WHAT WE DO
Estate Planning
Estate planning is about making sure what you've built ends up where you intend.
Most people think it starts and ends with a will or a trust. Those documents matter, but they’re only part of the picture. Your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities all have beneficiary designations that pass outside the will. Your financial plan and your estate documents need to be in sync, or gaps will show up that nobody catches until it’s too late.
Heritage Wealth Solutions coordinates with your attorney to make sure the financial plan and the estate plan line up. We’re not an estate planning law firm and we don’t draft legal documents. We bring the financial side to the table so that your attorney can build documents that reflect the full picture.
How We Can Help
Coordinated Estate Planning
Your financial advisor and your attorney should be working from the same playbook. We address the small, yet crucial details like: how you’ve titled your accounts, who you’ve named as beneficiary, how you’ve funded your trusts, and how you’ve structured distributions. When these pieces don't line up, it creates exactly the kind of mess that estate planning is supposed to prevent.
Gifting Strategies
Annual exclusion gifts, lifetime exemption planning, and intergenerational wealth transfers each have their own rules and opportunities. The question isn't just how much to give, but when and how. That's why we help you structure gifts in a way that's tax-aware and aligned with what your family needs.
Trust Planning
Trusts come in many forms and serve different purposes. For example, some help manage how you distribute wealth to beneficiaries over time. Others can help reduce exposure to estate taxes or provide income during your lifetime. We help you understand which structures fit your situation and create the financial plan to support what the trust needs to do.
Beneficiary Review
This is one of the most overlooked parts of estate planning. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and annuities override whatever your will says. So, if a former spouse, a deceased parent, or an outdated trust still shows up as a beneficiary, assets may not go where you intend.
We review designations as part of the planning process and, for families building generational wealth, help facilitate conversations about who inherits what, when they get access, and how to talk about it without creating tension.
Related Services
Charitable Giving
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Tax Strategy
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Retirement Planning
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The right planning makes a real difference.
Your legacy is built one decision at a time. The plan should reflect what you actually want to happen.
When you’re ready to make sure it does, we’re here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Heritage Wealth Solutions write estate documents like wills and trusts?
No. We work alongside your attorney to make sure your estate plan and your financial plan work together. We focus on beneficiary review, gifting strategy, trust funding, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks between the legal documents and the financial accounts.
How often should I review my estate plan?
At minimum, after any major life event: marriage, divorce, birth of a child or grandchild, death of a spouse, a significant change in assets, or a move to a new state. Even without a triggering event, a review every three to five years helps catch gaps.
What is a beneficiary review and why does it matter?
A beneficiary review checks who you’ve named on your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities. These designations override your will. So, if they’re outdated, assets may not go where you intended.
Do I need a financial advisor for estate planning?
An estate planning attorney drafts the legal documents. A financial advisor makes sure your financial accounts, beneficiary designations, and overall plan support what those documents are designed to do. Heritage coordinates both sides so nothing falls through the cracks
Does Arizona have an estate tax?
No. Arizona has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. Federal estate tax still applies, but the current exemption is $15 million per individual, so most estates aren’t affected.
Where it gets tricky is if you own real property in a state that does have an estate tax. Twelve states and D.C. currently impose one, and some have much lower thresholds. Oregon’s kicks in at $1 million. Massachusetts is $2 million. If you own a vacation home, rental property, or land in one of those states, that property could be subject to their estate tax even though you live in Arizona. How the property is titled matters too. In some cases, holding out-of-state property through an LLC or trust can reduce that exposure, but that’s a conversation for your estate planning attorney.
This is one of the reasons Heritage coordinates between your financial plan and your legal documents. We help make sure the ownership structures and beneficiary designations line up with what your attorney is building.
