Make It as Simple as Possible, but Not Simpler: A Cautionary Estate Planning Story
People often credit Albert Einstein with saying, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Historians find no record that he said it, but the sentiment fits estate planning, both in principle and in practice.
Estate plans work best when you design them with simplicity and purpose. Complexity should serve a strategic function, not emerge from inattention or fragmented advice. Every extra account, policy, or poorly executed legal document adds potential for confusion, cost, and delay. And just as people misattribute quotes, neighbors often pass around “legal advice” at a barbecue, often with consequences that surface in probate court.
A Beginner’s Guide to Estate Planning
Estate planning isn’t just for wealthy people. Anyone with a family or assets to protect can benefit from an estate plan. Unsure how to start? Savant has you covered with A Beginner’s Guide to Estate Planning.
A Composite, Cautionary Case
Let’s imagine an illustrative scenario. A husband, father, and self-described “family CFO” meets with us. He doesn’t move forward with our recommended financial planning, but he takes comfort knowing that if something happens to him, we will be here to help his wife and children.
Years pass, and he handles every detail of the family’s finances. He eventually dies, leaving a wife in her early 80s.
His widow finds our name in his handwritten instructions and arrives with a tote bag—paperwork from a complicated financial life.
Inside the bag:
- 19 annuity contracts, nine in IRAs, spread across 14 different insurance companies, including three from an insurer now in liquidation.
- Trust and taxable accounts at four custodians, plus bank CDs and stock certificates with a recordkeeper.
- Federal savings bonds and multiple amended trust documents stored in a safe-deposit box.
- Contracts, statements, and handwritten instructions stacked to a hernia-inducing weight.
He meant to protect his family, yet the estate is hard to navigate—even in the best of times, let alone during grief.
And the clock starts. The IRS requires filing the estate tax return within nine months of death. The family’s estate totals $8 million, well above Illinois’ $4 million estate-tax threshold.
He established trusts to help reduce taxes, but he never funded them properly. A deed error leaves half the family home in probate. A final amendment, drafted to simplify things for his daughter, instead removed his wife as co-trustee.
How We Can Help Families in Similar Situations
The widow in our story finds herself in a nightmare of financial complexity—a story which similarly unfolds all too often. Here are examples of ways we may be able to help people in similar situations:
- Help open a low-cost, nonqualified annuity with no surrender charges to consolidate contracts in the surviving spouse’s name.
- Call annuity companies on the family’s behalf to navigate differing processes, disclaim policies when appropriate, obtain date-of-death valuations, and secure 1099s for tax filings.
- Coordinate with a qualified estate attorney to guide probate, account disclaimers, and the estate-tax return.
Even after that, the work has only begun. Inherited annuities and IRAs have different withdrawal rules, often with significant tax implications. Unlike many taxable assets, annuities do not receive a step-up in basis. That distinction can complicate withdrawals, consolidations, and tax planning during the distribution period (often up to 10 years for many beneficiaries).
Beyond the logistics, we often can help fill the gap left behind by a family steward. Many beneficiaries have limited visibility into the family’s finances. Building or refreshing a retirement plan can help to restore clarity and confidence during a hard season.
Wealth can mean many things—status, success, legacy—but at its best, it should be a tool: to protect, to comfort, and to carry a family through the hardest chapters of life. When the plan is unclear or the structure is unsound, wealth can steal time, fuel anxiety, and serve as a daily reminder of loss.
Estate planning doesn’t need to be complex. It does need to be deliberate, well executed, and kept current. What is the value of money if it demands hours of paperwork and tax wrangling but doesn’t provide comfort after a loved one dies?
The above is a hypothetical scenario—not involving an actual Savant client. It illustrates the hypothetical experience of a fictitious client based on a scenario that an actual client might experience. The scenario is designed to help illustrate how Savant might provide services to similarly situated clients. Keeping in mind that no two clients, situations, or experiences are exactly alike, the above should not be construed as an endorsement of Savant by any of its past or current clients, nor any assurance that Savant may be able to help any client achieve the same satisfactory results.