10 Things Estate Planners Won't Tell You

Let’s face it: Estate planning is scary. Not only does it involve protecting your hard-earned assets but it makes you think about that most dreaded of topics—your own mortality. That’s one reason why many of us run to an estate planner when it comes time to write a will.

But the fact is, you might not need any help. “The overwhelming majority of estates don’t trigger the federal estate tax,” says a spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service. In fact, as of 2009 you must be worth at least $3.5 million when you die to pay tax at all. If you fall below that—and don’t have any complicated estate issues—you probably don’t need a lawyer to draw up a will for you. Instead, you can use software like Quicken’s WillMaker Plus (around $45 at Amazon. com) and dispense with the whole task in a single afternoon.

What does it take to call oneself an estate planner? Not much, it turns out. Some estate planners are financial planners. Others are CPAs. Many are lawyers. But none of those titles guarantees an intricate knowledge of estate planning. “If you have a $50 million estate and you ask a lawyer if he does estate planning, the answer you’ll get 100 percent of the time is an enthusiastic ‘Yes, I do,’” says Tony Fiorillo, a former financial adviser.

Robert N. Sacks, chairman of an American Bar Association estate committee, says that you should stick with a lawyer who specializes in estates. The ultimate badge of competency: membership in ACTEC, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, an invitation-only national organization. (You can search ACTEC attorneys in your area at www.actec.org. )

Who should execute your will once you’re gone? It’s a tricky question, especially for parents who don’t want to favor one child over another but who also aren’t crazy about the idea of entrusting the job to the son who just depleted his 401(k) for a new Miata.

In your time of indecision, you may find your estate planner offering to take the job. A generous gesture? Not likely. Executors often pull in hefty fees. “It guarantees future employment or retirement money,” says Stephen McDaniel, former president of the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and a certified estate planning specialist in Tennessee.

In California, for example, where executor fees are based on an estate’s size, a $1 million estate would pay $23,000 to the executor. Many people give the job to family members, who often refuse payment. But an estate planner stepping in to do the job will understandably want to pocket the profit.