Benefits of a VEPS
Millions of Estate Plans are a disaster waiting to happen. They're out of date and may contain issues that will cause future chaos for your loved ones. It's not a secret that clients' lives change — anything from relationships to health and wealth is conditional. Unfortunately, these changes often leave plans unfunded and ineffectual.
Don't let out-of-date plans cost your client's estate tens of thousands of dollars (in addition to a monumental amount of work, unnecessary strain on relationships, and a tarnished legacy). If you're not reviewing your client's Estate Plan, no one is. We know reviewing Estate Plans can be a time-consuming hassle, but that’s where we come in!
Our team has been offering Estate Plan Summaries for years, doing the hard work of taking an existing Estate Plan apart and pulling out all the relevant information professionals should help their clients re-consider. Take a look at our new Visual Estate Plan Summary! No more boring Word documents here — this is a white-labeled, one-page visual of what their current Estate Plan states. You may want to suggest they give copies to those fulfilling the roles within their Estate Plan. This is a good lead generator. The second written page provides client-specific considerations to confirm the plan is up to date. This can include questions about beneficiaries, trustees, executors, guardians, trust funding, and a number of other things.
Visual Estate Plan Summary - EXAMPLE
Page One - Plan Visual
Page Two - Plan Summary/Considerations
The summary includes a list of follow-up questions or considerations to confirm the plan still reflects the client's current wishes/intentions.
Here is a sample of the example plan used above.
Type of Trust , AB Trust - Is an AB Trust necessary given the current estate and income tax laws?
Consider a Disclaimer Trust (optional split of assets at the first death).
Advantages of AB Trust include
The deceased spouse's assets are frozen from beneficiary changes.
The surviving spouse can still have access as needed.
Disadvantages of AB Trust include:
No step up in basis in B-Trust assets at 2nd death.
Need to file a second tax return after the first spouse dies. This may result in accountant fees and the need for a second set of books.
There may be Attorney fees for administration at first death.
May result in a loss of capital gain exclusion on the sale of the principal residence if held in the B-Trust.
Trustees – Are they the same as before?
Consider having the same person as the trustee, executor, and financial POA so that the same person is pulling on the same rope in the same direction.
Charitable Intentions– Are there additional charitable desires? Is this what the clients intended?
Currently, $1M goes to the American Red Cross, with equal shares of the remaining assets going to the children afterward.
Method of Distribution – Is this accurate? Do the children still need the same restrictions?
Keep in mind there are payments for health care, education, maintenance and support at all ages.
Advance Health Care Directive agents – Are the agents the same as before?
Beneficiary Designations – Are they up-to-date and in line with the estate plan? If charitable desire still exists, are we leaving the right assets (qualified funds) to charities?
Additional Considerations
The trust's conduit language is missing. If the trust is named as a beneficiary of qualified funds, this could accelerate the tax implications.
Are assets properly titled? Was the trust funded?
Pricing
A Visual Estate Plan Summary is available for $50 for Trust-Based and Will-Based plans prepared by Encore. Alternatively, for $150, you may upload an existing Estate Plan (not created by Encore). You will receive a Visual Estate Plan Summary for existing plans within 10 business days.
Recap
The Visual Estate Plan Summary is an efficient way to uncover the issues clients may be unaware of—approximately 30% of the Estate Plans reviewed by Encore request an update after their review. If the plan does not require updates, we recommend returning their plan with this visual as the cover page.
Protip: Print this on your letterhead.