Navigator-Advisor Newsletter

Most of the estate planning conversations that matter never start in a lawyer’s office. They start during an annual review, or in a CPA’s conference room when a client mentions, almost in passing, that her father has been forgetting things. They start when an insurance agent pulls up a policy and sees a name that should have been changed years ago. National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which … [Read more...] about What Does National Estate Planning Awareness Week Mean for Professional Advisors?

A couple in their eighties sits down with their daughter to talk through the house, the accounts, and what they want to happen next. They built it all slowly, over decades, and want to make sure it ends up where they intend. Conversations like this are happening more often now, as parents and grandparents across Alabama reach the point where passing on what they have built becomes real. This is … [Read more...] about What Estate Planning Has to Do With the Generational Wealth Transfer

A client's portfolio gets reviewed every year. The beneficiary form attached to it deserves that same level of attention, since that single field often determines more about whether an account goes through probate in Alabama than anything else in the client's file. This is a closer look at what actually keeps an account out of probate, where designations most often create problems, and when a … [Read more...] about How Beneficiary Designations Affect Probate in Alabama: A Guide for Advisors

Grady-White's recent ownership transfer made headlines because of the size of the number attached to it. For advisors, the more useful takeaway isn't really about business succession. It's about how charitable intent, control, and irrevocable structuring intersect, a question that shows up across nearly every kind of client, not only the ones who own a company. This summer, Eddie Smith, the … [Read more...] about Purpose Trusts and Business Succession: What Grady-White’s $400 Million Decision Means for Your Clients

Estate planning coordination for advisors becomes most important in exactly the moment it is hardest to arrange: after a client has already signed a will they found online or built with an AI tool, without anyone comparing it to the accounts, beneficiary designations, and family relationships already in place. That gap is rarely intentional. Clients who complete an online or AIs-generated will … [Read more...] about Estate Planning Coordination for Advisors: Where Online and AI Wills Create Gaps

A client comes in for a routine review. Modest retirement account, a paid-down mortgage, no complicated holdings. It is tempting to tell them their estate is simple enough that a basic beneficiary designation will take care of everything. Alabama's Revised Small Estates Act, which took effect for deaths on or after October 1, 2025, makes that assumption worth revisiting. The Act defines a … [Read more...] about What the Revised Alabama Small Estates Act Means for Your Clients