strongly recommend talking to an attorney first to make sure it fits your situation.
What Makes a State’s Probate Process More Cumbersome?
A state’s probate process is considered more burdensome when it has:
High court filing fees
Attorney and executor fees set by a fixed schedule or the estate’s total value, rather than actual time spent
Long waiting periods for creditors to make claims, delaying distributions
Complex or unclear local court rules and procedures
A generally slow administration process
Heavy court oversight of each step
Together, these factors can make probate slower and more expensive, meaning your beneficiaries wait longer to receive their inheritance, and fees can eat into a larger share of what’s ultimately passed on to them.
The Great Wealth Transfer is usually framed as a story about scale. Cerulli Associates projects that $124 trillion will transfer through 2048, including approximately $105 trillion passing to heirs and $18 trillion going to charitable organizations. Nearly $100 trillion is expected to originate with Baby Boomers and older generations.
But the amount of money changing hands is only part of the story.
The next generation is unlikely to invest all of that wealth in the same way as the generation transferring it. Younger investors are showing greater interest in private equity, venture capital, private credit, cryptocurrency, direct real estate, commodities, collectibles, and other assets outside the traditional mix of publicly traded stocks and bonds.
As reported by The Daily Upside, 88% of Gen Z and millennial investors surveyed by Bank of America expect to increase their allocations to alternatives in the coming years. Younger respondents already allocate approximately 15% of their portfolios to alternatives, and 58% report owning digital assets.
These findings reflect a specific high-net-worth population, not Gen Z and millennials broadly. Bank of America’s 2026 Study of Wealthy Americans surveyed 1,431 U.S. respondents who were at least 21 years old and had at least $3 million in investable assets, excluding their primary residence.
The shift is not hypothetical. In July 2026, Cerulli estimated that U.S. financial advisors already allocate approximately $2.2 trillion to less-than-fully-liquid private capital. Cerulli expects advisor-intermediated ownership of those investments to grow by another $2 trillion over the next five years.
As these trends converge, the Great Wealth Transfer will become more than a transfer of money. It will become a transfer of assets that may be harder to identify, value, access, sell, divide, and manage.
A transfer of investment philosophy
Traditional discussions about generational wealth often focus on asset retention.
Will the children continue working with their parents’ financial advisor? Will the assets remain at the same firm? Will the next generation maintain the portfolio that created and preserved the family’s wealth?
Those are important questions, but they can overlook a more fundamental change. Many younger investors are not simply inheriting their parents’ assets. They are bringing a different philosophy to how wealth should be invested.
Bank of America’s research found that 77% of ultra-high-net-worth respondents, defined as those with more than $25 million in investable assets, believe that private markets offer greater investment opportunities than public markets.
Some heirs will receive alternative assets directly, including family businesses, private-company interests, investment properties, mineral rights, art, or collectibles. Others will inherit portfolios of traditional investments and then redirect part of that wealth into alternatives.
Either path can change the estate-planning equation.
A plan built primarily around brokerage accounts, retirement assets, life insurance, and a family residence may not fully address a balance sheet that also includes private funds, multiple business entities, cryptocurrency wallets, illiquid real estate, or valuable physical assets.
Why alternatives create a different estate-planning challenge
Alternative investments are not inherently better or worse for an estate plan. They are simply different.
Many publicly traded investments have observable market prices, established custody systems, and active secondary markets. Alternative assets may depend on private agreements, specialized valuation methods, restricted transfer processes, physical possession, or unique forms of digital access.
FINRA warns that alternative and complex products can be difficult to understand, may provide less information to investors than publicly offered investments, and can have limited secondary markets. In some cases, an owner may be unable to sell an investment when desired or may only be able to sell at a meaningful loss.
Those characteristics have implications that extend well beyond portfolio construction.
The asset may be missing from the financial picture
The first challenge is often visibility.
Traditional investments are generally reflected on account statements from financial institutions. Alternative holdings may be distributed across LLCs, partnerships, private funds, online platforms, digital wallets, physical storage facilities, and separately maintained legal agreements.
A client may own a minority interest in a private company, cryptocurrency on multiple exchanges, a direct blockchain wallet, shares in a venture fund, a vacation property, mineral rights, or a valuable collection. Some of those assets may not appear on the advisor’s portfolio-management system or the client’s most recent estate-planning summary.
That creates a basic but serious problem: an estate plan cannot effectively address an asset that no one has identified.
For advisors, maintaining a reliable inventory of alternative holdings is not merely an administrative task. It is foundational to understanding the client’s complete financial and estate-planning picture.
The ownership structure may determine the transfer
Alternative assets are frequently owned through entities or governed by private agreements.
A private-company interest might be held individually, through an LLC or other entity, or in a trust. A family business may be subject to a shareholder agreement or buy-sell agreement. A private fund may restrict who can receive an interest or require the manager’s consent before ownership changes.
These agreements may contain rights of first refusal, eligibility requirements, valuation provisions, purchase options, or restrictions on transferring an interest to a beneficiary.
The IRS itself directs estate-tax examiners reviewing closely held business interests to examine governing entity documents, rights of first refusal, buy-sell agreements, ownership records, and the valuation methods applied to the interest.
A will or trust may state who should receive an asset, but the asset’s governing agreement can affect whether that transfer is permitted and what process must be followed.
That makes coordination critical. The client’s estate documents, entity agreements, ownership records, beneficiary designations, and stated intentions must tell a consistent story.
Valuation becomes more complicated
Publicly traded securities generally have an observable market value. Alternative assets may not.
The value of a private business, limited partnership interest, investment property, art collection, carried interest, or other specialized holding may depend on appraisals, financial statements, market comparisons, contractual rights, and professional judgment.
For federal estate-tax purposes, the IRS generally requires property to be reported at fair market value. It also expects supporting information such as appraisals and specifically identifies closely held businesses, partnership interests, jewelry, antiques, automobiles, collectibles, and art as assets that may require additional valuation work.
Valuation affects more than a potential estate-tax calculation. It can influence insurance planning, charitable strategies, asset sales, business succession, and how property is divided among heirs.
It can also create family tension.
One beneficiary might receive a private-business interest with a high estimated value but no clear path to liquidity. Another might receive publicly traded investments that can be accessed and diversified immediately. The assets may appear equal on paper while carrying very different levels of risk, control, income, and flexibility.
A thoughtful estate plan should account for those economic differences, not simply compare estimated dollar values.
Liquidity may not arrive when the family needs it
An estate can be wealthy on paper and still lack usable cash.
Private funds may have multiyear holding periods. Investment properties can take months to sell. Family businesses may produce income but have no active market. Some private investments may also involve future capital calls or other continuing obligations.
At the same time, an estate may need cash to pay debts, taxes, administrative expenses, property costs, professional fees, or distributions to beneficiaries.
FINRA notes that many alternative and complex investments have limited secondary trading and may not be sellable when an investor wants to exit.
Without adequate liquidity planning, a family may be forced to sell an asset at an unfavorable time, borrow against other property, or use liquid assets intended for another beneficiary.
The relevant question is therefore not only, “What is the estate worth?” It is also, “How much of that value will be available when the family actually needs it?”
Digital assets require both authority and access
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets introduce an especially modern planning challenge.
A traditional financial institution has procedures for identifying a deceased account owner and working with an authorized representative. Direct blockchain assets can operate differently. Control may depend entirely on possession of a private key.
ACTEC’s 2025 guidance distinguishes between cryptocurrency held through an exchange and cryptocurrency held directly on a blockchain. With direct holdings, loss of the private key can make the asset inaccessible, with no conventional password-recovery process or centralized help desk.
Legal authority is another component.
The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act was developed to govern fiduciary access to digital property when an owner dies or becomes unable to manage it. The act extends traditional fiduciary authority to digital property, including virtual currency, while imposing additional requirements for access to certain electronic communications.
That means a digital-asset plan must address several questions:
What assets exist?
Where and how are they held?
Who has legal authority to manage them?
Where are access instructions stored?
How will the owner protect those instructions during life?
How will an authorized person gain access after death or incapacity?
A provision in a will or trust is not enough if the fiduciary cannot locate or access the asset. At the same time, casually sharing private keys can create serious security risks while the owner is alive.
The legal plan, custody approach, security process, and practical succession instructions must work together.
Equal treatment may not produce an equitable result
Alternative assets can also challenge the assumption that an estate should be divided by giving each beneficiary an identical percentage of every asset.
A brokerage account can usually be divided with relative ease. A family business, investment property, private-fund interest, or collection may not be divisible in the same way.
Family members may also want different things.
One child may want to operate the family business, while another wants liquidity. One beneficiary may feel an emotional connection to a family property, while another sees taxes, maintenance, and financial risk. One heir may understand cryptocurrency or private markets, while another may be uncomfortable taking responsibility for those assets.
Equal and equitable are not always synonymous.
Planning should consider who wants each asset, who is prepared to manage it, what obligations come with ownership, how other beneficiaries will be treated, and what process should apply when family members disagree.
Preparing heirs is as important as preparing assets
The increasing complexity of family portfolios arrives at a time when many wealthy families already question whether the next generation is prepared.
Among ultra-high-net-worth respondents in Bank of America’s study, 79% involve their advisors in estate-planning conversations with their heirs. Yet only 36% believe their heirs are very prepared to receive an inheritance.
The broader estate-planning foundation is also uneven. Bank of America found that only 46% of wealthy respondents had a will, living will or advance directive, and durable power of attorney. Although 55% had a trust, only 33% said they understood trusts well.
Alternative assets can make this preparedness gap more consequential.
An heir may inherit a concentrated private-company position without understanding the company’s governance or financial condition. A beneficiary may receive an interest in an illiquid fund with continuing capital obligations. A family member may become responsible for real estate with significant debt, taxes, or maintenance costs.
Preparing the assets is only half the work. Families must also prepare the people who will receive or manage them.
That preparation requires more than disclosing a future inheritance amount. It should help the next generation understand:
What the family owns
How the assets are structured
Why the family holds them
What risks and responsibilities accompany ownership
Who will have decision-making authority
Which professionals can provide guidance
What the family ultimately hopes its wealth will accomplish
Those conversations are more effective when they are intentional.
A Merrill Center for Family Wealth study of individuals from families with at least $50 million in assets found that 78% of recent family wealth discussions arose spontaneously, and 26% of those who participated later regretted the conversation. When families co-managed assets, 54% identified limited governance, including unclear roles and decision-making authority, as a major challenge.
Estate planning can create the structure those conversations often lack.
The advisor’s role is becoming more central
Financial advisors do not need to become attorneys, private-business appraisers, cryptocurrency custodians, art specialists, or real estate operators.
They do need to recognize when those capabilities are required.
The advisor often has the broadest view of the client’s portfolio, goals, family relationships, cash-flow needs, risk profile, and professional team. That perspective makes the advisor well positioned to identify gaps and coordinate the right specialists.
The advisor can help connect decisions that are often made separately:
The investment strategy
The ownership structure
The estate documents
The tax plan
The liquidity plan
The succession strategy
The family’s expectations
A sophisticated trust cannot solve for an asset that was never identified. A business valuation does not solve a liquidity shortage. A carefully selected investment is not fully planned for when no one knows who will manage it after the owner’s death or incapacity.
The advisor’s value is in helping turn those separate decisions into a coherent strategy.
A five-part framework for advisors
As alternative investments become a larger part of client portfolios, advisors can incorporate five practices into the estate-planning relationship.
1. Build a complete ownership map
Identify the client’s traditional and alternative holdings.
For every significant asset, document what it is, where it is held, who legally owns it, how it is titled, who currently manages it, and where the relevant agreements or access instructions can be found.
The goal is not merely a list of estimated values. It is a map of the client’s ownership and control.
2. Match each asset to its transfer path
Determine what governs the disposition of each asset.
That might be a will, trust, beneficiary designation, deed, operating agreement, partnership agreement, buy-sell agreement, transfer-on-death registration, or platform-specific process.
Any inconsistencies should prompt coordination with the client’s estate-planning attorney, tax professional, or other relevant specialist.
3. Stress-test liquidity and concentration
Evaluate how much of the estate could realistically be converted to cash, how quickly that could occur, and what costs or restrictions might apply.
Model potential taxes, debts, administrative expenses, capital obligations, property costs, and beneficiary distributions. Consider how the plan would function if markets were weak or a significant asset could not be sold on schedule.
4. Prepare heirs and fiduciaries
Help the client decide when and how to involve children, beneficiaries, trustees, executors, business successors, and other decision-makers.
The goal is not necessarily to reveal every financial detail immediately. The goal is to ensure that the people who will eventually inherit or manage the assets understand their future roles and know where to seek help.
5. Treat the estate plan as a living strategy
Alternative portfolios can change rapidly.
A new private investment, business transaction, property acquisition, cryptocurrency wallet, marriage, birth, relocation, or liquidity event can alter the client’s estate-planning needs.
Establish a regular review cadence and identify the events that should trigger an earlier conversation. Estate planning should evolve alongside the portfolio, not trail it by several years.
The Great Wealth Transfer will reward coordinated advice
The Great Wealth Transfer will not be a passive movement of assets from one generation to another.
It will also transfer investment philosophies, ownership responsibilities, family expectations, and portfolios that are likely to contain a broader variety of private, illiquid, physical, and digital assets.
The central challenge will not be choosing between traditional and alternative investments. It will be ensuring that every asset, regardless of form, is visible, properly owned, accessible, manageable, and aligned with the family’s intentions.
That work sits at the intersection of investment management, estate planning, tax strategy, liquidity planning, family governance, and financial education.
For advisors, this creates an opportunity to deepen relationships across generations. Firms that help families prepare both their assets and their heirs will be better positioned to preserve wealth, reduce conflict, and remain relevant as responsibility moves from one generation to the next.
The Great Wealth Transfer may help fuel a historic expansion in alternative investing.
It will also produce a Great Complexity Transfer. The advisors who recognize that early will be best equipped to guide families through it.
Turning complexity into a clearer picture
Technology can help advisors bring this growing complexity into view. Wealth.com integrates with more than 20 trusted platforms and enables clients to connect alternative assets such as cryptocurrency through Coinbase, private-company equity data through Carta, real estate information through Zillow, alternative investment data through Arch, and external financial accounts through Yodlee.
Wealth.com’s estate visualizations can then help advisors and clients understand what is owned, how it is owned, and how those assets may transfer across generations.
Uniform Law Commission and ACTEC digital-asset guidance.
Merrill Center for Family Wealth, family wealth conversation research.
This material is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, tax, or investment advice. Individuals should consult their own legal, tax, and financial professionals regarding their specific circumstances.
PHOENIX, July 29, 2026:Wealth.com today announced a strategic partnership with FMG Suite, the leading marketing technology platform for wealth management and insurance organizations. Under the partnership, Wealth.com will serve as the Exclusive Technology Founding Partner of FMG’s Institutional Intelligence program.
FMG’s network of more than 80,000 advisors and insurance professionals, as well as the enterprises that support them, will gain access to compliance-friendly estate and tax planning content. Resources will include emails, social media posts, blog articles, downloadable resources and educational marketing assets designed to help advisors engage clients around two of the fastest-growing areas of holistic financial planning.
The partnership will also introduce Wealth.com-powered estate and tax planning website tools, digital experiences and website templates for advisors. FMG’s website team can implement these assets on an advisor’s behalf, creating a turnkey solution that helps firms educate prospects, strengthen client relationships and support business growth.
As part of the partnership, Wealth.com will also develop Estate Snapshot, a website-ready tool powered by Ester®, its proprietary artificial intelligence. Prospects will be able to securely upload estate planning documents, which Estate Snapshot will analyze to generate a concise, one-page summary. This will help advisors prepare more effectively for prospect meetings while creating a new lead generation opportunity.
“Institutional Intelligence is designed to help advisors activate specialized expertise across every marketing channel,” said Susan Theder, chief marketing officer at FMG. “Wealth.com brings exceptional estate and tax planning expertise to the platform, giving advisors ready-to-use resources they can personalize, distribute and use to deepen client relationships.”
Estate and tax planning have become increasingly central to holistic financial advice, yet many advisors still struggle to consistently create timely, compliant educational content around these complex topics.
By combining Wealth.com’s planning expertise with FMG’s leading marketing platform, the partnership gives advisors professionally developed resources they can publish immediately or customize to match their firm’s brand. This makes it easier to educate clients, strengthen relationships and create more meaningful planning conversations.
“The advisors who consistently educate clients are the ones who build deeper relationships and create more opportunities for meaningful planning conversations,” said Tim White, co-founder and chief growth officer at Wealth.com. “FMG has long been the gold standard in advisor marketing, and by combining FMG’s platform with Wealth.com’s estate and tax planning expertise, we’re giving advisors ready-to-use resources that help them educate clients, engage the next generation and differentiate their firms with far less effort.”
The partnership is available immediately at no additional cost to FMG subscribers with access to its Content Library. Wealth.com and FMG will also demonstrate the new capabilities during LPL Focus, taking place Aug. 9–11, 2026.
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About Wealth.com
Wealth.com is the industry’s leading AI-powered estate and tax planning platform, empowering thousands of wealth management firms to modernize how planning guidance is delivered to clients. Purpose-built for financial institutions, Wealth.com is the only tech-led, end-to-end platform that enables firms to scale estate and tax planning with efficiency, consistency and measurable client impact.
Trusted by some of the largest names in finance, Wealth.com combines proprietary AI, enterprise-grade security and deep legal and tax expertise to support the full spectrum of client needs, from foundational estate plans to advanced estate and tax analysis and reporting. With Wealth.com Tax Planning, firms can deliver more integrated, proactive planning through a single platform.
Wealth.com has been widely recognized for innovation and leadership, earning Top Estate Planning Technology and Top Estate Planning Implementation at the 2025 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, as well as the #1 estate planning market share in the 2025 Kitces AdvisorTech Study.
About FMG
FMG is the leading marketing and growth platform for financial advisors, insurance professionals and enterprises, empowering them to scale compliant, client-centered marketing that drives organic growth.
Trusted by more than 80,000 financial professionals reaching over 45 million U.S. investors, FMG is consistently ranked number one in market share and customer satisfaction in the T3 Software Survey Report and has been recognized by WealthManagement.com as Best Marketing Automation Platform.
An independent study found that enterprises using FMG achieved Net Promoter Scores nearly four times the industry average, along with improvements in lead conversion, client retention and time saved on marketing tasks. FMG is defining the future of organic growth for financial services firms. For more information, visit fmgsuite.com.
Trump Accounts stopped being a hypothetical on July 4, 2026. One year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, created them, families can now open accounts, claim the $1,000 federal seed contribution, and start making contributions. Advisors are already fielding two questions: “Should my client open one?” and “How does this fit into the estate plan?”
The first question is easy for eligible newborns or for others who may be eligible for philanthropic gifts: the contribution is free money, and there is no reason to leave it unclaimed. The second question is where advisors can immediately add value to their clients. A Trump Account is a traditional IRA wearing a new label, and that single fact drives almost every estate and tax planning consequence that follows.
What is a Trump Account?
A Trump Account is a tax-advantaged investment account for children under age 18 who have a Social Security number. Under IRS guidance, it is a traditional IRA established for the child and designated as a Trump Account at the time it is opened. The child is both the beneficiary and the legal owner. Only one funded Trump Account is allowed per child.
The account was created by the OBBBA, signed into law on July 4, 2025, and accounts became available on July 4, 2026. Families start the process by filing an election with the IRS, either through Form 4547 or the online tool at trumpaccounts.gov.
Here is how Trump Accounts compare with the accounts advisors already use for minors:
Feature
Trump Account
529 Plan
UTMA/UGMA
Custodial Roth IRA
Earned income required
No
No
No
Yes
Annual contribution limit
$5,000 from all sources, indexed after 2027
Gift tax annual exclusion as a practical limit; five-year superfunding available
None, although gift tax rules apply
Lesser of earned income or the annual IRA limit
Federal seed money
$1,000 for eligible newborns born from 2025 through 2028
No
No
No
Tax on growth
Tax-deferred; ordinary income tax applies upon withdrawal
Tax-free for qualified education expenses
Taxable annually under kiddie tax rules
Tax-free if qualified
Investment menu
U.S. equity index funds and ETFs only, with expense ratios of 0.10% or less
Options available within the plan menu
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Withdrawals before age 18
Generally prohibited
Available at any time; taxes and penalties may apply to nonqualified earnings
Permitted for the benefit of the minor
Contributions may be withdrawn at any time
Removes assets from contributor’s estate
Yes, as a completed gift
Yes, with a five-year election available
Yes
Yes
Eligible for annual exclusion
Yes, if safe-harbor requirements are met
Yes
Yes
Yes
How do Trump Account contributions work?
The total that can be contributed to a Trump Account is $5,000 per child per year, combined across most sources, with the cap indexed for inflation after 2027. During the growth period, which ends on December 31 of the year before the beneficiary turns 18, contributions can be made without regard to the child’s earned income. Beginning January 1 of the calendar year in which the beneficiary turns 18, most special Trump Account rules fall away and the account is generally governed by traditional IRA rules.
The sources differ in ways that matter later:
Federal seed, or pilot program. A one-time $1,000 contribution for U.S. citizen children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, claimed through the IRS election. It does not count toward the annual cap, and it will be taxable when withdrawn.
Individual contributions. Anyone can contribute, including parents, grandparents, and family friends. There is no earned income requirement for the child. These contributions are after-tax and nondeductible, which means they create basis that comes out tax-free later.
Employer contributions. An employer may contribute up to $2,500 per year per employee, indexed for inflation, splittable among an employee’s children. These are excluded from the employee’s income, are pre-tax, and count toward the $5,000 cap. Employees may also redirect pay pre-tax through a salary reduction arrangement.
Qualified general contributions. Eligible governmental entities and Section 501(c)(3) organizations may fund contributions for a defined qualified class of beneficiaries through the Treasury-administered framework. These contributions are not subject to the ordinary $5,000 annual limit and generally do not create basis.
Notice the pattern: every dollar entering the account carries a tax character that determines its treatment decades from now. That is the recordkeeping burden discussed below.
How are Trump Accounts taxed?
Growth is tax-deferred. Investments are generally limited to mutual funds or ETFs tracking qualifying broad indexes composed primarily of U.S. equities, without leverage and with annual fees and expenses of no more than 0.10%.
Withdrawals are generally prohibited before age 18. Starting January 1 of the year the beneficiary turns 18, traditional IRA rules apply. Pre-tax amounts, including the federal seed, employer contributions, and charitable contributions, and all earnings are taxed as ordinary income. Withdrawals before age 59½ typically face a 10% penalty unless an exception applies, such as certain education expenses, a first-time home purchase of up to $10,000, birth or adoption costs, disability, or qualifying medical expenses. Required minimum distribution rules apply as well. After-tax individual contributions come out tax-free.
Three consequences deserve more attention than they are getting:
The deferral trade-off. Trump Accounts convert what would have been long-term capital gains in a taxable account into ordinary income. For a high-bracket family choosing between a Trump Account and a plain taxable brokerage account invested in the same index fund, deferral is not automatically a win. The taxable account gets a step-up in basis at death and preferential capital gains rates; the Trump Account gets neither. The account’s advantages concentrate in the free federal seed, the pre-tax employer dollars, and decades of compounding without tax drag.
The kiddie tax. Withdrawals of pre-tax amounts count as unearned income to the child. A withdrawal at 18 or 19, while the beneficiary is still subject to the kiddie tax, can be taxed at the parents’ marginal rate rather than the child’s. Timing withdrawals with an eye to the kiddie tax exposure is an important financial planning consideration.
The basis-tracking problem. Because after-tax contributions create basis while government, employer, and charitable contributions do not, accurate records of every contribution source must survive from the child’s birth to a withdrawal that may happen 40 years later. One helpful quirk is that Trump Accounts are not aggregated with the owner’s other IRAs when calculating the taxable portion of a withdrawal, so the usual pro-rata aggregation rule does not contaminate the analysis. But the burden of proving basis still lands on the account owner, and by extension on the advisor who wants the client’s Form 1099-R to be right.
Estate planning considerations for Trump Accounts
This is where most coverage stops and where the real questions start.
Contributions are completed gifts, but the cap does the limiting
A contribution to a child’s Trump Account is a gift to the child. Unlike gifts to 529 plans or UTMA accounts, the gift is not automatically a gift of a present interest, meaning that it does not qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion and contributions may be subject to gift taxes. In Revenue Procedure 2026-25, the IRS provided that under certain circumstances, a gift to a Trump Account would constitute a gift of a present interest.
This safe harbor is met when the taxpayer is an individual, the only taxable gifts made by the taxpayer during the calendar year are cash contributions to one or more Trump Accounts, the taxpayer’s total gifts during the calendar year to each individual who is an account beneficiary do not exceed the annual exclusion amount, the contributions do not generate gift or GST tax liability, and the taxpayer is not otherwise required to file a gift tax return.
Even if the safe-harbor provisions have been met, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient in 2026, so the $5,000 account cap, not the gift tax, is the binding constraint. An individual who wants to move meaningful wealth out of their estate will exhaust a Trump Account’s capacity almost immediately. For estate reduction at scale, the Trump Account is a rounding error next to annual exclusion gifting programs, 529 superfunding, or lifetime exemption gifts under the new $15 million exemption, or $30 million for married couples, that took effect January 1, 2026.
The account belongs to the child from day one
Unlike a 529, where the account owner retains control and can change beneficiaries, a Trump Account is owned by the child. The contributor gives up control permanently. That is a feature for estate inclusion purposes because the asset is out of the contributor’s estate, and a drawback for families who value flexibility. There is no mechanism to redirect the money to a sibling, claw it back, or gate it behind trust terms.
If the beneficiary dies, the account is in the child’s estate
Because the child owns the account, the balance is includible in the child’s gross estate at death and passes under the beneficiary designation or, absent one, under state law and the custodial agreement. IRS guidance on beneficiary designations for minors’ accounts is still developing. Advisors should flag this as an open item and revisit it as guidance lands.
After 18, every traditional IRA planning issue applies
Once the beneficiary reaches adulthood, the family has options: keep the account as a Trump Account under general IRA rules, roll it to a traditional IRA or eligible workplace plan, or potentially execute a Roth conversion, on which further IRS guidance is expected. A conversion in the beneficiary’s low-income years, such as ages 18 to 25 before peak earnings, may be the single most valuable planning move available, turning deferred ordinary income into tax-free growth at the lowest rates the beneficiary may ever see.
When the account owner eventually dies with a balance, the SECURE Act’s post-death distribution rules apply, meaning most non-spouse heirs must empty the inherited account within 10 years. Beneficiary designations, trust-as-beneficiary drafting, and distribution timing all become live issues, exactly as they are for any traditional IRA. An asset created at a child’s birth in 2026 could still be generating estate planning work in 2096.
Children with disabilities: the ABLE rollover
A beneficiary with a qualifying disability may roll Trump Account funds into an ABLE account at age 17. For families with special needs planning in place, this rollover should be coordinated with the existing special needs trust structure before the window opens.
Keeping the whole picture coherent
A Trump Account is one more asset that has to fit inside a family’s larger plan: wills, revocable trusts, beneficiary designations, 529s, custodial accounts, and insurance. The failure mode is predictable. Assets accumulate across accounts with inconsistent beneficiary designations, and no one notices until a death forces the issue. This is precisely the visibility problem Wealth.com’s platform is built to solve. Advisors can see every account, designation, and document in one place and catch the inconsistencies while they are still inexpensive to fix.
Considerations for business-owner clients
Business-owner clients should evaluate whether a Section 128 Trump Account contribution program belongs in their benefits strategy. Under Section 128, an employer may contribute up to $2,500 per employee per year, indexed after 2027, to the Trump Account of the employee or the employee’s dependent, provided the contribution is made under a separate written Trump Account contribution program. The exclusion is per employee, not per child, and the contribution counts toward the beneficiary’s $5,000 annual non-exempt contribution limit.
Employers may also allow pre-tax salary reduction contributions through a Section 125 cafeteria plan, but only for contributions to a dependent’s Trump Account, not the employee’s own account. Contributions are excluded from the employee’s gross income and are generally expected to be deductible by the employer if otherwise deductible as compensation or employee benefit expense. Advisors should coordinate with payroll and benefits counsel because current guidance does not clearly exclude these amounts from FICA or FUTA wages.
Trump Account vs. 529 plan: which should clients fund first?
For most families, the order of operations looks like this:
Claim the federal seed. If the child was born between 2025 and 2028, file the election. This costs nothing.
Capture employer dollars. If the client’s employer offers Trump Account contributions, that is pre-tax compensation the client otherwise forfeits.
Then prioritize by goal. Education savings still favor the 529. Tax-free qualified withdrawals beat tax-deferred ordinary income, and superfunding, which allows five years of annual exclusion gifts at once, makes the 529 the stronger estate-reduction tool. A custodial Roth IRA beats both for children with earned income. The Trump Account’s niche is general-purpose, no-earned-income-required investing for a child, with free government and employer money attached.
The honest summary for clients is to take the free money, use the employer channel if it exists, and review the alternatives before directing discretionary after-tax dollars here instead of a 529 or Roth.
Action items for advisors in 2026
Screen the client base for children and grandchildren born January 1, 2025, or later. Every eligible child without an election on file is leaving $1,000 unclaimed.
Talk to business-owner clients about the employer contribution as a benefits and retention play: up to $2,500 per employee per year, excluded from employee income.
Set up basis records now for any account receiving after-tax contributions. Do not wait for the custodian’s reporting to mature.
Add Trump Accounts to the estate plan review checklist, including beneficiary designation status, coordination with trusts, and the ABLE rollover window for special needs families.
Watch for IRS guidance on Roth conversions, rollovers to outside custodians, and beneficiary designation mechanics. Several important details remain unsettled.
Frequently asked questions
Are Trump Account contributions tax deductible?
No. Individual contributions are made after-tax and are not deductible. They create basis that is withdrawn tax-free later. Employer contributions are pre-tax and excluded from the employee’s income.
Who is eligible for the $1,000 government contribution?
U.S. citizen children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, with a Social Security number. Families claim it by filing an election with the IRS through Form 4547 or at trumpaccounts.gov.
Can grandparents contribute to a Trump Account?
Yes. Grandparents and other individuals may contribute, subject to the account’s combined $5,000 annual limit. These contributions are gifts to the child. Under Revenue Procedure 2026-25, certain cash contributions may qualify for a safe harbor that treats them as present-interest gifts eligible for the annual exclusion, provided all applicable conditions are satisfied.
What happens to a Trump Account when the child turns 18?
Starting January 1 of the year the beneficiary turns 18, withdrawals are permitted and traditional IRA rules apply. The account can remain a Trump Account, be rolled to a traditional IRA or eligible retirement plan, or potentially be converted to a Roth IRA, pending further IRS guidance.
Is a Trump Account better than a 529 plan?
They serve different goals. For education, a 529’s tax-free qualified withdrawals and superfunding option usually win. The Trump Account’s advantages are the federal seed, employer contributions, and availability without earned income. Most families should claim the free money in a Trump Account and direct additional education savings to a 529.
What happens to a Trump Account if the beneficiary dies?
The account is the child’s asset and is includible in the child’s estate. After age 18, standard inherited IRA rules, including the SECURE Act’s 10-year rule for most beneficiaries, govern what heirs must do with the account.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice. Several aspects of Trump Accounts remain subject to further IRS guidance; details described here reflect guidance available as of July 2026.
Prince had lawyers. Howard Hughes had an empire’s worth of them. Abraham Lincoln was one. None of them left a will, and their families paid for it through years of litigation, eight-figure legal bills, and headlines nobody would want as a legacy.
These stories make great trivia, but for financial advisors, they are something more useful: proof, in vivid detail, of what happens when planning gets postponed.
Only 24% of American adults have a will, according to Caring.com’s 2025 survey, even as Cerulli projects $124 trillion changing hands through 2048. That gap runs straight through most advisors’ books.
Here are six famous cautionary tales worth keeping in your back pocket for the next client who says they will get to it eventually.
24%
of American adults have a will
$124T
projected to change hands through 2048
6
cautionary tales advisors can share with clients
Estate planning terminology
What does it mean to die intestate?
Dying intestate means dying without a valid will. When that happens, state intestacy laws, rather than the deceased’s wishes, determine who inherits. A probate court oversees the process, and the estate often pays more in taxes, fees, and time than it ever would have spent on a plan.
Prince: a six-year, $156 million question mark
When Prince died in 2016, his sister told a Minnesota probate court that no will could be found. What followed was close to a worst-case scenario.
Roughly 700 people came forward claiming to be heirs. The bank appointed to manage the estate drilled open his vault, and the IRS spent years fighting the estate over its value. The administrator said $82.3 million. The IRS said $163.2 million.
The parties eventually settled at $156.4 million. The estate was not resolved until 2022, six years after Prince’s death, with tens of millions consumed by legal and administrative fees along the way.
Advisor takeaway
Extraordinary wealth cannot compensate for absent instructions. Without a valid plan, even the most sophisticated estate can become a years-long public dispute.
Aretha Franklin: a will in the couch cushions
Aretha Franklin’s family believed she died intestate in 2018. Then, months into probate, relatives found handwritten documents in her home: two in a locked cabinet and one in a spiral notebook under the couch cushions.
Her sons spent years in court arguing over which version controlled. In 2023, a Michigan jury finally ruled that the couch notebook was her valid will.
An estate once estimated at $80 million spent five years in litigation that a properly executed document could have prevented, while the IRS pursued nearly $8 million in back taxes.
Advisor takeaway
Having written wishes is not the same as having a clear, properly executed estate plan. Documents must be valid, current, accessible, and consistent with the client’s intentions.
Pablo Picasso: 45,000 artworks and no instructions
Picasso died in 1973, leaving one of the most valuable estates in history, an inventory of roughly 45,000 works, and no will.
Settling the estate reportedly took six years and $30 million while French courts sorted through claims involving his widow, children, and grandchildren.
France ultimately accepted artwork in lieu of estate taxes, which is how the Musée Picasso in Paris came to exist. It was a beautiful outcome for the public, but a brutal one for a family that spent the better part of a decade navigating the estate.
Advisor takeaway
The more complex the assets, the more important the instructions. Illiquid assets, intellectual property, collectibles, and family ownership structures require deliberate planning.
Howard Hughes: 34 years to close the books
After Howard Hughes died in 1976, some 40 purported wills surfaced. They included the infamous “Mormon Will,” which a Nevada court ruled was a forgery before declaring that Hughes had died intestate.
His roughly $2.5 billion estate was first distributed to 22 cousins in 1983, but the final assets were not paid out until 2010, ultimately reaching roughly a thousand heirs and descendants.
It took 34 years to finish administering the estate of a man who could have settled the central question with one valid, signed document.
Advisor takeaway
Uncertainty invites claims. A clear, authenticated estate plan can reduce the opportunity for fraud, competing documents, and avoidable family conflict.
Chadwick Boseman: not just a problem for the ultra-wealthy
Chadwick Boseman’s story lands differently because the numbers are more relatable. He died in 2020 at age 43 without a will, and his wife had to petition the court to administer his probate estate.
Filings showed about $3.88 million in assets, reduced to roughly $2.3 million after taxes, debts, and fees. The remaining estate was split between his widow and his parents under California intestacy law.
Nearly 40% of the probate estate went to costs. For clients who think estate planning is only for people in Prince’s tax bracket, this is the example that can change minds.
Advisor takeaway
Estate planning is not reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Younger clients and families with more familiar levels of wealth can still face significant costs, delays, and loss of control.
Sonny Bono: no plan, even in Congress
Sonny Bono was a sitting U.S. congressman when he died in a 1998 skiing accident, and he left no will.
His widow had to petition to administer the estate, while Cher filed a claim for unpaid alimony. A man claiming to be Bono’s secret son also pursued a share before withdrawing after the court ordered DNA testing.
Even comparatively modest estates can attract complications when there is no valid document to establish the decedent’s wishes.
Advisor takeaway
Complexity is not determined by estate size alone. Former relationships, disputed heirs, blended families, and unclear wishes can complicate estates at nearly any level of wealth.
The advisor’s takeaway: the famous failures are the easy conversation
Every one of these people had access to some of the best legal advice money could buy. What they lacked was not resources. It was urgency, and someone positioned to create it.
That is the advisor’s seat.
You already know which clients have no documents, outdated documents, or a trust that was never funded. The hard part has always been turning that knowledge into completed plans without sending every client into a weeks-long attorney engagement they may quietly abandon.
The biggest estate planning risk is not always complexity. Often, it is delay.
Financial advisors are uniquely positioned to prevent that delay, but only when estate planning becomes part of the client experience rather than a referral they hope gets followed.
Estate planning becomes a service advisors can deliver, not a referral they hope gets followed.
Your clients can still write a different ending.
Plenty of clients are currently on track for the same outcome at a smaller scale: state law deciding who inherits, probate determining how long it takes, and fees reducing how much remains.
See how Wealth.com helps advisors turn estate planning from a postponed conversation into a completed plan.
