Estate & Giving
Two things determine most estate outcomes, and neither is the will. Beneficiary designations override it, and a trust that was signed but never funded controls nothing. Charitable giving belongs in the same conversation, because the most efficient way to give is often not the obvious one.
Guides
Longer-form background on the whole subject.
Articles
Specific questions, answered in plain language.
Estate Planning: What to Know Before You Meet an Advisor
The documents that do the heavy lifting, what to gather before your first meeting, the decisions worth making early, and the quiet mistakes that undo otherwise good plans.
Read the article →What to Do When You Inherit Money (Before You Do Anything Else)
A calm, practical guide to the first months after an inheritance: what to do first, how different assets are actually taxed, the ten-year rule, and the mistakes people make when grief and a windfall arrive together.
Read the article →Qualified Charitable Distributions: A Better Way to Give After 70½
If you are over 70 and a half and give to charity, writing a check is usually the least efficient route available. Why the 2026 rule changes widened the gap in the QCD's favor.
Read the article →Want this applied to your own situation?
Everything here is general. A conversation is where it gets specific, and there is no cost or obligation in having one.