RECAP: 2019 FOX Family Office Forum

Estate Planning Considerations for the Modern Family
Kim Kamin

Presenters:
Kim Kamin
Principal and Chief Wealth Strategist, Gresham Partners, LLC

Session Description: 

The traditional nuclear family is no longer the presumption. With multiple demographic trends including same-sex marriages, blended families, and cohabitation alongside different paths to parenthood, including adoption and assisted reproductive technologies, there are numerous estate planning challenges that ultrahigh net worth families and their advisors must now consider. Advisors must become familiar with the needs and nuances that are unique to modern family members, structures, and dynamics. We explored some of these important considerations when working on estate planning for the modern family.
 

“It is incumbent upon us to balance the family’s desire for control with the understanding that views and beliefs evolve over time.”
- Kim Kamin
"Kim did a great job with a broad subject in a small amount of time. She brought up a few things that made us realize we need to go look at some wording in our documents to make sure all who were intended to be covered in the estate planning are.”
- Attendee Quote
Key Takeaways: 
  • The modern UHNW family comes in many shapes, sizes, and configurations, and estate planning considerations must adapt to fit this new family structure as it will impact family governance, how services are provided, how existing trusts are interpreted, and how new estate planning instruments are drafted.
  • Today we must consider different definitions of family that don’t fit in our traditional understanding of marital status. Divorced couples, single clients, cohabiting couples, same-sex couples, remarriage and blended families, polyamorous relationships, and multi-national families are a few considerations. There are 1.4 million adults in the U.S. who are transgender and are identifying as transgender or non-binary at younger ages. Important to consider how assistance for transitions will be handled; planning should also pay attention to nouns, pronouns, and honorifics.
  • Special family member needs can be considered utilizing ACA and Medicaid Planning and third-party trusts to “supplement, but not supplant”. Self-settled trusts, where the individual already has own assets or received a settlement, are also potential options. ABLE accounts are similar to 529 accounts – the individual can contribute to their own account and draw from it as needed.
  • The changing nature of families requires attention to how we describe and define descendants. Biological children are now joined by step-children, adopted children, nonmarital children, and children from assisted reproductive technologies (either within the lifetime of the family member or posthumously). Adoption considerations also require specific drafting techniques and can pertain to the adoption of minors or adults, including special issues.
  • Modern families may own new asset classes (i.e. digital assets, cloud services, bitcoin) that should be clearly defined. There is a new uniform act stating that fiduciaries must be defined as agents with access. This can still be overridden with specific social and email accounts. Families also need to be thoughtful about keeping record of any cryptocurrencies.
  • While the successful revival of a frozen human does not exist, the choice is appealing to some clients and estate planners should consider costs as well as structure of a revival trust. Additionally, there is a variation for cryonics and planning for pets, including cloning.

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