Missed opportunities in estate planning: Beyond wills and trusts.

• Author: Sarenski, Theodore J.

Ask 10 CPA financial planners the most important techniques that they use, and they will undoubtedly give 10 different answers. The area of financial planning offers flexibility to CPAs and can be a catalyst for great creativity in working with clients. Generally, no set programs must be followed, even though most CPA financial planners cover many of the same areas. This column reviews some techniques critical to estate planning that go beyond the drafting of wills and trusts.

The process

At the beginning of the engagement, the CPA financial planner should provide each client a questionnaire (whether as a hard copy or electronically). Involving the client in setting forth the information that is being sought with the questionnaire results in a better knowledge of the facts and provides the client and spouse, where appropriate, with buy-in to the financial planning process. See the Personal Finance Scorecard (available at tinyurl.com/ybg94fme; AICPA member login required) for a simple version of a questionnaire.

Once the completed questionnaire is returned, a detailed agenda is prepared for the initial meeting. (The author normally instructs clients not to treat the booklet as a test but to make estimates and skip questions that they are not sure of) Each meeting agenda begins with an in-depth discussion of the client's goals and objectives as they have been set forth in the questionnaire.

In providing "takeaway" information to clients, it has been found that handing them a form letter of instruction is one of the important outcomes of the session. The letter sets forth information vital to those who are mourning the death of a loved one who had greater knowledge of the family finances. Clients are encouraged to add information or thoughts they may wish to convey to each other or to those who will be reading the letter sometime in the future.

To some extent, the completed questionnaire leads into the proposed letter of instruction by informing the CPA financial planner of several issues that may otherwise be overlooked. Topics covered in the letter of instruction should include, for example, information about funeral arrangements, the location of the client's safe deposit box, passwords, company benefits, and the location of important estate planning documents. (A "Sample Letter of Instruction" used by the author is available with the online version of this article at thetaxadviser.com/estate.)

Areas of missed opportunity

Burial arrangements

...