Copy of When Laying Your Client’s Estate Planning Foundation Bricks, Don’t Forget the Mortar!!!

When I was a kid, growing up outside of the city limits in rural central Louisiana in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, there often were big stacks of unused bricks with which we played. We tried to build “forts” [remember them?-Personally, I could use a fort-building therapeutic session at this moment-how about you?] with the bricks, but the bricks never cooperated to any appreciable level of height. For, try as we might, the bricks always seemed to tumble (our best forts were made from post-harvest field cuttings that separated the proverbial wheat from the chaff-our farmers alternated between cotton and soybeans, but both chaffs made great coverings when used in conjunction wiith sticks that provide framing and an anchor for the chaff).

Why?

The obvious answer was: there was no mortar to hold the bricks in place.

When I first began to repeat my then Tour of Estate Planning Tools & Techniques outline and presentation in the late 1990’s primarily to tax/estate/charitable planning professionals, which included lawyers, CPAs, I used “bricks and mortar” as metaphor for the estate planning model.

When it comes to estate planning, people, both clients and their estate planning advisors, often think about wills, joint tenancy, TOD/POD, trusts, foundations, family entities, etc. as the “bricks” of estate planning. However, though the “bricks” certainly are important and must be arranged competently; in my opinion, even more important-indeed, mission critical-is the communication, organization, and emotional infrastructure supporting those ”bricks,” which really are the “mortar” of the estate plan, i.e., the “glue” that holds the estate plan and family together.

For Mark Twain was right: “You never really know someone until you share an inheritance with them.” The backs of my business cards contain the following admonition: The estate planning decisions that one makes will affect the relationships of those who survive, so choose wisely.

I firmly and passionately believe that the success or failure of an estate plan is a function of the quality and quantity of the “mortar of estate planning” used to secure the “bricks of estate planning” in place. I’ve included a graphic description below that I designed and commissioned a graphic artist to create of the bricks and mortar of estate planning to illustrate my point.

One of the most important human factors to consider is that estate planning decisions almost always involve changes in the identities of those in control, so a prudent deployment of checks and balances on authority and control are important as they can save vulnerable beneficiaries from being caught in the crossfire of arbitrary and/or capricious leaders.

The emotional and communication pieces in estate planning, i.e., the ”mortar,” are critically important in my opinion because all too often I see otherwise properly constructed estate planning bricks topple at the first sign of stress because the proper “mortar” wasn’t there to hold it together. That’s exactly what neither an advisor nor a client/family want to have happen after the death of the client.

In closing, estate planning documents and vehicles are only as intrepid and administrable as they account for the human side of estate planning.

My Recent Past and Upcoming Webinar Presentations:

Upcoming Webinar Presentations:

April 24, 2024-1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT (with Alan Gassman on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): Running the Numbers on QPRTs and GRATs - Part 3 of a 4 Part Series

April 30, 2024-1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT (with Alan Gassman on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): Running the Numbers on CRATs, CRUTs, NIMCRUTs, Life Estate and Remainder Interests and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs ) from IRAs - Part 4 of a 4 Part Series

May 8, 2024-1:00-4:15 p.m. EDT Business Valuation Resources, LLC -some continuing education credits available): A Saga About S Corporation Tax Affecting: It’s a Thriller! (A BVR Workshop)

On Demand Webinar Presentations:

(with Alan Gassman on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): Running the Numbers on Charitable Lead Annuity Trusts - Part 2 of a 4 Part Series

(on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available):The Wild, Wild West of Estate Planning: Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples

(with Alan Gassman on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): Running the Numbers on Self-Canceling installment Notes and Annuities - Part 1 of a 4 Part Series

For all four Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) LISI “In the Planning Room” webinars in the series-A Special LISI Offer for the entire “In the Planning Room” - A 4-Part Webinar Series

(with Alan Gassman on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): The Countdown to 2026: Designing, Presenting, and Implementing Large Transfers for Clients While Avoiding Donor’s Remorse and Malpractice Lawsuits

(on Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) -no continuing education credits available): Out of the Hood: Analysis With An Attitude?: Overview of Estate Planning From 30,000 Feet

Upcoming Items of Note:

I’m working on an article for submission to Leimberg Information Services Inc. (LISI) entitled “A Wake-Up Call to the Estate Planning Advisory Community.”

And I’m almost finished with the first draft of An Estate Planner’s Tool Book Second Ed. With Edwin Morrow III and four new 90-minute webinars entitled “A Planner’s Cheat Sheet to Evaluating Estate Planning Tools and Techniques,” where we’ll cover every estate and charitable planning tool and technique that we cover in the book. Look for them soon!!!

Sursum corda, y’all!!!

Paul

www.paulhoodservices.com