Where is the Estate Planning Profession Going?
This commentary will address the issue of the estate planning opportunities for younger
estate planning attorneys and whether those opportunities are diminishing. While the
focus of this commentary is on estate planning attorneys, many of the issues discussed in
this commentary apply equally to other estate planning professionals.
The estate planning profession continues to change as tax rules change and our culture
evolves. But the truth of Ben Franklin’s insightful comment remains no matter what
Congress does or how the demographics change:
"'In this world nothing can be said to be
certain, except death and taxes."
Taxes are always going to be a part of the estate
planning process. While estate taxes will not govern estate planning as much as they have
over the last several decades, the expanding deficit increases the possibility of new taxes
in the future. As George Harrison noted in his 1966 song ‘
Taxman” (written when he
realized that his revenue was subject to a 95% super-tax), the government will always
find a way to collect its “fair share”:
