Beyond the numbers: how the CPA, as trusted adviser, can help clients tackle an estate plan.

• Author: Caplan, Robert M.
• Position: Estate planning

The conversation a CPA has with a client about estate planning sometimes has more to do with personal and family dynamics than tax law or accounting. Approaching these sensitive issues calls for skills beyond what is typically taught in CPE.

Before beginning the discussion, the CPA ideally has gained a position of trust, which is built by first taking time to listen to concerns, acknowledging them and asking clarifying questions before offering advice. With an understanding of the client's underlying objectives, CPAs can use their expertise to suggest the most expedient solutions. It can be helpful to involve members of the family's professional team--such as the attorney, financial planner and insurance broker. In some cases it may be appropriate to reach out, through the client, to a family's therapist or spiritual leader.

Agreement to Create an Estate Plan

With some clients, getting agreement to tackle an estate plan is the first challenge. Common themes that may hinder getting started are the reluctance to deal with one's own death and a resistance to relinquishing control of assets. If, every year when you ask whether a client has executed an estate plan, you get the same, "I've been too busy," answer, it's likely not just a long to-do list that's standing in the way. Many people postpone putting an estate plan in writing because, to them, it means facing their own mortality. By taking action they're acknowledging they will die. It's just too uncomfortable.

What can CPAs do? We all know horror stories of individuals who died intestate and had their assets go to the very people they did not intend to inherit their property. We can share these cautionary tales, but what if the fear factor fails to motivate? Consider these creative strategies.

* Make frequent friendly calls to encourage the client to execute a plan.

* Send articles where a failure to have an estate plan cost a great deal of money or hurt a family.

* Have the adult children that you work with become allies in completing the estate plan.

* Set up a joint meeting with the client's estate attorney to get the ball rolling.

* Encourage the client to take that big trip overseas; often a major voyage is an inducement to execute a plan.

Address the Difficult Questions

Even once any initial reluctance is overcome, the client may still need to make some difficult decisions in structuring the plan. A CPA who knows the family may be in a good position to deal with the hard issues and...