How to choose an estate planner

by Martin M. Shenkman

• It’s not just a lawyer. You need a lawyer to draft documents, like a will, but you need an estate planning TEAM, not an estate planner.
• Your estate planning lawyer, must coordinate with your investment advisers as to:
• Title to accounts.
• Current and future financial condition.
• Beneficiary designations.
• More…..
• Your estate planner must coordinate with you accountant as to:
• Tax status.
• How estate planning affects tax returns.
• And more……
• Your estate planner must coordinate with your insurance consultant as to:
• Long term care insurance.
• Life insurance to protect your loved ones.
• Life insurance to pay estate tax.
• And more…….
• With the understanding of the TEAM you need, you can now best consider how to select an estate planning attorney:
• The attorney must be a team player.
• You don’t want an attorney who is selling you insurance, preparing a tax return, or other parts of your planning.
• The attorney should have a substantial portion of their practice devoted to estate planning. You don’t want someone who writes a couple of wills not and then. Estate planning is much more.
• Ask what the attorney normally recommends as an estate plan. If the recommendation doesn’t include at least the following, you have the wrong planner:
• Power of attorney.
• Living will.
• Health Proxy.
• Will.
• Review of financial status and beneficiary designations.
• Review of how assets are owned (titled).
• The attorney should bill either hourly or a fixed fee for routine matters, or a combination of the two. The billing should be clear and not relate to the size of your estate.
• The attorney should be independent of your other advisers. You don’t want someone getting paid by an insurance agent doing your planning.
• The attorney should be able and willing to deal with personal, not just legal issues.