Comprehensive estate planning encompasses taxes, investments, wills, trusts, and elder law considerations. Southern New Mexico residents creating or updating an estate plan can and should include their tax and investment advisors, named or potential trustees, and executors as they draft legal documents with Deming estate planning attorney Michele Ungvarsky.
Most advisors and other licensed or certified professionals focus on their knowledge area, shrinking the view of your estate plan to one element. Your estate planning attorney drafts the documents, the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) files your tax returns, and your financial advisor manages your investments. It makes sense that your estate planning attorney has information from these professionals to establish a compliant and comprehensive plan for you.
The Forbes article “Your Estate Plan Must Be Coordinated To Work“ highlights why successful estate planning includes coordinating with a team of professionals. This article examines essential estate plan team members, their importance, and how to coordinate them effectively with your estate planning attorney whether you live in Las Cruces, Deming, Truth or Consequences, or Alamogordo. Read our article, “Why Choosing the Right Estate Planning Attorney Matters for Your Future,” for more on choosing an attorney.
Who is Included in a Team for Successful Las Cruces Estate Planning?
Input from your CPA, investment or financial advisor, named or potential agents, and trustees influence your estate planning attorney’s recommendations and the legal documents in your plan. Goals, taxes, property and assets, investment portfolio, beneficiaries, and authorized agents are central to estate planning. These elements help you decide types of trusts, powers of attorney (POAs), and how to allocate assets. Communicating updates on investments, assets, taxes, beneficiaries, and trustee or executor changes helps establish an estate plan that meets your goals.
Featured recently in an article from the Stroll Picacho Hills Magazine, Estate Lawyer Michele Ungvarsky and her husband Wealth Advisor Tom Chaney of Carson Wealth recommend a team approach to developing a financially secure future with safeguards in place as one ages to be prepared for loss of cognitive or physical control. With offices located in the same business complex in Picacho Hills, E-Law and Carson Wealth offer an easy way for clients to combine their legacy and financial planning goals and strategies.
Why Is It Important to Communicate as a Team in New Mexico Estate Planning?
Communication in a successful estate plan extends past your Deming estate planning attorney from financial or investment advisors to your CPA and named agents, trustees, and executors. Coordinating with the team saves time and reduces potential accounting errors or non-compliant trust actions.
For example, a CPA, trust officer, and estate planning attorney working together can avoid costly mistakes like paying legal fees from a trust account and exposing trust assets to outside creditors. An investment advisor, CPA, and estate planning attorney on the same page can help implement the right plan to minimize taxes and preserve wealth.
Beneficiary designations, wills, and property titles must be coordinated with your estate planning attorney to keep your estate plan on track with your intentions. Preparing heirs and fiduciaries for their roles and setting expectations is crucial to avoid issues and prevent inadvertently creating asset vulnerabilities for creditors, litigation, and family member disputes. Working together with the team of Carson Wealth and E-Law, Deming residents can execute strategies to realize their dreams for retirement and protect their legacy as they age.
Estate Planning in Las Cruces as a Team Tips
Coordinate a meeting with your estate planning attorney, CPA, investment or financial advisor, and other professionals to kick off the creation or updating of your plan. This initial meeting will get everyone on the same page and provide the necessary information to choose the best strategies for you.
Establishing monthly or yearly meetings with the team helps keep your plan updated as your situation and agents or trustees change. Providing the latest tax returns, investment portfolio returns, and beneficiary changes to the team helps protect assets and avoid missteps.
Key New Mexico Estate Planning as a Team Takeaways:
- Estate Planning Is a Team Effort: Estate planning encompasses taxes, investments, wills, trusts, and elder law.
- Estate Planning Team Members: Team members include the CPA, investment or financial advisor, named or potential agents and trustees, and the estate planning attorney.
- Communication Is Important: Team communication saves time and reduces potential accounting errors or non-compliant trust actions.
- Estate Planning Team Tips: Meetings help to create and update an estate plan.
Conclusion
Because today’s estate plans encompass changing tax laws, diverse investments, and elder law considerations, looking at estate planning as a team effort makes sense. If you’re ready to start your estate planning, whether you live in Las Cruces, Deming, Truth or Consequences, or Alamogordo, Request a discovery call with estate planning attorney Michele Ungvarsky.
Reference: Forbes (Oct. 31, 2023) “Your Estate Plan Must Be Coordinated To Work.”
