Core Service
Estate Planning.
Estate planning isn't only for the wealthy. It's about making sure your wishes are honored and your family is protected when it matters most.
About This Service
What Is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of deciding what happens to your assets, your health care decisions, and your dependents when you can no longer make decisions for yourself. It is not only for people with large estates — it matters for anyone with assets, dependents, or preferences that should be honored.
At Base Wealth Management, we coordinate the financial side of estate planning — beneficiary designations, account titling, trust funding, charitable giving strategy, and the integration of estate planning documents with your investment and tax strategy.
We work alongside your estate attorney and CPA to make sure your documents, accounts, and financial plan are consistent with each other and reflect your actual wishes.
The most common mistake: Having an estate plan but beneficiary designations that contradict it. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance supersede your will — and outdated designations are a frequent cause of assets going to the wrong person.
Who This Is For
Built for Anyone Who Has Someone Depending on Them.
Estate planning is not about estate taxes. It is about control, clarity, and protection. If you have a spouse, children, dependents, property, retirement accounts, or business interests, you need a plan.
Your Estate Documents
Do You Have What You Need?
Most estate plans are incomplete — not because people didn't try, but because no one walked them through the full list. These are the documents that give your plan legal force.
Directs distribution of assets not passed by beneficiary designation or joint titling.
Avoids probate, maintains privacy, and provides control over asset distribution timing.
Designates who makes financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
Documents your medical wishes and end-of-life preferences so your family doesn't have to guess.
Names who makes medical decisions for you if you cannot communicate them yourself.
On all retirement accounts, life insurance, and transfer-on-death accounts — these supersede your will.
Names a guardian for minor children in the event both parents are unable to care for them.
Non-legal document conveying wishes, account locations, and personal guidance for your executor.
Addresses online accounts, passwords, and digital property — increasingly important and frequently overlooked.
Ensures assets are actually retitled into the trust — a trust that isn't funded provides no protection.
Our Process
How We Coordinate Your Estate Strategy.
We follow a structured process that connects your financial accounts, documents, and planning decisions into one consistent estate strategy.
Free Discovery Call (15 Min)
We start by understanding your family structure, assets, existing documents, and what decisions feel unresolved or overdue.
Beneficiary Audit
We review every beneficiary designation on your retirement accounts, life insurance, and transfer-on-death accounts to make sure they reflect your current wishes.
Document Review
We review your existing will, trust, power of attorney, and health care directive (or note if these are missing) and identify inconsistencies with your financial accounts.
Strategy Design
We develop recommendations — account titling, trust funding, charitable giving structure, and transfer strategies — that minimize taxes and maximize what goes to your beneficiaries.
Coordination with Advisors
We coordinate with your estate attorney and CPA to make sure documents, tax elections, and financial accounts all align with one another.
By the Numbers
The Real Cost of No Plan.
Estate planning failures are predictable. These numbers represent common outcomes when planning is absent or outdated.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions.
Yes. Estate planning is about control and protection, not tax avoidance. A will, power of attorney, and health care directive matter for anyone with assets, dependents, or preferences. Without them, state law decides — and state law does not know your family.
A will is a legal document that directs where your assets go after death — but it goes through probate, which is public, time-consuming, and costly. A trust is a legal entity that holds assets during your lifetime and transfers them directly to beneficiaries at death, bypassing probate. Whether a trust makes sense depends on your assets, family, and state laws.
No. We are financial planners. We coordinate the financial side of estate planning — beneficiary designations, account titling, trust funding, and strategy — and work alongside your estate attorney. If you don't have one, we can refer you to qualified estate attorneys we trust.
Review your plan after any major life event: marriage, divorce, birth of a child, death of a beneficiary, significant change in assets, or a move to a different state. At minimum, review beneficiary designations every three to five years.
Retirement accounts pass by beneficiary designation — not your will. This means whoever is named on the account form inherits the money, regardless of what your will says. Outdated or missing designations are one of the most common and costly estate planning mistakes we find.
A power of attorney gives someone the legal authority to make financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Without one, your family may need a court to appoint a guardian — a slow, expensive process that happens at the worst possible time.
Ready to Protect Your Legacy?
Let's Build Your Estate Strategy.
The first conversation is free, takes 15 minutes, and tells you what is in place, what is missing, and what to do next. No commitment required.