Wealth management
Top estate planning pitfalls and how to avoid them
Simply starting the conversation can go a long way toward securing your financial future .
Summary
- The holiday season may offer great opportunities to engage your loved ones in meaningful conversations about estate planning, such as choosing a power of attorney and clarifying intentions for inheritances.
- Many Americans lack a will, which can lead to prolonged and costly legal processes; TIAA offers resources through partnerships with estate planning experts to make it easier to create essential documents.
- It’s crucial to select suitable individuals to be your executor or healthcare proxy—and then ensure your estate plan is updated because circumstances change over time, as do state laws.
Starting the conversation
Family time is a hallmark of the holidays, and inevitably we run out of things to talk about. After all, how many times can you retell the story about Grandpa Jack trying to deep-fry the turkey—at least not without sending everyone scampering to the kitchen for more eggnog?
So, here’s a suggestion: The next time there’s a conversational lull during the festivities, consider a more consequential topic—estate planning.
Holidays are an ideal time to pull aside aging relatives to ask if they have a proper will or have chosen a power of attorney and healthcare proxy—people who can make important decisions should they become ill or incapacitated. It’s also a good time to talk to family about inheritances and end-of-life wishes. Maybe your oldest doesn’t actually want the lake house—but your youngest does. You may be shocked to discover that none of your kids know where your investment accounts are held, how to get in touch with your lawyer, or even where key documents are stored.
With that in mind, here are three estate planning pitfalls to avoid should you choose to make estate planning part of your holiday time.
Make sure you (and your loved ones) have a will.
More than two-thirds of Americans don’t have a will.1 If you die without one, state law determines how your assets are distributed. The distribution won’t happen quickly, and the process could reduce inheritances, because the court-appointed administrator may incur expenses, such as hiring legal counsel or securing a surety bond to protect the estate.2 (This doesn’t apply to assets held jointly with right of survivorship or to assets—e.g. life insurance or retirement accounts—for which you’ve designated a beneficiary.)
It’s understandable why so many people put off things like writing a will or choosing a healthcare proxy. “Some people don’t like to think about their own mortality,” explains Melody Evans, a TIAA VP and wealth management advisor in Portsmouth, N.H. “Others are just afraid of the cost.” Adds Chris Eller, a TIAA SVP and head of trust strategy and product development, “Oftentimes, it’s simple procrastination.”
Not sure how to get started? Talk to your TIAA wealth management advisor. TIAA wealth advisors have a vetted network of outside trust-and-estate attorneys they can refer to clients with larger, more complex estates. For clients whose needs are more basic, TIAA recently partnered with online estate planner Trust & Will to offer simpler, lower-cost options. Under the Trust & Will program, TIAA clients can create estate-planning documents—such as wills, living wills, power of attorney forms, HIPAA authorizations and even revocable trusts—in just an hour or two. Talk to a TIAA financial advisor for more information on the Trust & Will offering.
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Consider carefully whom you choose for key roles.
Too often, says Evans, simple birth order ends up determining which adult child is appointed executor, power of attorney and healthcare proxy (roles known as fiduciaries in estate-planning lingo). Giving one person all three roles might be too much, she cautions: “If your oldest lives across the country while your youngest lives around the corner—and is the one taking you to all your doctor’s appointments—doesn’t it make more sense for your youngest to be the healthcare proxy?”
Verify that your will and your choice of fiduciaries are up to date.
Circumstances change over time. Appointing your older brother executor or power of attorney might have seemed reasonable when you were 40 and he was 45. But now that you’re both in your seventies? It’s probably a good idea to select someone younger. Similarly, in your first will, it may have made perfect sense to delay giving your wild-child teenager access to her inheritance until she turned 35. But now that she’s responsible member of society at 27 with a good job, a stable partner and a baby on the way? Perhaps it’s time to change the age at which she can inherit.
Here’s something else to consider: Inheritance and estate-tax laws vary from state to state. So, if your will or trust was written back when you lived in Washington state and now you live in Florida, it could be time for a refresh. For example, a trust or will drafted in a community property state like Washington (where assets and debts acquired during marriage are automatically owned equally by both spouses) might no longer be appropriate in a common-law property state like Florida (where assets and debts are generally held individually unless assigned otherwise).
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1 De Vise, Daniel, “Facing mortality, more Americans wrote wills during the pandemic. Now, they’re opting out,” USA Today, April 3, 2024,
2 “Essential estate planning: what you should consider,” TIAA,
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