What Purpose Does Estate Planning Serve?

Now that the tax bill has passed and the federal estate tax exemption is set to jump to $15 million, many high-net-worth people are hesitating to begin or update their estate planning. A recent article from Forbes, “Keep What Matters, Transfer What Counts: A New Approach to Estate Planning,” suggests that people often put off estate planning because they believe they’ll need to relinquish control, access, or income. Estate planning increases control, access and income.

Whether you’re creating an estate plan for the first time or updating an existing estate plan, start by asking what it is you want to be known for. Clarify your legacy goals and consider your estate plan a means of achieving these goals. You can do this by setting up a trust to benefit your family for generations, preserving a family business, or supporting your community or organizations.

Modern estate planning provides tools to transfer wealth, while maintaining control and income. Three topics to discuss with your estate planning attorney are:

Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs): This trust is designed to provide a surviving spouse with access to assets during their lifetime and ensure that remaining assets pass to designated beneficiaries after the surviving spouse has passed away. SLATs are especially beneficial for blended families.

Beneficiary Defective Inheritor’s Trusts, or BDITs: These trusts are used to move assets out of your estate, while still allowing access to either income or principal as needed.

Business Entities—Limited Liability Company (LLC), Family Limited Partnerships (FLP): How businesses or assets are owned matters. By placing assets into a corporate entity, the family gains additional tax advantages and protection against creditors or litigation.

The best estate plan is one created by an experienced estate planning attorney. If you don’t have a clear vision of your legacy goals, they can draw on years of helping people just like you to formulate a plan. They will also be able to help with different options, depending upon your situation. You’ll want to address wealth transfer tax and income tax implications.

A comprehensive estate plan could be easier to grasp with the use of an estate plan flowchart. Creating a graphic view of trusts, wills, and other tools can help you see how each part works together, providing insights you may not have otherwise considered.

Estate planning is more than paperwork—it’s a way to define your legacy and ensure your wealth serves the people and causes that matter most. At The Werner Law Firm, we understand that delaying the creation of an estate plan has consequences. Our estate planning attorneys in Los Angeles help clients design plans that preserve control, provide financial protection, and reflect their unique values.

If you have any questions, schedule a free appointment with us through our online appointment page.

You can also read reviews from some of the hundreds of clients we have helped over the years.

Reference: Forbes (July 21, 2025) “Keep What Matters, Transfer What Counts: A New Approach to Estate Planning”