Many clients seeking to get all of their financial and legal affairs in order often get confused by the different, but complementary, services provided by estate planning attorneys and financial advisors. Both help assess long-term goals and provide strategies to reach those goals.
A financial advisor helps you manage your money which may include accumulating assets, protecting assets and retirement planning. They take into consideration your time frame and risk tolerance. The end product is a financial plan that includes a net worth statement, identified financial and retirement goals, your risk profile and a roadmap to help you get where you want to be from a financial security standpoint.
Financial advisors also assess your insurance needs and suggest certain policies that provide you with the right protections. This may include homeowners’ insurance, medical insurance, business insurance and/or long-term care insurance.
An estate planning attorney takes these financial plans into consideration and helps ensure your end goals can be achieved without any legal obstacles getting in the way. Depending on your
situation, it may include drafting a trust, will and incapacity planning documents. These documents can provide security for you and your family, help minimize taxes, avoid probate, provide levels of privacy and protect certain assets.
Estate planning attorneys also help name guardians for minor children, set up special needs trusts for those with disabilities and assess long-term care needs and develop strategies around those needs. Each situation is unique and requires different types of documents and terms within those documents.
Which comes first? The financial plan or the estate plan?
A simple estate plan should be in place from the time a person reaches the age of eighteen. This simple plan needs to explain how assets should be distributed at death as well as include power of attorney documents that name agents to step in and make financial and medical decisions in the event of incapacity.
Estate plans are not static and will need to be reviewed and modified periodically. As a person accumulates more wealth and starts to look towards retirement, estate plans may become increasingly complex. For more information on reviewing an existing estate plan or creating a new one, contact the experienced estate planning attorneys at Stouffer Legal in the Greater Baltimore area. You can schedule an appointment by calling us at (443) 470-3599 or emailing us at office@stoufferlegal.com.
