Estate planning is the process of coordinating your financial assets, legal documents, beneficiary decisions, and family wishes so that your affairs can be managed properly both during your lifetime and after your death.

At AtlanticMidwest Investment Research, we believe estate planning should be viewed as part of the broader financial planning process—not simply as a collection of legal documents.

A well-designed estate strategy should answer several important questions:

Who will manage your financial affairs if you become unable to do so? Who will make medical decisions on your behalf? Who receives your assets? How will retirement accounts be distributed? Are your beneficiaries and account registrations coordinated with your estate documents? And have you made things as straightforward as possible for the people you leave behind?

As we move through 2026, this is an excellent time to review those questions.

 

Your 2026 Estate Planning Review

Estate plans should evolve as your life and financial circumstances change. Even an excellent estate plan created years ago may no longer accomplish what you intend today.

As part of your 2026 financial review, consider examining:

• Wills and trusts
• Financial powers of attorney
• Health care directives and HIPAA authorizations
• Beneficiary designations
• Retirement accounts
• Life insurance policies
• Ownership and titling of investment and bank accounts
• Real estate ownership
• Business interests and succession arrangements
• Digital assets and online accounts
• Your executor, trustee and other fiduciary appointments

The objective isn’t necessarily to change everything. It is to make sure everything still works together.

 

1. Start With the Foundation: Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney

One of the most common estate planning mistakes is assuming that once documents are signed, the planning is finished.

It isn’t.

Families change. Assets change. Relationships change. Financial institutions change their procedures. Tax laws change. The people you trusted ten years ago to serve as executor, trustee or financial agent may no longer be the people you would select today.

Review your will and trust to make sure the beneficiaries, trustees, executors and distribution provisions continue to reflect your wishes.

Your financial power of attorney deserves particular attention. An older document may contain outdated provisions or may create practical difficulties when presented to a financial institution. Your estate planning attorney can determine whether your existing document remains appropriate under current law.

Your health care directive and HIPAA authorization should also be reviewed. Make sure the people you want involved in medical decisions have the appropriate authority and know what you would want if you were unable to communicate for yourself.

In many cases, incapacity planning may become important long before the provisions governing someone’s estate after death.

2. Review Beneficiaries—Especially on Retirement Accounts

Beneficiary designations can be among the most consequential—and easiest to overlook—parts of an estate plan.

IRAs, 401(k)s, life insurance and certain other accounts generally pass according to the beneficiary designation associated with the account rather than simply according to instructions contained in a will.

That means an otherwise carefully drafted estate plan can produce unintended results if beneficiary forms haven’t been coordinated with it.

Ask:

Is my primary beneficiary still correct?

Have I named contingent beneficiaries?

Should an individual or a properly structured trust be the beneficiary?

Do my beneficiary designations coordinate with my will and trust?

Have marriage, divorce, deaths, births or other family changes affected my choices?

This is one of the simplest areas to review, yet mistakes can create unnecessary expense, delay and family complications.

3. Understand the New Reality for Inherited Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts have become an increasingly important part of estate planning because the SECURE Act changed the rules governing many inherited retirement accounts.

For many non-spouse beneficiaries, inherited retirement accounts are generally subject to a 10-year distribution period, although important exceptions and additional distribution requirements can apply depending on the beneficiary and whether the original account owner had reached the required beginning date.

The result is that the old idea of allowing many beneficiaries to “stretch” an inherited IRA over their lifetimes is no longer available in many situations.

For families with substantial traditional IRA or 401(k) balances, this creates an important planning question:

What will the income-tax consequences be for the people who inherit these accounts?

A beneficiary who inherits a large traditional IRA during his or her peak earning years could potentially face substantial taxable distributions over a relatively short period.

That makes retirement-account planning increasingly interconnected with estate planning.

Strategies worth discussing with your financial, tax and legal professionals may include beneficiary restructuring, Roth conversions, charitable planning, life insurance strategies and coordinating retirement assets with other assets that may pass to heirs.

4. The Federal Estate Tax Changed Significantly for 2026

One of the biggest developments affecting estate planning in 2026 is the federal estate and gift tax exemption.

For 2026, the federal basic exclusion amount is $15 million per individual. For married couples, proper planning may allow both spouses’ exemptions to be utilized, although the rules surrounding portability, trusts and lifetime gifting require careful legal and tax planning.

The annual federal gift-tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient for 2026.

These relatively high federal exemptions mean that federal estate tax will not be an issue for most American families. However, that does not mean estate planning is unnecessary.

Estate planning involves far more than federal estate taxes.

Families still need to consider probate, state estate or inheritance taxes where applicable, income taxes, capital gains and basis considerations, retirement-account taxation, asset protection, incapacity, business succession and the efficient transfer of property to beneficiaries.

In fact, for many families, income-tax planning may be more important than estate-tax planning.

5. Don’t Let Tax Avoidance Become the Only Objective

Estate planning strategies should be evaluated as part of the family’s entire financial picture.

For example, gifting appreciated assets during life can sometimes reduce the size of an estate, but doing so may also transfer the donor’s cost basis to the recipient. Assets held until death may receive different basis treatment under current federal tax law.

Similarly, converting traditional retirement assets to Roth accounts may reduce future tax exposure for heirs, but it can create a significant current income-tax obligation for the account owner.

There is rarely one strategy that is automatically right for everyone.

The goal should be to coordinate estate taxes, income taxes, investment strategy, retirement income and family objectives rather than optimizing one area while unintentionally creating a problem somewhere else.

6. Planning for Today’s Families

Modern families frequently require more sophisticated estate planning than previous generations.

Second marriages, blended families, unmarried partners, adult children, grandchildren and family members with different financial circumstances can make a simple “leave everything to my spouse and then the children” approach inadequate.

Consider questions such as:

• Should a surviving spouse receive assets outright or through a trust?
• How will children from previous relationships be protected?
• Are guardianship provisions still appropriate for minor children?
• Should an inheritance be protected from a beneficiary’s creditors or potential divorce?
• Does a beneficiary need assistance managing money?
• Should assets remain in trust rather than being distributed immediately?
• Are there family members who should—or should not—serve as trustee or executor?

The legal documents should reflect the family you have today, not the family structure that existed when the documents were originally drafted.

7. Business Owners Need an Estate Plan and a Continuity Plan

For business owners, estate planning involves another critical asset: the business itself.

A business may represent a substantial percentage of an owner’s net worth while simultaneously being one of the family’s least liquid assets.

Business owners should consider:

Who operates the company if I unexpectedly become incapacitated?

Who owns the business after my death?

Does the person inheriting the business actually want to run it?

Is there a current buy-sell agreement?

How would a buyout be funded?

When was the business last valued?

Are key employees or partners prepared for an unexpected transition?

An estate plan that successfully transfers ownership but leaves nobody prepared to operate the company may not adequately protect the family’s wealth.

Succession and continuity planning should therefore be coordinated with the owner’s personal estate and financial plan.

8. Plan for Incapacity, Not Just Death

Estate planning discussions naturally focus on death, but incapacity can create an equally serious financial problem.

Someone may be alive for many years while being unable to manage investments, pay bills, operate a business, make medical decisions or handle increasingly complicated digital financial accounts.

A comprehensive plan should therefore address:

• Financial powers of attorney
• Health care decision-making
• Long-term-care funding
• Trust management during incapacity
• Access to important financial records
• Digital accounts and passwords
• Online banking and investment accounts
• Cryptocurrency and other digital assets, when applicable

The objective is simple: If you could no longer manage your affairs tomorrow, would the people helping you know what to do?

9. Make Sure Your Assets Are Titled Correctly

Creating a trust does not automatically mean that assets have been transferred into it.

This distinction can be critical.

Real estate, brokerage accounts, bank accounts and other property may need to be titled or otherwise coordinated with the estate plan. Other assets, particularly retirement accounts, generally require beneficiary designations rather than simply changing ownership.

This is an area where coordination among your estate attorney, tax professional and financial advisor can be particularly valuable.

The legal documents and the financial accounts need to tell the same story.

10. Talk to Your Family

Some estate disputes occur because the legal documents are unclear. Others occur because family members are completely surprised by what those documents say.

You do not necessarily need to disclose every dollar of your net worth, but consider making sure the appropriate people know:

• Who will serve as executor or trustee
• Who holds financial and medical powers of attorney
• Where important documents are located
• Which financial institutions and professional advisors should be contacted
• The general structure and purpose of the estate plan

Communication today can eliminate significant confusion later.

AtlanticMidwest’s 2026 Estate Planning Checklist

As you review your financial plan in 2026, ask yourself:

Have my family circumstances changed?

Are my will and trust still current?

Are my beneficiaries correct on every retirement and insurance account?

Have I named contingent beneficiaries?

Are my assets titled consistently with my estate plan?

Do my financial and health care powers of attorney still name the right people?

Have I considered the tax consequences of the retirement assets my beneficiaries may inherit?

Does my plan address incapacity as well as death?

If I own a business, is there a succession and continuity plan?

Would my spouse or children know what to do if something happened to me tomorrow?

If any of those questions creates uncertainty, it may be time for an estate planning review.

The AtlanticMidwest Perspective

At AtlanticMidwest Investment Research, we view estate planning as one component of comprehensive financial planning.

Our role is not to replace your estate planning attorney or tax professional. Rather, we help clients examine how their investments, retirement accounts, beneficiary designations, income strategy and long-term financial objectives coordinate with the estate plan their legal and tax professionals develop.

The best estate plan is not simply a set of documents stored in a drawer. It is a coordinated strategy connecting your legal documents with the assets you actually own and the people you want those assets to protect.

2026 is an excellent time to make sure those pieces still fit together.

AtlanticMidwest Investment Research, LLC is a registered investment adviser. This material is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered individualized legal or tax advice. Estate planning and tax laws are complex and may vary by jurisdiction and individual circumstances. Clients should consult qualified legal and tax professionals regarding their specific situation.