What is estate planning?
Estate planning decides who receives your assets, who makes decisions if you cannot, and who raises your children, then puts it into documents and account designations that hold up.
What documents does an estate plan include?
The core pieces are a will, beneficiary designations, financial and health care powers of attorney, and often a revocable living trust. Requirements differ by state, so an estate attorney drafts and signs these documents.
- 01
Will
Names heirs, an executor, and a guardian for minor children.
- 02
Revocable living trust
Passes assets without probate, but only those retitled into it.
- 03
Beneficiary designations
They override your will, so keep them current.
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Durable financial power of attorney
Lets someone handle your money if you can't.
- 05
Health care directive and proxy
Names who decides on your medical care.
Does estate tax apply to you?
Federal estate tax reaches few families. It applies only to estates above the basic exclusion, $15 million per person for deaths in 2026, and is charged at up to 40% on the excess. A surviving spouse can keep a deceased spouse’s unused exclusion through a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return, so a married couple can shelter up to $30 million.
Lifetime gifts above $19,000 per recipient per year count against the same $15 million and require a gift tax return, but no tax is due until the total passes the exclusion. Some states charge their own estate or inheritance tax at far lower thresholds, so where you live and own property matters.
For most households the work is making sure the right people inherit smoothly, not avoiding tax.
How do beneficiaries and account titles work?
Many assets never pass through your will.
Some assets go straight to a person
Retirement accounts and life insurance go to the named beneficiary, jointly owned property with right of survivorship goes to the co-owner, and transfer-on-death accounts go to the named person.
An old designation can win
An old designation naming a former spouse can override a newer will.
Inherited retirement accounts run on a clock
Most non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit an IRA or 401(k) must empty it by the end of the 10th year after the owner’s death, while spouses, minor children, and a few others get more flexible options. Each withdrawal from an inherited traditional account is taxed as income, so the timing matters for heirs in high brackets.
What happens to taxes when someone inherits?
Heirs generally pay no federal income tax on what they inherit. Inherited assets such as stock or a house usually take a cost basis equal to their value on the date of death, so gains during the owner’s life are not taxed if the heir sells soon after.
That is why holding appreciated assets, rather than selling them late in life, can save a family real money. Inherited traditional retirement accounts are the exception: withdrawals are taxed as income.
When should you update your estate plan?
Review it after a marriage, divorce, birth or adoption, a death in the family, a move to another state, a large inheritance, or a business sale or other liquidity event, and every few years even when nothing changes.
Check beneficiary designations at the same time; they are the part most often out of date.
How Nino helps with estate planning
Estate planning covers who receives your assets and who can act for you if you cannot. Your financial records, account ownership, and legal documents need to work together. Nino helps organize the financial picture; with services, your team coordinates financial and tax questions with your attorney, who handles legal documents.
Book a free consultation-
Make your assets easier to find
List your accounts, property, debts, insurance, and important documents. Include where records are kept and which professionals your family would need to contact. Nino’s account overview and document storage can help you build that inventory without relying on scattered statements and emails.
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Review ownership and beneficiaries
Check how accounts are titled and who is named to receive them. Retirement accounts have their own beneficiary procedures, so review the designations with the account provider. A marriage, divorce, birth, or death is a useful prompt to revisit them with your legal and financial team.
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Clarify what your family needs
Think through who depends on you, which expenses would continue, and what you want to leave to family or charities. Those priorities give your attorney and financial team something concrete to work from, especially when a business, property, or unequal inheritances complicate the picture.
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Coordinate the financial and legal work
A will or trust is one part of the plan. Account changes, tax questions, and the cash your family may need also deserve attention. Your Nino team can help coordinate financial decisions with your attorney; legal drafting and legal advice stay with that attorney.
Guides and calculators
Go deeper on estate planning with Nino’s guides and free calculators.
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What happens when you die without a will?
State law determines who inherits probate property when there is no will.
Read guide -
How much can you inherit without paying taxes in 2026?
There is no federal inheritance tax, and estates under $15 million owe no federal estate tax in 2026.
Read guide -
Buy, Borrow, Die: How It Works and What It Costs
Borrowing against appreciated assets can defer capital gains tax, but interest, collateral calls, and estate rules can outweigh the benefit.
Read guide -
Managing a Windfall
How much of a windfall you keep depends on where it came from.
Read guide -
Planning after an inheritance
How a CPA and CFP team helps you plan the taxes and next steps on inherited money.
See how Nino helps