How I Add Value to my Clients as an Estate Planner

In the next 2-3 minutes, I’ll show you exactly how I add value to my clients as an Estate Planner…

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So just recently, I met with my client’s father.

My client didn’t come—only his father did and he said he wants to Will his house (landed property) to his son (my client)

Not just that…

He also wants to make the son the main executor of his Will despite having another daughter who is still alive.

Now the thing is…

It should be very easy to take instructions for this as my client told me that his father wanted to do a very simple Will. Just straightforward. Nothing spectacular.

But here’s when it all got a bit concerning…

I asked the father, “Why would you want to give the house entirely to your son?”

He said he feels that his daughter has more wealth and doesn’t really need the house (which is a landed property that is easily worth at least S$6M)

So I asked him, “When you give the property to your son…how do you think your daughter will feel about her not being part of the beneficiary?”

And he said…”She should be okay”

And that actually rings an alarm bell with me as an Estate Planner.

So I asked further…

“Does she even know that you’re making this Will today?”

He said she doesn’t know but he will inform her.

Now, the larger question here is that: when he informs her, could I just take his word for it that the daughter will be okay and go ahead and draft the Will…OR should I actually make sure that he informs and everything is okay before I draft?

That is the point where I had to make a judgment call.

And I told him that informing his daughter is very important because if there’s any unhappiness then at least she gets to express it now in her lifetime…then if ever, he may want to revise a Will if she’s not happy.

We can’t just leave all these things to chance.

Because by saying that she is a little bit wealthier and you don’t want to leave her the property….That kind of thinking may sit well with him but as an Estate Planner, my job is to objective.

And the thing is…

Many times, Estate Planners cannot be objective—they just take what the clients say.

So they become an order taker…they don’t really add value.

That’s why I suggested to him that there are actually many options:

1. He can call his daughter—go and inform her—then go back and discuss when he’s ready, if everyone is happy, and if he still feels very strongly about it. Then I can meet him again to do up his Will for him.

OR

If he doesn’t want to wait and he wants to do it urgently, then option #2 is…

2. I could still do it up for him so he can give the property to his son...but I will tell him that perhaps it may be wise to put down a clause to explain why he excluded the daughter from the property.

It’s good to put it down because I cannot assume that he will go and really inform the daughter after we part.

Many court cases and family feuds arise mainly because of such situations—where people will say “oh I will tell them I will tell them it’s okay”...and then it never happens.

So I don’t want to take any chances as a professional.

I’ve seen so many misunderstandings and family fights in estate distribution, so I want to make sure that I do it right.

Another thing to note here is that I went on to fact-find to find out what assets he has that he would like to give to the daughter and the son…

…and I realized that he still has a substantial inheritance from his cash and his investments. Therefore, the daughter will still receive something—it’s not as though she’s left with nothing.

But that clause to put it in is STILL important in case he forgets to inform his daughter that she’s not getting the house.

This way, at least she would not need to guess what the father’s intention is in the first place for not giving her the house.

She will not be guessing and overthinking things like “why is the father biased”...“what is the reason”

So putting that clause in is paramount as an Estate Planner.

And that’s how I add value to my clients.

I hope this client experience that I had can help you better value-add your clients along the way—especially if you are also helping them with Estate Planning.

P.S. I recently created a short Estate Planning framework that can expand into financial advisory easily. It's in one pdf doc—if you wish to get a copy, comment “ESTATE PLANNING” below and I’ll send you the pdf!