estate Plan Review
Case Study

The Smith family met with their estate planning attorney many years ago to implement a thoughtful plan.  They created wills, revocable trusts, and powers of attorney when their children were just infants and toddlers.  As the second of their children was getting ready to leave the house for college, the Smiths thought it would be a good time to dust off their estate planning documents.

A central component to the Smiths’ plan, as they recalled from their discussions with their attorney, was protecting their children’s inheritances from creditor claims, divorces, and taxes.  The Smiths also found it important to make sure that their children could not become dependent on their inheritances, choosing instead to pursue careers or entrepreneurial ventures.

If the Smiths are Alpha Principle clients, they may go through an independent estate review. They may be surprised to find out that their goals were not reflected in their documents.  While each child would initially have some protection, they would gain unrestricted access to their inheritances at age 25 – an outcome that was contrary to the originally intended goals.  As a result of this discovery, they would be able to engage an attorney to amend their documents before it was too late.