Estate Planning in LA That Connects Your Documents to Your Financial Plan
Serving clients locally & nationwide
For Women and Couples Who Want Their Wishes Carried Out — and Their Plan Built Around Them
"We have a will — but is everything actually set up the way we think it is?"
This is one of the most common questions I hear from clients who have done the right things on paper but haven't had someone look at how the pieces actually connect. A will or trust drafted years ago may not reflect current assets, relationships, or intentions. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance policies — which often override what a will says — may not have been updated since a major life change. And the financial plan may never have been reviewed alongside the estate documents at all.
My role is advisory and coordinative. I don't draft legal documents — that's the work of an estate attorney. What I do is help you understand how your estate plan connects to your financial plan, identify where the two aren't aligned, and coordinate with your attorney to make sure your documents reflect both your intentions and your current financial reality.
What This Planning Actually Addresses
Estate Documents That Haven't Been Reviewed Since They Were Drafted
A will or revocable trust drafted at a different stage of life may not account for assets you've since acquired, relationships that have changed, or intentions that have evolved. Estate planning coordination starts with understanding what your current documents actually say — and whether they still reflect what you want.
Beneficiary Designations That Don't Match the Plan
Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and transfer-on-death designations pass outside of a will — which means a beneficiary designation that hasn't been updated after a divorce, remarriage, or the birth of a child can override even a carefully drafted estate plan. Reviewing and aligning these designations is one of the highest-impact steps in estate planning.
No Clear Picture of How Assets Will Transfer
For clients with multiple account types, real estate, equity compensation, and business interests, understanding how each asset transfers — and what the tax implications are — requires looking at the full picture. Estate planning coordination maps your assets against your documents so nothing is left to assumption.
A Financial Plan and Estate Plan That Have Never Talked to Each Other
Most clients have a financial plan and an estate plan developed separately, by different professionals, without either being reviewed in light of the other. The result is often a gap between what the documents say and what the financial plan assumes — particularly around retirement accounts, trust funding, and charitable intentions.
How to Think About Priorities Based on Where You Are
If You Don't Yet Have Estate Documents in Place
The priority is getting foundational documents established — will, durable power of attorney, healthcare directive — and making sure beneficiary designations are set intentionally from the start. Starting here also creates the opportunity to build your financial and estate plans in coordination from the beginning.
If You Have Documents That Haven't Been Reviewed Recently
A review is warranted after any major life change — marriage, divorce, a new child, a significant asset acquisition, or a shift in who you'd want making decisions on your behalf. If none of those have happened but several years have passed, a review is still worth doing.
If You're Approaching or Already in Retirement
Estate planning takes on added significance as retirement approaches — particularly around account titling, trust funding, charitable giving strategies, and how assets will be distributed across what may be a long retirement. Coordinating estate and retirement planning at this stage ensures the two are working from the same assumptions.
Not sure where you stand?
What Gets Overlooked More Than It Should
- Beneficiary designations that haven't been updated after a major life change
- Retirement accounts left out of trust planning or titled inconsistently with the rest of the estate plan
- No healthcare directive or durable power of attorney in place
- Charitable intentions that exist informally but haven't been built into the financial or estate plan
- Estate documents drafted without accounting for the tax implications of how assets transfer
- A funded financial plan and an unfunded trust sitting alongside each other without anyone connecting them
Insurance Planning Decisions I Help With
- Estate plan review and gap identification — coordinated with your estate attorney
- Beneficiary designation review and alignment across all accounts and policies
- Account titling and trust funding coordination
- Charitable giving strategy — donor-advised funds, appreciated asset giving, bequest intentions
- Estate tax planning coordinated with tax strategy
- Legacy intention clarification — what you want transferred, to whom, and how
- Coordination between estate documents and retirement income strategy
- Power of attorney and healthcare directive review
- Business succession and ownership transition planning
- Post-divorce or post-remarriage estate plan realignment
What to Expect From Start to Finish
We begin by reviewing your existing estate documents alongside your full financial picture — account types, titling, beneficiary designations, insurance policies, and any charitable or legacy intentions. From there, I identify where your documents and your financial plan aren't aligned and help you understand what needs to change and why.
Where updates are needed, I coordinate with your estate attorney — or help you find one if you don't have an existing relationship. My role is to make sure the financial plan and the legal documents are working from the same picture, and that nothing important falls through the gap between them.
Estate decisions are evaluated alongside your
tax strategy,
investment plan,
retirement timeline, and
insurance coverage — because estate planning that isn't connected to the rest of your financial life is only doing part of its job.
How We Can Work Together on Estate & Legacy Planning
Ongoing Planning – A long-term planning relationship where estate planning is reviewed and updated as assets, relationships, and intentions evolve — coordinated with retirement, investments, taxes, and insurance.
Project-Based Planning – A focused engagement for a specific estate planning question — a post-divorce realignment, a trust funding review, or a beneficiary designation audit following a major life change.
Common Questions About Estate Planning
Do you draft wills or trusts?
No — legal documents are drafted by an estate attorney. My role is to help you understand how your estate plan connects to your financial plan, identify where the two aren't aligned, and coordinate with your attorney to make sure your documents reflect your current financial reality and intentions.
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
It depends on your assets, state of residence, and what you're trying to accomplish. In California, a revocable living trust is often recommended because it allows assets to pass outside of probate — which can be a lengthy and costly process. Whether a trust makes sense for your situation is worth discussing with an estate attorney, and I can help you think through the right questions to bring to that conversation.
What are beneficiary designations, and why do they matter so much?
Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and transfer-on-death accounts determine who receives those assets — regardless of what your will says. They're one of the most impactful and most frequently overlooked parts of an estate plan, particularly after major life changes like marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child.
How does estate planning connect to tax strategy?
Significantly. How assets are titled, how they transfer, and how charitable intentions are structured all have tax implications — for both your estate and your beneficiaries. Tax strategy and estate planning work best when they're coordinated rather than developed independently.
How often should I review my estate plan?
After any major life change — and at a minimum every three to five years regardless. Assets change, relationships change, and tax laws change. An estate plan that hasn't been reviewed is an estate plan that may no longer reflect what you actually want.
Can you help if I'm not in Los Angeles?
Yes. I'm based in Los Angeles but work with clients across California and nationwide, virtually. California-specific considerations — particularly around probate and community property — are part of the conversation for CA-based clients.