Legacy Planning, Once Removed

Episode 58 of the Legacy Planning, Once Removed podcast series hosted by Steve Murphy, former leader of McGuireWoods’ Private Wealth Services Practice Group.

A prior episode looked at estates that feature a key asset, such as a family business, which owners hope to pass along to the next generation as a source of family wealth, stability, unity and identity. Unfortunately, in many cases the transfer of a business can lead to the opposite: tension, dispute, and sometimes the break-up of the company or even the family.

This episode explores the source of those tensions and provides strategies for an owner or founder to implement a business succession plan to address potential problems before they arise.

In many cases, an estate plan features a prominent asset such as a family business, which many owners hope to pass on to the next generation. But statistics reveal that few family businesses survive to the next generation. One particular obstacle to this succession plan is the estate tax that would be due on the owner’s interest upon death. This estate tax liability causes a need for cash that could force a sale of the business. This episode explores a few strategies that could be used to manage this estate tax liability upon the owner’s death. These strategies, if properly planned and implemented, could provide a means of managing, reducing or, perhaps, even eliminating that estate tax liability.

The concept of a “trust reveal” — a dramatic family meeting at which wealthy parents or grandparents disclose the full scope of trusts and estate structures to beneficiaries — has gained attention as a trending approach to intergenerational wealth transfer. This episode cautions against treating the estate plan as a single dramatic unveiling. This conversation explores a more measured alternative: sharing information in deliberate stages over time, from instilling family values in young children to discussing financial concepts with young adults, before eventually revealing fuller details about trust structures and distributions. Such an approach ensures beneficiaries are prepared, not overwhelmed, when they learn the complete picture.

Estate planning can feel overwhelming, but the concept of spring cleaning offers a practical framework for staying on top of your plan with low pressure and specific, achievable goals. This episode outlines four key tasks for an estate plan review: updating a chart of assets with ownership and beneficiary information, locating and organizing essential documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives), confirming that named decision makers still reflect your wishes, and opening communication with family members about legacy topics.

A key element of any estate plan is the completion of beneficiary designations and payable-on-death designations for assets. These documents may look routine, but they control who receives certain accounts. This episode discusses issues to consider when filling out these designations, and provides some guidance and potential pitfalls.

Establishing a revocable trust is just the first step. In order to ensure that assets are properly managed and distributed during life and upon death, the client should consider whether and when to fund the revocable trust. Moving assets into a revocable trust is as much about process as it is about purpose. This conversation clarifies what “funding” means, when retitling supports probate avoidance and incapacity planning, and when leaving assets outside the trust may be preferable, with practical guidance for common asset types and a checklist-driven approach to ensure the plan works as intended.

Estate and tax planning is often influenced by specific numbers and thresholds, such as the estate/gift tax exemption, the GST tax exemption, the annual exclusion amount and income tax brackets. These numbers are periodically adjusted for inflation. This episode summarizes inflation adjustments for 2026 and provides guidance on how the new numbers might affect planning.

An estate plan can address not only what happens upon a person’s passing but also how decisions are made if the person cannot make them during life. One set of documents — called a living will, healthcare power of attorney, advance directive or advance medical directive, depending on the state — designates an agent to make healthcare decisions on the person’s behalf and communicates what care they would or would not want to receive if they cannot make those decisions themselves.

This document can be critical in providing clarity and avoiding confusion in the event of incapacity — such as if the client is in a coma or unconscious, is disabled or is in surgery. This episode explores these documents and how best to structure them.

To make sure an estate plan can be administered effectively, it takes more than putting in place the right documents, structures and strategies. The executor, agent, trustee and other important figures must have access to information that will help them administer the estate or trust – and in many cases, the successors don’t know where to begin. This episode explores one of the most popular concepts from the last 50 episodes: the “death dossier,” a collection of documents and records that help successors identify and administer the assets in the event of a client’s death or incapacity. 

A power of attorney is a foundational document in an estate plan that names an agent to make decisions on behalf of the principal who, for instance, is disabled or not available. While it can be an important method of managing the principal’s finances, there are key issues the planner should consider when drafting a power of attorney.