Your client has just seen you, their lawyer, and their financial planner. Things are all set should your client take ill or die and everything will proceed just as they would like. Or so you and your client believed. What a surprise to you and the beneficiaries when events start to unravel. What do things unravel? What can be done about it? Let's step back from the "glitz" of estate planning and go over some real life situations where basic planning was not done or was done incorrectly with unfortunate results. Crossing the "t's" and dotting the "i's" is more than just a platitude-it is a necessity-and once you know what can and often does goes wrong in estate and tax planning, you will be in a better position to advise your client about your own services and those of their advisors.

EASY STEPS TO ESTATE PLANNING FAILURE

WHAT NOT TO DO

1. Failure to have a Last Will and Testament
2. Failure to have an adequate Power of Attorney; Failure to prevent "staleness"
3. Failure to fund a Living Trust
4. Failure to revoke a Living Trust
5. Failure to understand and accommodate change, repeal or reimposition of state and federal inheritance and gift taxes
6. Failure to make gifts of unneeded funds
7. Failure to account for lateral and vertical inheritances from or to parents/siblings-do you need them? do they need them?
8. Failure to plan for disclaimers
9. Failure to title assets appropriately
10. Failure to have the correct beneficiary designations on Life Insurance and IRAs
11. Failure to document what is really intended; Failure to document at all
12. Failure to Use an Appointment of Conservator in Event of Future Incapacity
13. Failure to monitor your personal and financial situation in relation to your estate plan
14. Failure to use the right lawyer
15. Failure to start planning early
16. Failure to accommodate change-repeal of transfer taxes
17. Failure to accommodate change-trustee removal provisions
18. Failure to plan for Nursing Home Care
19. Failure to have appropriate types and amounts of insurance