Estate Planning Through the Ages Mini-Series

Estate planning, at its core, is an act of care: a way to look after yourself and the people you love by making decisions and putting protections in place before life’s hardest moments arrive. These conversations can raise some tough questions, but thinking ahead now can spare your loved ones confusion later. What many people don’t realize is that they already have an estate plan, even if they’ve never signed a single document. If you haven’t created one, your state’s laws provide a default. A plan you create yourself simply ensures your wishes are reflected, and it’s never too early or too late to start.

Where you start, though, depends on where you are in life. This two-part series walks through how estate planning evolves across those stages, beginning with Part One, which covers the foundations worth building in your 20s and 30s. Part Two digs into the growing complexity and legacy questions that arrive in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.

The Cost of Waiting for “Someday”

A 2025 Caring.com survey of more than 2,500 adults ages 18 to 55+ found that only 24% of respondents had completed their planning documents, and procrastination was the leading reason for those who hadn’t. Estate planning is one of those tasks that is easy to continually push to someday, especially because many of the conversations involved can feel uncomfortable or emotionally heavy. Yet, delaying these decisions often leaves loved ones with more stress, uncertainty, and administrative burden during already difficult times.

The second most common reason was the feeling that they did not have enough assets to leave to anyone. Asset distribution is certainly part of the process, but an equally important piece is naming the people you trust to make decisions for you if you can’t.

Regardless of age, asset level, or complexity, we believe every adult would benefit from a written estate plan. Let’s explore how estate planning evolves through each era of life.

Part One: Getting a Head Start – Estate Planning in Your 20s and 30s

Building the Basics

In your early accumulation years, the key goal is to begin defining some fundamental legal documents and building a basic estate plan:

• Will: Outlines how you want your assets distributed at your death and outlines…
  • Beneficiaries: Who you want to receive your assets at your passing;
  • Executor: Who is responsible for making sure your assets are distributed according to your wishes; and,
  • Guardian(s): Who you would like to be named as legal guardian to minor children.
  • Note that the assets governed by a will can range from your house to your checking account. A will does not dictate the distribution of retirement accounts or life insurance policies if beneficiaries are listed.
• Financial Power of Attorney: Allows someone you trust to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself.
• Advance Healthcare Directive: Outlines your medical care wishes and names who you’d like to make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you aren’t able to communicate your preferences yourself.

While you may feel in your younger years that you don’t need an estate plan, it is best practice that everyone 18 and older at least designate a power of attorney. Once you turn 18, your parents no longer have a legal right to make financial or medical decisions for you. And while these may be hard conversations to have, they are ultimately a gift to your loved ones because you remove the burden of “guessing.”

How Your Assets Pass: Designations and Distributions

In your 20s and 30s, you may be contributing to retirement accounts. You might even have life insurance either through work or a private policy. An important part of the estate planning picture is making sure your beneficiary designations are updated because retirement accounts and life insurance policies with designated beneficiaries pass separately from your will or trust.

Outside of your retirement accounts and accounts that have listed beneficiaries, your will would outline how (and to whom) you’d like additional accounts and assets to be distributed. Unlike a trust, which we will cover in Part Two, your will provides instruction but doesn’t avoid probate, the court-supervised process of closing out your estate after death. This includes distributing assets and paying outstanding debts. Depending on the size of the estate and the state where you live, you might be able to avoid the probate process (which can be time consuming and expensive) if your assets are below a certain threshold.

Keeping It Current

Once you have a plan in place, it’s important to do routine checks to make sure your past decisions align with your current desires. You’ll want to revisit and review your estate plan (and beneficiary designations) every five or so years, or whenever a major life change happens (such as marriage, having children, or moving to a new state).

And, as we venture ever onward into the digital age, you might want to explore more modern planning options like establishing your digital estate plan. This may include using a password manager to securely organize account credentials and selecting an emergency contact or successor who can access your accounts if needed. For example, if you are incapacitated for any reason, a trusted person can step in and pay bills on your behalf.

Above all else, beginning to build your estate plan during your accumulation period is about putting protections in place and identifying the right people to facilitate your wishes. As life becomes more complex, your plan will evolve with you. In the next part of this series, we’ll explore the estate planning considerations that come with your 40s, 50s, and 60s and into retirement.

Part Two: Growing Complexity in Your Later Years

The Preservation Decades – 40s, 50s & early 60s

In the late accumulation phase and the early years of your “preservation phase,” which is the shift about 10 years before retirement that focuses on adjusting risk and protecting assets as you prepare for spending, your estate planning needs may start getting more complex. With the addition of kids and marriages (or potentially second marriages), adding a trust to your estate plan may make sense. There are many types of trusts, but one of the most common is a revocable trust, which acts as an extension of you for legal and tax purposes while also providing additional control over how assets are managed and distributed at your passing. Assets titled in the name of the trust avoid the probate process.

As your children get older and become financially independent, questions often arise around how you would like them to receive their inheritance. Should it be outright, or in trust? If in trust, when do they have access to the funds and for what purposes? These considerations come into play as the complexity gets bigger. And, beyond the logistics of it all, you probably want to define and support the creation of family financial values to help guide your children toward making thoughtful financial decisions in their adulthood.

Side note: If you are a Client of ours, you’ve been through our “discovery meeting” process, during which we often spend time discussing money history. We like to ask  you to fill in the blank: “From my mom, I learned that money is ______” (and the same for your other parent). As you think about family financial values, imagine your children begin working with YeskeBuie once they are adults. If we were to ask them that same question, what would you hope their answer would be?

When Your Role Expands

For higher-net-worth families, tax considerations may also become part of the conversation. According to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, only 0.08% of estates owed federal estate tax in 2019 due to the incredibly high estate tax exemption amount that was first introduced in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)  of 2017 and was made permanent with the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in 2025.  In 2026, the estate tax exemption amount is $15,000,000 per person. While most Americans aren’t subject to estate tax at these exemption levels, those for which it does apply may want to work with their financial planners and estate planning attorneys to talk about the strategies that are available.

As you are navigating your own complexities and asset accumulation, you may also start to experience estate planning through a different lens as you become a power of attorney, successor trustee, executor, etc. for your parents and grandparents. Going through estate planning as a beneficiary or responsible party can also be an opportunity to reflect on your own aging and legacy wishes.  Questions like these often arise:

• Who do you want to be able to act on your behalf? When should that power be invocable?
• What kind of medical care do you want as you age? Is there a limit to life-sustaining support?
• What level of family involvement versus professional fiduciaries are you interested in?
• What do you want to leave behind and to whom?

Leaving a Legacy: Late 60s and Beyond 

As is the case at all ages, any major life transition serves as a good time to revisit your estate plan. With age, one consideration that we often see come into play is updating your choices for who you’ve named to step in if you become incapacitated or pass away. Considering the locality and age of who you have listed is imperative, as you want to make sure those people can come in to support you when needed.

At this stage, estate planning often shifts from “What am I building?” to “What am I leaving behind?” This is becoming increasingly relevant as we move through what many are calling “The Great Wealth Transfer,” with Cerulli Associates estimating that approximately $124 trillion will transfer between generations through 2048. As a result, estate planning conversations are expanding beyond asset transfer alone and into areas such as stewardship, charitable intentions, tax efficiency, and long-term family legacy planning. Having the conversation is only the beginning of the process.

Once you’ve defined what it is you’re hoping to achieve, the next step is to execute on the tasks that need to be completed to make those desires a reality. Overcoming procrastination and creating estate documents only go so far. You’ll need to make sure the trusts are funded, your beneficiary designations are up to date, and any planned donor-advised fund is opened.

And, while those estate planning documents themselves are important, communication is equally valuable. Having conversations with loved ones about your wishes, where documents are stored, and who has been named in key roles can help reduce confusion and uncertainty during difficult moments. There are tools available that can help you organize both your estate and financial documents all in a centralized place – and if you’re not sure what makes sense for your needs, reach out to our team for recommendations.

Estate planning is ultimately about creating clarity during uncertainty, protecting the people and priorities that matter most to you, and ensuring your wishes are carried out in the way you intended. While your estate plan may evolve throughout different stages of life, the importance of having these conversations remains constant. If you have any questions, we’d be honored to help you begin your journey.