Your estate planning clients depend on you to conform to all laws and minimize their tax burdens and vulnerabilities. Of course, tax laws will change over time, as will your clients’ situations, values and needs. So estate planning is never really “done done.” Instead, the process is effectively fluid until your client’s death. Many clients don’t realize, for instance, that a simple act like moving out of state can greatly affect their estate plans. If you don’t keep track of your client’s life changes and philosophical evolution, the careful estate planning you’ve done can go out the window.
Out-of-Date Estates
If your client doesn’t tell you of changes in status, there’s little you can do about it after the fact. However, if there are legal changes in their documents you have not addressed, that’s another matter.
For example, what if you created a plan for a client prior to January 2, 2013, when the Taxpayer Relief Act went into effect, and you failed to amend affected documents? The client dies, and the estate must pay unnecessary taxes. Your oversight could damage your firm’s reputation or even lead to legal action.
The moral is that older plans may include unnecessary language that could benefit from streamlining, even if your clients have no idea what’s at stake.
The Right Software for Your Practice
Missed opportunities usually result from poor or inefficient processes. To that end, are you using document preparation software that gives you boilerplate language, wherein you literally “fill in the blanks”? That type of software isn’t good for your client, your firm or the documents. It sets the stage today for costly, damaging mistakes to erupt five years, ten years, twenty years down the line.
What’s the solution? With Wealth Docx®, you never need to worry about creating documents that aren’t current. Our software continuously updates, letting you stay proactive. You can send notices to clients if their documents require changes, or remind them to inform you of any changes in residence, family status or other issues affecting their estate plans. This functionality greatly reduces the odds that you’ll draft out-of-date documents.
We can help you create efficient, durable, flexible documents: find out more about Wealth Docx online, or call us for help.
