Estate Planning
Estate planning is about more than wills, powers of attorney, and trusts. It reflects the decisions, relationships, and values that shape your legacy. We coordinate your financial strategies, estate plan, and family considerations to help create a cohesive plan designed to preserve your wishes, provide clarity, and support family harmony when it matters most.
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Have you started thinking about the legacy you want to leave behind?
Estate planning and life after you’re no longer here are often conversations that families want to avoid. Nevertheless, it is a crucial discussion to have at the right time, so your family, especially the younger generations, understands the sources of your family’s wealth and your wishes for where that money goes to help potentially minimize conflicts amongst family about your wishes in the event of your incapacitation or death. Now is the time to start that conversation.
What do estate planning and legacy services entail?
Estate planning is the process of organizing how your wealth and wishes are managed and passed on, both during your lifetime and after, and it covers far more than just a will.
We help shape your estate plan around your family, your financial life, and the legacy you want to leave behind. By facilitating conversations among family members and your other trusted professionals, we help everyone better understand how your plan is intended to work when the time comes. While we can’t remove the emotions that often accompany estate planning, we can help bring greater clarity and coordination to the decisions that protect your wealth and the people and causes you care about.
Helping you shape your legacy
How we can support your family
- Aligning Professionals and Family Members
Estate planning often involves multiple professionals and family members, making it difficult to keep everyone aligned. Questions such as whether to name a family member or professional as trustee, how taxes could affect your estate, and how decisions may impact family relationships require careful coordination. We work alongside your attorney, CPA, and other trusted professionals to help connect these decisions and provide greater clarity for you and your family.
- Clarifying Charitable Gifting and Wealth Transfer
Charitable giving can create meaningful opportunities for both philanthropy and estate planning, but it’s important to understand how those decisions may affect your taxes, estate, and heirs. We help illustrate the financial impact of different charitable strategies so you can evaluate your options and make informed decisions that reflect both your charitable goals and your family’s future.
- Offering Neutral, Professional Trust Services
Selecting the right trustee, executor, or power of attorney is one of the most important estate planning decisions you’ll make. Whether you’re concerned about family dynamics or the responsibilities these roles require, we can help you evaluate your options. When appropriate, we can also coordinate professional trust services that provide impartial administration and help carry out your wishes according to your estate plan.
See how we have helped guide our clients’ financial lives with clarity and purpose
Retired Senior Financial Executive at a Large CorporationWife, Parent, Mid-70sI chose the team after an extensive search because they tailored asset management to our family’s needs, including our two adult sons with special needs. Unlike our past advisors, they understood and prioritized our family’s objectives.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- Clinical Psychologist Turned Business Owner After Husband’s DeathWidow, Parent, Late 60s
I never anticipated the emotions and strong connections I have with my team. They will be there for my children when I’m no longer here. My life is so much easier having them as part of the equation.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- Retired Human Resources ExecutiveSingle, Caretaker of Mother, Mid-60s
My advisor has played a huge role in my planning process. My transition into retirement was well thought out. They helped consolidate my company stock and investments into one place and create a plan for retirement.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
- ENT Doctor Approaching RetirementHusband, Mid-70s
I have been a client for more than 20 years through changing markets and economic cycles. Their integrity, sound judgment, and client-first approach have earned my trust, and I highly recommend them to anyone seeking a trusted investment partner.
This individual is a client of Hightower Signature Wealth & Hightower Advisors, LLC. No compensation was given in exchange for their testimony. Client testimonials provided may not represent the experience of other clients and are not a guarantee of future performance or success.
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Have questions?
Estate planning is a critical part of your overall financial plan. It helps determine how your assets will be managed and distributed, who can make financial or healthcare decisions on your behalf, and how your wishes will be carried out. When integrated with your broader financial strategy, estate planning can help protect your family, reduce unnecessary complications, and provide greater clarity during difficult times.
Yes. A will or trust is only one part of a comprehensive estate plan. Depending on your situation, your plan may also include financial and healthcare powers of attorney, advance healthcare directives, beneficiary designations, and, when appropriate, a revocable living trust or pour-over will. Together, these documents help provide the legal framework needed to carry out your wishes and protect your loved ones.
A financial advisor helps coordinate the financial decisions surrounding your estate plan. We can help organize your assets, identify tax planning opportunities, review beneficiary designations, and align your investments with your long-term goals. We also work alongside your estate planning attorney and other trusted professionals to help ensure your financial strategy and legal documents support one another.
Choosing a trustee, executor, or power of attorney involves more than selecting someone you trust. These individuals should be organized, dependable, financially responsible, and capable of making important decisions during emotionally challenging situations. For some families, a trusted relative may be the right choice. For others, a professional fiduciary, attorney, or trust company may provide greater objectivity and continuity.
Depending on your financial situation, estate planning may create opportunities to improve the tax efficiency of wealth transferred to your beneficiaries. Strategies such as annual gifting, certain trust structures, charitable planning, and spousal planning may help reduce estate taxes while preserving more of your wealth for future generations. We work alongside your attorney and tax professionals to evaluate which strategies align with your goals.
Yes. Depending on your financial situation, charitable giving may help improve the tax efficiency of both your estate and your current income while supporting the causes you care about. Strategies such as donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and gifting appreciated securities may provide tax advantages. We help evaluate how these strategies fit within your broader estate and wealth transfer plan.
Your estate plan should be reviewed every three to five years or whenever a significant life event occurs. Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, retirement, the sale of a business, moving to another state, substantial changes in your financial situation, or the death of a named beneficiary, trustee, or executor are all reasons to revisit your plan and confirm it still reflects your wishes.
