November 19, 2025 • 31 mins
If you’ve been punting your estate planning all year, this is your wake-up call. In this episode, I bring in Griffin Bridgers—a recovering attorney who lives in this space—to tear down the myths and get you moving before the holidays eat your calendar. We get real about why estate planning slips to the bottom of the list: nobody wants to think about death, and everybody swears they’ll “get to it later.” Later rarely comes.
We start with basics that most people still miss: your will’s validity, witness requirements, and why “perfect is the enemy of good.” Get the core documents done, then build the habit of revisiting them as your life changes—because it will. Your family changes. Your relationships change. Your appointees change. Set-and-forget is a fantasy. Review is the job.
Then we crack open the myths: “The bank has my beneficiary, so I’m covered” (no, that’s not a plan), and “my attorney has the originals, so I don’t need to track anything” (do your people even know how to reach that attorney—or if they’re still practicing?). This is where good intentions die and heirs get stuck.
Business owners—this one’s for you. Your buy-sell is not a checkbox. It’s a minefield of human behavior, valuation drift, liquidity shortfalls, “I’m done working but still own 50%” scenarios, and spouses who don’t agree with your sweetheart deal. If you don’t define the rules, a judge will.
Griffin’s core punchline is simple: death is never easy, but you can make it easier. Start with the “who” and the “how.” Review your will, trusts, POAs, and—crucially—the people you’ve named. Educate them on their roles. Create an instruction manual so someone can actually run the playbook when you’re gone. Then get your corporate docs in one place, with minutes and filings current. Organize first. Then review. Then fix.
Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/7ZRs0r_XCVs
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Griffin Bridgers (00:22):
Well then it's time.
Stoy Hall (00:29):
As it's about to be Halloween, right?
It's gonna be all of the holidayseasons, and I just crashed
everything in the holidayseason.
So it's always important.
Everyone does a checkup, right?
Whether we do our financialcheckups, our health checkups,
checkup with their family, etcetera.
But there's one that doesn't gettalked about a lot.
I know you talk about all thetime, Griffin.
Um, but.
(00:49):
It's the estate side of thingswith your estate plan, you're,
you're checking up on that andit's very important to get that
started in, in Q4.
So let's dive right into thattopic and, and kind of talk
about exactly what we wanted toget through.
And that is.
Why does your estate planning orsuccession planning, any of
those things as business ownersand individuals always slip
(01:11):
through the cracks and kind ofbe like the last thing that
anyone thinks about in any givenyear?
Griffin Bridgers (01:16):
I think mainly because it's the last thing you
do wanna think about because,uh, you know, death is the last
thing on anybody's mind.
We all know we're gonna liveforever.
Or at least in our mind, it'snot something we're worried
about at any given momentthere's much bigger fish to fry.
So it's something that's usuallynot top of mind for the average
person.
And I think, you know, part ofthe problem with the estate
(01:38):
planning industry is we've, uh,we've cast that reality.
In a light of shame.
But if that's, if that's whatdescribes you, you're, you're
actually in good company.
I'm here to meet you where youare today.
And yeah, I'm not thinking aboutit day to day and I do this for
a living, so I certainly don'texpect you to be doing the same.
Stoy Hall (01:57):
Do you find around this time that people ask more
questions around their estateplanning or succession planning
as well, just because it is theholiday season, they're around
their family more and they'retrying to do planning for the
next year?
Griffin Bridgers (02:09):
Yeah, a little bit.
Uh, you know, there, there'soften, you know, a saying that
some of the best estate planningis done around the Thanksgiving
table, um, or sometimes theworst estate planning is done
there, but at the same time,more often, um, what I've seen
in recent years is that tax lawchanges.
The threat of it has driven alot of, um, urgency where the
(02:30):
concern isn't necessarily aboutthe estate plan itself.
It's can we do some, uh, bandaidtype of planning now to shore up
some benefits we might lose at
Stoy Hall (02:40):
year end.
And what would you say toeveryone listening right now
going, well, should I haven'tdone my estate plan ever, or I
haven't looked at it in 10years?
What do you say to them aboutlike the importance of getting,
at least it checked up on aroundthis time?
I think the
Griffin Bridgers (02:55):
biggest thing is defining what estate planning
means, and everybody kind ofthinks, okay, that question goes
hand in hand with the biggerissues, which are important, you
know, don't get me wrong, but doyou have a will?
You have maybe a revocableliving trust.
Have you done powers of attorneyin a living will?
All of those are importantdocuments, and if you haven't
(03:17):
gotten them done, I'd encourageyou to look into it.
And I think, um, I always liketo tell people, perfect is the
enemy of good.
When you go through that processand get those vital documents
done, it doesn't mean that's theend of the road.
And the expectation is that yourcircumstances are gonna change.
Your life is gonna change.
Your family dynamics are gonnachange.
(03:37):
And the people you name in thosedocuments, your relationships
with them and their ownsituations are gonna change.
So as much as we would love tosay that, we can set it and
forget it.
Uh, the reality is that even ifyou do the work now and get.
The vital documents in place,revisiting them is gonna be very
(03:58):
important.
So I think the good news forthose of you who haven't done
it, is that you're really noworse off than somebody who did
it many, many, many years ago.
And their situation iscompletely changed, and what
they've done is no longer, youknow, suitable to their
situation.
And I think that's the biggerpicture of why we're discussing
this today, that as much as wewould love to just think about
(04:19):
death once and get it done, nothave to worry about it again.
We're, we're still gonna haveto, to pull that up every once
in a while.
And that's a lot of the work Ido is kind of creating that
habit of, you know, on thoserare occasions when you can kind
of motivate yourself to, ah,it's like pulling teeth.
I don't wanna do this, but I'llgive it some attention now.
Uh, what, what can weeffectively do during those
(04:39):
windows of time?
Stoy Hall (04:41):
Yeah, and we'll dive into that deeper as we, as we
go.
But let's get into segment two,which is my favorite, and that's
we're talking about what societyand media.
Media are saying.
Maybe a little myth busting hereas we go.
So here's the first one, and itkind of alludes to what we were
just talking about a little bit,but my will from years ago and
is completely fine.
I don't need to update anything.
Griffin Bridgers (05:00):
I mean, I, I, I've seen wills of all shapes
and forms and, uh, you know,some of them have pages missing.
Some of them haven't beenexecuted correctly.
And I think the, the, the bigpicture is even if you have a
will from years ago, you may noteven know whether it was done
correctly.
Um, you know, it, it's a common.
Outcome.
I see.
And you know, again, if this isyou, you know, no shame.
(05:23):
But, uh, oftentimes you mighthave an attorney or an online
service prepare the document.
Then it kind of comes home andsit lives in your drawer until
you get around to saying, okay,I'm finally ready to sign this.
Thing.
Let's go get that done.
Well, for a will, for example,you have to get it signed in
front of at least two witnesses,usually, sometimes even a
(05:43):
notary.
And more often than not, itdoesn't matter what's in the
terms of that will, you couldhave done the best job in the
world.
To think through and make this ameaningful document.
But if you don't have naileddown those two witness
signatures and possibly thenotary signature even that will
you did many, many years ago maynot be effective.
(06:04):
So it's the small things likethat that go into it.
And like I said, you know, youcould have a will where your,
your kids were, you know,infants at the time and you
named guardians and you have acomprehensive trust structure
for them.
And now they're.
Adults self-sufficient.
They have their own kids youmight wanna provide for.
Your dynamics have changed atthat point and the old will no
(06:24):
longer really suits yoursituation.
Stoy Hall (06:27):
Absolutely.
This one's a fun one becauseeveryone loves banks and, uh,
this is probably for the oldergeneration.
'cause they, they just trust thebank with everything.
But, and all be all, here's thenext one.
The bank has my beneficiary, soI'm covered.
I don't need, I don't need awill or, or estate stuff.
They've got my beneficiaries.
Griffin Bridgers (06:45):
Well,
Stoy Hall (06:45):
couple
Griffin Bridgers (06:46):
issues with that.
One, do you truly know that theyhave your beneficiaries?
Um, you know, if, if you're usedto working with bank personnel,
you'll know how often they canmake mistakes.
And how often you can tell themto do something and they never
follow through on it.
So you may think they have yourbeneficiaries, but without
confirming that first andforemost you don't necessarily
(07:09):
know and, and again, too, thisbecomes an issue where if they
have your beneficiaries, maybethat's not the suitable
recipient.
I think sometimes there's adifference between picking and
choosing different assets togive to people versus looking at
your balance sheet as a wholeand saying, okay, I want a
certain dollar value.
Or percent to go to thesepeople?
(07:29):
Well, the two concepts don'tmarry up well, especially when
you start using beneficiarydesignations and you're losing
opportunities for a little morethoughtful planning around that
and what that entails.
So, you know, they, they soundgood on paper, but they're not
always the best when workingthrough.
The estate settlement process.
Not to mention, whatever yourbank has, doesn't necessarily
(07:52):
apply to all the other assetsyou have proactively.
Stoy Hall (07:55):
I was just about to say that.
Yeah.
What about your car, your otherassets?
That, that, that's not alwaysgonna be there at the bank, just
because you have it written downfor this account does not
automatically, uh, includeeverything else.
Um, as a former attorneyyourself, how about this one?
My attorney has it on file, so Idon't, I don't need to keep
copies myself.
Griffin Bridgers (08:13):
Well, your attorney might have your
documents on file, but, uh.
Do your loved ones know that theattorney has those documents on
file?
Do they know how to reach theattorney?
And importantly, is the attorneyeven still practicing?
You know there, there's allsorts of situations where
recovering attorneys like mehave left practice and usually I
(08:33):
make sure my clients have theoriginal'cause.
If I'm not there anymore, whoare they gonna call?
Now I have a firm behind me thatthey can call up, but you know,
there's lots of solo attorneysout there who have retired and
you have no idea what happenedto your documents.
They may have sent a letter butmay not, may have gone to the
wrong address or whatever.
In some states, like here inColorado, they've shorted up
where when you're retiring,technically you can.
(08:55):
Send a will to the Secretary ofState and they store it and keep
a record there.
But if you don't know aboutthat, um, you know, access is a
huge issue.
So just because you think yourattorney still has it, doesn't
mean they necessarily still do.
Stoy Hall (09:10):
And this one's not on topic.
Just my own question here is howlong do attorneys need to keep
things like that?
Like how long is the recordholding for I a will or a trust
or something
Griffin Bridgers (09:21):
like that?
I think it varies by state.
And a lot of attorneys will say,okay, we will store your
documents, but every seven yearsor 21 years or whatever, we.
Revisit this and reach out toyou.
And I think the issue is, yeah,if you've moved, the attorney
can only send something to lastknown address.
And I know at least in Colorado,like I said, you know, there's a
(09:41):
backup procedure where if you'rean attorney in that situation, I
can't find my client.
Um, I can't get them.
Their last will here, we'll sendit to a secretary of state or a
court.
Where, you know, we last knewthe client to live, and even
then courts are kind of gettingoverwhelmed by the amounts of
Will, so they don't always take'em anymore either.
Stoy Hall (10:01):
Interesting.
Interesting.
Hmm.
Yeah.
I, I assumed it goes state bystate states, like, like dog.
Mm-hmm.
Things.
Yeah.
Alright.
Last one.
In, in this segment, and thisone is interesting because, and
I'm gonna prelude it with, Iactually have told clients like,
Hey.
We'll handle the buy sell at adifferent time and it's just
because of the information onhand.
Uh, a lot of overwhelming movingparts.
(10:23):
You just kind of have some,sometimes start the business.
So whatever you're gonna say.
I'm also on the side that I'vedone this before.
So this one is saying, we'llhandle the buy sell later for
our business.
Let's just get going andoperational.
What do you say to that?
Griffin Bridgers (10:36):
I mean, I think it's a good approach.
There's only so much you can doat once, and I think the more
you can give your attentionright now, the better.
But, um.
It, it's a double-edged swordbecause if you decide to do a
bunch of stuff now yourdocuments plus your buy sell and
you're willing to just skatethrough and say, okay, um, just
(10:57):
check the default boxes on thebuy sell just for the sake of
getting a document done.
It may not fit your situationand buy cells are for better or
worse, a lot more complicatedand there's a lot more.
Um, choices that go into that,then a lot of clients give
credence to.
So being thoughtful about thatprocess, even if it means
perhaps waiting until a laterdate, can sometimes create a, a
(11:21):
better outcome.
Now note, I'm using terms likebetter and not best, you know,
in some situations it's justhard to know.
I mean, everybody is in a raceagainst time, and I always cite,
uh, I, I forget which coach itwas, uh, who said, um, we didn't
lose.
We just ran outta time.
And that's really the outcomefor most estate plans.
It's just maximizing the timeyou have on this earth to get as
(11:43):
much pre-planning as you candone.
And you know, for better orworse, sometimes you just run
outta time.
Stoy Hall (11:48):
Let's couple that new segment being your point of
view, where we get to dive intoyour brain even more.
So I want to hit upon the buy,sell stuff too.
Um, as business owners, when wehave partners, that's usually
when the buy sells come intoplay.
The most.
You said it's.
Potentially more complex thanuh, uh, you know, your normal
will and trust.
Why is that?
Why is there more complexitywhen it comes to a buy sell?
(12:11):
Because mostly when everyonethinks of it, they're like, oh,
if I die or get disabled, like,you know, you give my family
money and you get shares.
Like it's simple, right?
Mm-hmm.
Talk to you a little more of thecomplexities that go.
Griffin Bridgers (12:23):
Yeah, and I think really the, the issue I
see oftentimes is whether youeven know you have a buy, sell
to begin with.
There's different forms ofentities, and especially if you
go to an attorney and have themdraft up like an LLC operating
agreement or a partnershipagreement, sometimes there'll be
buy, sell language baked intothat and it'll be the defaults.
And if you just received thedocument and said, oh, this
(12:44):
looks good and checked it off,and you and your business
partner signed, then you mayneed, may not even know what's
in there.
So that can come as a surpriseto begin with.
Uh, the other issues tend to bethat, you know, there's
triggering events in a buy selland being thoughtful about those
is important.
You, you know, you mentioned thedeath, disability, things of
that nature, but, you know,obviously death is clear cut,
(13:05):
but disability, how do youdefine that?
Uh, you could even have aretirement or termination for
cause and without Cause.
What do you do if, um, you havea partner who one day says, Hey,
I'm just gonna quit working.
Because I own 50% of this, youstill have to keep paying me.
Um, if the buy sell doesn'taddress that, guess what you're
going to court to figure thatout.
(13:26):
So, you know, it's reallythinking through those, uh,
issues of human behavior where,um, your business partner you
trust, but you don't have itclearly mapped out.
Sometimes trust and outcomesaren't worth coloring in between
the lines.
It's better to map this out inadvance.
You brought up the,
Stoy Hall (13:46):
the most important part about buy sells and it's
the not easy stuff, right?
Disability can get complex, butkind of can be more clear cut.
Obviously death is very clearcut, but those nuances that
happen in partnerships, right?
Mm-hmm.
People change as things go.
We all are changing and adaptingand, and growing into our own
(14:06):
self, but you add now zeros tothat.
You add age to that, you, youadd life experiences and I think
there's a lot of opportunitiesthere that people don't think
could happen.
Agree.
Could pop up.
Yeah, I don't wanna work, andyou're still gonna make the
business run and operate, right?
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know what, and, and someof these I'll see is I, I want
(14:26):
my spouse, I want someone elseinvolved even more heavily,
right?
Yep.
Or I wanna leave it to thisperson.
Even though that even thetypical buy sell typically
doesn't have that some I've seenwhere the partners are like,
yeah, we'll just leave it to ourstate.
It's fine.
They'll, they'll take care of itand run it.
One of'em doesn't like the otherspouse, one of'em doesn't like
the other's child.
Uh, you, you know, all theplethora of things.
(14:49):
So it's very important thateveryone listening, like you
actually ask all thosequestions.
Mm-hmm.
You either have an attorney askthose questions, uh, you know,
you just walk through with yourbusiness partner planner like
me, or or Griffin coach, likeyou guys, like doing that is so
important because thosequestions you won't think of,
'cause you're excited, you'regetting your business going,
you're thinking about all theoptimism and all those good
(15:10):
things.
Mm-hmm.
And it's our job to come in andbe like.
Great.
Love that.
What if, what if, what if, whatif?
Griffin Bridgers (15:17):
Yeah.
And value and liquidity are twohuge other huge issues that you
know, that hey, you and yourpartner may agree, oh yeah,
we're gonna give each other asweetheart deal, but your estate
may not agree.
Your spouse may not agree tothat.
You're gonna end up fighting.
Or you, you do this when thebusiness is young and you think
it's worth 500,000, then one ofyou dies when it's worth a
hundred million.
(15:37):
If you've never updated thatvalue, you're in a bad
situation.
If the value is updated and youdon't have the liquidity to buy
out a partner, that's its ownissue too.
You're hamstring the businessthen.
Stoy Hall (15:48):
Absolutely.
And then the business fails andno one wins.
So that's not a great thingeither.
Alright.
What are, where do you see thebiggest failures, um, in some
real cases you've dealt withwhen people are either doing a
succession planning or, or doingtheir estate planning?
What are some of the biggestfailures you've seen?
Griffin Bridgers (16:04):
I think some of the biggest failures are a
failure to appreciate, um.
The assets and the dynamics ofthe family.
Um, you know, we're talkingabout business interests.
So, uh, again, we get that areyou active in the business
versus are you sitting back andwaiting for a paycheck While
both owners are there, they'rewilling to put in sweat equity
and crank all the profits backinto the business.
(16:26):
Well, once one of you is gone,that dynamic changes.
If there's not a buyout, if youwant this to pass on as a legacy
asset to your heirs, well guesswhat?
They're gonna wanna see somereturn from the business, and if
they're not, they're gonna wantto come and blow things up.
So keeping that in mind is veryimportant that, um, oftentimes
an estate planning is really aprojection of the way you would
(16:48):
do things, whereas you fail toappreciate how others might do
things and how they mightrespond.
So beyond that too, I think oneof the biggest failures is just,
um, not doing the heavy lifting.
Like if you have a business, uh,where are the accounts?
Who co-signs?
How can you access the vitalinformation?
What lives in your head that youknow and can quickly access to
(17:12):
do your job day to day and runthe business that someone
stepping into your shoes isabsolutely not going to have and
is gonna take hours to piecetogether on their own, assuming
they even can
Stoy Hall (17:24):
agree.
I agree to those.
What are um.
So now everyone's listeninggoing, oh boy.
Um, I got a lot to think about.
I'm feeling a certain way.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Like with that anxiety, which isa good thing, by the way,
people.
Yep.
But what are some, I guess,practical things that people can
think about and go, okay, now Ineed to get going, right.
I need to, I need to, mm-hmm.
(17:45):
Start now.
What would be that like firststep or two steps that they need
to do now that
Griffin Bridgers (17:49):
they're listening?
Well, I mean, I think thebiggest thing for me is, yeah,
you can visit a professional toget the documents done, but it
helps to think a little bit inadvance about what you actually
want to do.
Oftentimes you'll have clientscome in and say, okay, we want
estate planning.
Okay, great.
If you've given any thought towhat your estate plan looks like
or who will benefit, who's incharge of carrying out your
(18:11):
instructions?
And uh, the answer is often no.
Um, what do your other clientsdo?
And it's funny'cause you know,this is something that you can
truly own.
Uh, but a lot of peoplepassively participate and say,
okay, it's up to myprofessionals and advisors to
make those decisions for me, orto make suggestions that really
(18:32):
then end up passing asdecisions.
And ultimately this is somethingfor you to be proud of, your
legacy.
And, you know, for better orworse, it's something where I
think mindset is the mostimportant starting point.
If anything, it's not somethingyou have to do.
It's something you get to do,and I think a lot of people just
(18:53):
don't act because they don'tthink they deserve that good of
a legacy, which I'm here to tellyou today, you're wrong.
You deserve to leave a greatmemory of your time on Earth.
And even if you want to do that,um, that legacy is eroded by
your failure to do the work now.
So.
Even if it means eating theelephant one bite at a time,
(19:15):
that means, hey, doing littlesteps now aggregates and is
better over time than justwaiting and trying to maybe get
motivated to do everything inone swoop and then forgetting it
for 20 years and never touchingit again and again, as we
mentioned at the beginning,having that be probably as bad
in some cases as having donenothing to begin with.
Stoy Hall (19:36):
Right.
Point you just made about likethe mindset and, and the, the
emotions behind leaving yourlegacy.
Something that we hear about allthe time is one cost, duh, that
comes up all the time.
And two saying, I don't evenhave enough assets or anything
to have a legacy.
What, what do you say to that?
I got some thoughts on that, butwhat do you say to that when
(19:56):
people say the one of those twothings?
Well, I mean.
Griffin Bridgers (20:01):
No matter how simple you think your situation
is, um, you rarely leave asimple outcome for your heirs.
And I, I've really started tospend a lot of time on, even if
you have a couple major assets,there's things that you can
shore up given your time onEarth right now that are gonna
make things really easy.
So, just because you think yoursituation is simple, because you
(20:24):
have the head knowledge to stepin at a moment's notice and
settle everything.
That doesn't mean somebodystepping into your shoes would
think the same.
So the more advanced work youcan do now to say, okay, I think
my situation is simple.
Can I.
Give that simplicity to somebodyelse, um, the, the better off
(20:45):
you're gonna be.
So really, I, you know, that'show I've started to reframe
estate planning is that yeah, ifjust because you think it's
simple doesn't mean somebody canstep into your shoes to do that,
but you can make it simple forthem.
And, you know, my tagline hasbecome, death is never easy, but
you can make it easier.
Stoy Hall (21:02):
I love that, love that tagline.
'cause it's not easy.
Um, been through it with mymother and my grandmother
recently and it's like there areso many moving parts, even
though we had plans put inplace.
Mm-hmm.
There's still so much that needsto be done, both physically, but
also emotionally.
'cause you're grieving.
Yep.
Right.
Like that's the part.
Me as the, as the one who isdying.
(21:23):
I don't think about it all thetime, is like, yeah, I think
it's simple.
But then you add in this, thestress, the anxiety, the, the
grieving and things getcomplicated pretty quick.
Agreed.
Pretty quick.
Uh, based upon your knowledge ofeverything that's moving parts
of this year, is there anythingpeople need to prioritize or
think about changing, um, priorto December 31st of this year?
Griffin Bridgers (21:43):
Well, I think the good news is we've gotten a,
a reprieve from the tax side.
So if you are in that high networth strata where you are
worried about making lifetimegifts and trying to shore those
up before year end, you have alittle more bit more wiggle room
now.
Now we have a permanent, uh,estate tax exemption that's
gonna go up to 15 million.
In 2026, it's gonna continue tobe indexed for inflation from
(22:07):
then on.
And most importantly, there's nolooming sunset where it's
guaranteed under law to go downby one half or something at some
point in the future, like wethought was going to happen at
the end of this year.
So.
We don't, we no longer have thaturgency.
So now you can be a little bitmore intentional about planning
without letting the text hailwag the dog.
(22:29):
So I think there are stillcompelling reasons to do good
planning.
Now, obviously the planning fordeath.
Is vital.
Uh, making sure you havedocuments that address what's
gonna happen at your passing andeven creating a plan that you
can easily update in the future.
And we talked about wills.
A lot of people now userevocable living trust.
(22:52):
So even if you have a will,maybe a good idea to.
To pivot to that type of planbecause that witnessing
requirement and everything Italked about, in most states,
you don't run into that withyour revocable living trust.
It's much easier to change itsterms or even completely replace
the instrument keeping the sametrust name, even maybe with just
a notary signature, so itcreates a little bit more
(23:12):
flexibility.
In your planning moving forwardand a a vital component of any
estate plan, I always like tosay we're answering two
questions.
Who and how, but who is at thecenter of that?
How means nothing withoutaddressing who.
So I think it's important torevisit maybe even annually, the
people you name to differentroles in your documents.
(23:34):
You've got executors under yourwill, but you also have trustees
under a revocable, revocableliving trust.
Agents or attorneys, in fact,under powers of attorney to make
decisions for you.
Pulling those out and figuringout who they are and giving'em a
second look and saying, Hey, isthis person still suitable?
I think it's vitally important'cause oftentimes we'll have a,
a friend from long ago we'venamed and we've since had a
(23:56):
falling out with them.
We don't like them anymore.
They're posting some goofy stuffonline and we don't trust them
to handle our family's moneyanymore.
So, you know, really thinkingthrough those types of
relationships, I think isimportant.
And then making the rightupdates to your documents to
change those roles around asneeded.
Stoy Hall (24:15):
Yeah.
And he dove right into theactionable steps.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna stealthat and say the first
actionable step is to review.
Your documents, review who'sinvolved, like you had said,
between power of attorneys,executors, trustees, you name
it.
And another step there is notonly to review who they are,
review it with them so they knowtheir role.
(24:35):
I've seen it a lot where theydon't remember their role.
They didn't remember that theywere gonna be that person.
Right.
Um, especially if you did this10 years ago or five years ago,
or you're young.
Some of us don't know what thatrole intent en entails.
I would take it a step furthertoo and educate them on what it
means.
Right.
Some people just say, I'll doit.
I'll take care of you no matterwhat.
(24:56):
But they don't know what itmeans to be a trustee or an
exec.
Mm-hmm.
And those roles are not easyand, and in some states I would,
I, let me back up.
I'll let you answer this, but Ibelieve in some states they're
required to be paid too, to bein those positions between some
estates.
And if you don't tell them that,you don't tell your family that
there's gonna be another RIFthere as
Griffin Bridgers (25:18):
well.
Exactly, and I think thedocuments we've talked about so
far are ones you need to lean onan attorney to do things like
wills and trust and powers ofattorney.
For the most part, those aregonna be directions to another
attorney or a judge or a court.
But there's a lot you can do interms of.
Interpersonal communication andmaking your wishes known, for
example, instruction manuals.
(25:39):
And if you really wanna deepenthat relationship with your
attorney or an advisor, it's amatter of, okay, I, I, I, I've
done the work here to get thebase documents in place.
I wanna take things to the nextlevel now.
So what can we do here to makesure there is no question about
what somebody's authority is orwhat they need to do.
Or the timeframe or Or where theskeletons lie so they can jump
(26:02):
in and do the job instantlywithout delay.
Stoy Hall (26:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
What would you say businessowners must review, right?
We just talked about individualsa little bit, but what should
business owners review right nowand what should be their first
step once they've done thereview?
Griffin Bridgers (26:19):
I think really business owners, it helps not
only with your buy sell, but ifit's separate, your company
agreement, your partnershipagreement, to pull those out
every year and just give them afresh look.
And I know it's light, it's notlight reading, it's not fun to
do.
Um, so we, we live in an agewhere any attorney should be
competent to provide you asummary of, of what that says.
(26:41):
You know, really the draftingattorney should have done that
up.
Front.
And if they haven't maybe asked,Hey, are you willing to do this?
And you know, for better orworse, a lot of'em can run up
through an AI search enginenowadays if we're being real.
And then, you know, updatethings, you know, supposedly as
they should.
Um, but I'd say making sure youare comfortable with the current
(27:01):
governance structure.
I think with business ownerstoo, compliance becomes a big
thing that depending on yourform of business and the state
you're operating in, uh, youknow, you have Secretary of
State.
Filings, but you also havemeeting minutes and things of
that nature that might berequired under law.
Making sure those are up to dateand part of your corporate file
(27:22):
and organization I think isimportant for any business owner
that, um, you know.
In terms of all these governingdocuments we've talked about,
perhaps the simplest questionis, do you know where all of
them are?
We talked about where your willis located, but is there a
central file for a businessowner or the secretary of a
(27:43):
business to pull out everything,be able to provide it at a
moment's notice?
Often the answer is no.
So sometimes it's just a matterof, okay, we're gonna get.
Our stuff together this year andfocus on making sure we have a
comprehensive guide of everydocument that affects how we run
our business and govern it andmake sure it's in the same
(28:03):
place, you know, whether it's inpaper or store digitally or
both.
So anybody you know, whetherit's us, a partner, a, an
advisor, or somebody after ourpassing can look under the hood
and know exactly what's goingon.
Stoy Hall (28:17):
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
And that would probably be thebest next step for everyone.
Absolutely.
Just first get organized and putit all together.
Mm-hmm.
Then do it right and that it'sgonna take time.
Don't, don't get me wrong, weall go through these as well.
Like it takes time to find it.
Yeah.
It takes time to remember whereto put it and then to write it
down to be like, okay, this iswhere all our stuff is.
Yeah.
So all of you listening, that'sa very good step.
(28:39):
Just get it organized, put ittogether, then the next step, go
on and, and to review it.
Yeah.
Griffin, I appreciate you andfor those, we're gonna leave a
little teaser because the nextepisode that he is on that comes
out in December, has somethingreally, really amazing and
interesting coming out that he'sbeen working on.
So fun teaser means you have tocome back to get to the next
(29:00):
episode, but I appreciateeverything that you do both for
our industry and and for biggerones like that.
So thank you again and uh, welook forward to the next one.
Looking forward to it.
Thank you everyone.
Black Mammoth (29:26):
The proceeding program was sponsored by Black
Mammoth.
Any awards, rankings, orrecognition by unaffiliated
third parties or publicationsare in no way indicative of the
advisors future performance orany individual client's
investment success.
No award ranking or recognitionshould be construed as a current
or past endorsement of blackmammoth.
(29:47):
Information regarding specificawards, rankings, or
recognitions is available on theBlack Mammoth website, www.black
mammoth.com.
All investment strategies havethe potential for profit or loss
Investment strategies such asasset allocation,
diversification, or rebalancingdo not assure or guarantee
(30:08):
better performance and cannoteliminate the risk of investment
losses.
There are no guarantees that aportfolio employing these or any
other strategy will outperform aportfolio that does not engage
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This broadcast should not beconstrued by any client or
prospective client as asolicitation to affect or
attempt to affect transactionsand securities or the rendering
(30:30):
of personalized investmentadvice due to various factors
including changing marketconditions.
The information discussed inthis broadcast may no longer be
reflective of current positionsor recommendations.
Information presented isbelieved to be factual and up to
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Black mammoth do not guaranteeits accuracy and it should not
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(30:53):
discussed.
The tax and the state planninginformation discussed is general
in nature and is provided forinformational purposes only and
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Listeners should consult anattorney or tax professional
regarding their specific legalor tax situation.
Past performance is notindicative of future results.
Well then it's time.
Stoy Hall (00:29):
As it's about to be Halloween, right?
It's gonna be all of the holidayseasons, and I just crashed
everything in the holidayseason.
So it's always important.
Everyone does a checkup, right?
Whether we do our financialcheckups, our health checkups,
checkup with their family, etcetera.
But there's one that doesn't gettalked about a lot.
I know you talk about all thetime, Griffin.
Um, but.
(00:49):
It's the estate side of thingswith your estate plan, you're,
you're checking up on that andit's very important to get that
started in, in Q4.
So let's dive right into thattopic and, and kind of talk
about exactly what we wanted toget through.
And that is.
Why does your estate planning orsuccession planning, any of
those things as business ownersand individuals always slip
(01:11):
through the cracks and kind ofbe like the last thing that
anyone thinks about in any givenyear?
Griffin Bridgers (01:16):
I think mainly because it's the last thing you
do wanna think about because,uh, you know, death is the last
thing on anybody's mind.
We all know we're gonna liveforever.
Or at least in our mind, it'snot something we're worried
about at any given momentthere's much bigger fish to fry.
So it's something that's usuallynot top of mind for the average
person.
And I think, you know, part ofthe problem with the estate
(01:38):
planning industry is we've, uh,we've cast that reality.
In a light of shame.
But if that's, if that's whatdescribes you, you're, you're
actually in good company.
I'm here to meet you where youare today.
And yeah, I'm not thinking aboutit day to day and I do this for
a living, so I certainly don'texpect you to be doing the same.
Stoy Hall (01:57):
Do you find around this time that people ask more
questions around their estateplanning or succession planning
as well, just because it is theholiday season, they're around
their family more and they'retrying to do planning for the
next year?
Griffin Bridgers (02:09):
Yeah, a little bit.
Uh, you know, there, there'soften, you know, a saying that
some of the best estate planningis done around the Thanksgiving
table, um, or sometimes theworst estate planning is done
there, but at the same time,more often, um, what I've seen
in recent years is that tax lawchanges.
The threat of it has driven alot of, um, urgency where the
(02:30):
concern isn't necessarily aboutthe estate plan itself.
It's can we do some, uh, bandaidtype of planning now to shore up
some benefits we might lose at
Stoy Hall (02:40):
year end.
And what would you say toeveryone listening right now
going, well, should I haven'tdone my estate plan ever, or I
haven't looked at it in 10years?
What do you say to them aboutlike the importance of getting,
at least it checked up on aroundthis time?
I think the
Griffin Bridgers (02:55):
biggest thing is defining what estate planning
means, and everybody kind ofthinks, okay, that question goes
hand in hand with the biggerissues, which are important, you
know, don't get me wrong, but doyou have a will?
You have maybe a revocableliving trust.
Have you done powers of attorneyin a living will?
All of those are importantdocuments, and if you haven't
(03:17):
gotten them done, I'd encourageyou to look into it.
And I think, um, I always liketo tell people, perfect is the
enemy of good.
When you go through that processand get those vital documents
done, it doesn't mean that's theend of the road.
And the expectation is that yourcircumstances are gonna change.
Your life is gonna change.
Your family dynamics are gonnachange.
(03:37):
And the people you name in thosedocuments, your relationships
with them and their ownsituations are gonna change.
So as much as we would love tosay that, we can set it and
forget it.
Uh, the reality is that even ifyou do the work now and get.
The vital documents in place,revisiting them is gonna be very
(03:58):
important.
So I think the good news forthose of you who haven't done
it, is that you're really noworse off than somebody who did
it many, many, many years ago.
And their situation iscompletely changed, and what
they've done is no longer, youknow, suitable to their
situation.
And I think that's the biggerpicture of why we're discussing
this today, that as much as wewould love to just think about
(04:19):
death once and get it done, nothave to worry about it again.
We're, we're still gonna haveto, to pull that up every once
in a while.
And that's a lot of the work Ido is kind of creating that
habit of, you know, on thoserare occasions when you can kind
of motivate yourself to, ah,it's like pulling teeth.
I don't wanna do this, but I'llgive it some attention now.
Uh, what, what can weeffectively do during those
(04:39):
windows of time?
Stoy Hall (04:41):
Yeah, and we'll dive into that deeper as we, as we
go.
But let's get into segment two,which is my favorite, and that's
we're talking about what societyand media.
Media are saying.
Maybe a little myth busting hereas we go.
So here's the first one, and itkind of alludes to what we were
just talking about a little bit,but my will from years ago and
is completely fine.
I don't need to update anything.
Griffin Bridgers (05:00):
I mean, I, I, I've seen wills of all shapes
and forms and, uh, you know,some of them have pages missing.
Some of them haven't beenexecuted correctly.
And I think the, the, the bigpicture is even if you have a
will from years ago, you may noteven know whether it was done
correctly.
Um, you know, it, it's a common.
Outcome.
I see.
And you know, again, if this isyou, you know, no shame.
(05:23):
But, uh, oftentimes you mighthave an attorney or an online
service prepare the document.
Then it kind of comes home andsit lives in your drawer until
you get around to saying, okay,I'm finally ready to sign this.
Thing.
Let's go get that done.
Well, for a will, for example,you have to get it signed in
front of at least two witnesses,usually, sometimes even a
(05:43):
notary.
And more often than not, itdoesn't matter what's in the
terms of that will, you couldhave done the best job in the
world.
To think through and make this ameaningful document.
But if you don't have naileddown those two witness
signatures and possibly thenotary signature even that will
you did many, many years ago maynot be effective.
(06:04):
So it's the small things likethat that go into it.
And like I said, you know, youcould have a will where your,
your kids were, you know,infants at the time and you
named guardians and you have acomprehensive trust structure
for them.
And now they're.
Adults self-sufficient.
They have their own kids youmight wanna provide for.
Your dynamics have changed atthat point and the old will no
(06:24):
longer really suits yoursituation.
Stoy Hall (06:27):
Absolutely.
This one's a fun one becauseeveryone loves banks and, uh,
this is probably for the oldergeneration.
'cause they, they just trust thebank with everything.
But, and all be all, here's thenext one.
The bank has my beneficiary, soI'm covered.
I don't need, I don't need awill or, or estate stuff.
They've got my beneficiaries.
Griffin Bridgers (06:45):
Well,
Stoy Hall (06:45):
couple
Griffin Bridgers (06:46):
issues with that.
One, do you truly know that theyhave your beneficiaries?
Um, you know, if, if you're usedto working with bank personnel,
you'll know how often they canmake mistakes.
And how often you can tell themto do something and they never
follow through on it.
So you may think they have yourbeneficiaries, but without
confirming that first andforemost you don't necessarily
(07:09):
know and, and again, too, thisbecomes an issue where if they
have your beneficiaries, maybethat's not the suitable
recipient.
I think sometimes there's adifference between picking and
choosing different assets togive to people versus looking at
your balance sheet as a wholeand saying, okay, I want a
certain dollar value.
Or percent to go to thesepeople?
(07:29):
Well, the two concepts don'tmarry up well, especially when
you start using beneficiarydesignations and you're losing
opportunities for a little morethoughtful planning around that
and what that entails.
So, you know, they, they soundgood on paper, but they're not
always the best when workingthrough.
The estate settlement process.
Not to mention, whatever yourbank has, doesn't necessarily
(07:52):
apply to all the other assetsyou have proactively.
Stoy Hall (07:55):
I was just about to say that.
Yeah.
What about your car, your otherassets?
That, that, that's not alwaysgonna be there at the bank, just
because you have it written downfor this account does not
automatically, uh, includeeverything else.
Um, as a former attorneyyourself, how about this one?
My attorney has it on file, so Idon't, I don't need to keep
copies myself.
Griffin Bridgers (08:13):
Well, your attorney might have your
documents on file, but, uh.
Do your loved ones know that theattorney has those documents on
file?
Do they know how to reach theattorney?
And importantly, is the attorneyeven still practicing?
You know there, there's allsorts of situations where
recovering attorneys like mehave left practice and usually I
(08:33):
make sure my clients have theoriginal'cause.
If I'm not there anymore, whoare they gonna call?
Now I have a firm behind me thatthey can call up, but you know,
there's lots of solo attorneysout there who have retired and
you have no idea what happenedto your documents.
They may have sent a letter butmay not, may have gone to the
wrong address or whatever.
In some states, like here inColorado, they've shorted up
where when you're retiring,technically you can.
(08:55):
Send a will to the Secretary ofState and they store it and keep
a record there.
But if you don't know aboutthat, um, you know, access is a
huge issue.
So just because you think yourattorney still has it, doesn't
mean they necessarily still do.
Stoy Hall (09:10):
And this one's not on topic.
Just my own question here is howlong do attorneys need to keep
things like that?
Like how long is the recordholding for I a will or a trust
or something
Griffin Bridgers (09:21):
like that?
I think it varies by state.
And a lot of attorneys will say,okay, we will store your
documents, but every seven yearsor 21 years or whatever, we.
Revisit this and reach out toyou.
And I think the issue is, yeah,if you've moved, the attorney
can only send something to lastknown address.
And I know at least in Colorado,like I said, you know, there's a
(09:41):
backup procedure where if you'rean attorney in that situation, I
can't find my client.
Um, I can't get them.
Their last will here, we'll sendit to a secretary of state or a
court.
Where, you know, we last knewthe client to live, and even
then courts are kind of gettingoverwhelmed by the amounts of
Will, so they don't always take'em anymore either.
Stoy Hall (10:01):
Interesting.
Interesting.
Hmm.
Yeah.
I, I assumed it goes state bystate states, like, like dog.
Mm-hmm.
Things.
Yeah.
Alright.
Last one.
In, in this segment, and thisone is interesting because, and
I'm gonna prelude it with, Iactually have told clients like,
Hey.
We'll handle the buy sell at adifferent time and it's just
because of the information onhand.
Uh, a lot of overwhelming movingparts.
(10:23):
You just kind of have some,sometimes start the business.
So whatever you're gonna say.
I'm also on the side that I'vedone this before.
So this one is saying, we'llhandle the buy sell later for
our business.
Let's just get going andoperational.
What do you say to that?
Griffin Bridgers (10:36):
I mean, I think it's a good approach.
There's only so much you can doat once, and I think the more
you can give your attentionright now, the better.
But, um.
It, it's a double-edged swordbecause if you decide to do a
bunch of stuff now yourdocuments plus your buy sell and
you're willing to just skatethrough and say, okay, um, just
(10:57):
check the default boxes on thebuy sell just for the sake of
getting a document done.
It may not fit your situationand buy cells are for better or
worse, a lot more complicatedand there's a lot more.
Um, choices that go into that,then a lot of clients give
credence to.
So being thoughtful about thatprocess, even if it means
perhaps waiting until a laterdate, can sometimes create a, a
(11:21):
better outcome.
Now note, I'm using terms likebetter and not best, you know,
in some situations it's justhard to know.
I mean, everybody is in a raceagainst time, and I always cite,
uh, I, I forget which coach itwas, uh, who said, um, we didn't
lose.
We just ran outta time.
And that's really the outcomefor most estate plans.
It's just maximizing the timeyou have on this earth to get as
(11:43):
much pre-planning as you candone.
And you know, for better orworse, sometimes you just run
outta time.
Stoy Hall (11:48):
Let's couple that new segment being your point of
view, where we get to dive intoyour brain even more.
So I want to hit upon the buy,sell stuff too.
Um, as business owners, when wehave partners, that's usually
when the buy sells come intoplay.
The most.
You said it's.
Potentially more complex thanuh, uh, you know, your normal
will and trust.
Why is that?
Why is there more complexitywhen it comes to a buy sell?
(12:11):
Because mostly when everyonethinks of it, they're like, oh,
if I die or get disabled, like,you know, you give my family
money and you get shares.
Like it's simple, right?
Mm-hmm.
Talk to you a little more of thecomplexities that go.
Griffin Bridgers (12:23):
Yeah, and I think really the, the issue I
see oftentimes is whether youeven know you have a buy, sell
to begin with.
There's different forms ofentities, and especially if you
go to an attorney and have themdraft up like an LLC operating
agreement or a partnershipagreement, sometimes there'll be
buy, sell language baked intothat and it'll be the defaults.
And if you just received thedocument and said, oh, this
(12:44):
looks good and checked it off,and you and your business
partner signed, then you mayneed, may not even know what's
in there.
So that can come as a surpriseto begin with.
Uh, the other issues tend to bethat, you know, there's
triggering events in a buy selland being thoughtful about those
is important.
You, you know, you mentioned thedeath, disability, things of
that nature, but, you know,obviously death is clear cut,
(13:05):
but disability, how do youdefine that?
Uh, you could even have aretirement or termination for
cause and without Cause.
What do you do if, um, you havea partner who one day says, Hey,
I'm just gonna quit working.
Because I own 50% of this, youstill have to keep paying me.
Um, if the buy sell doesn'taddress that, guess what you're
going to court to figure thatout.
(13:26):
So, you know, it's reallythinking through those, uh,
issues of human behavior where,um, your business partner you
trust, but you don't have itclearly mapped out.
Sometimes trust and outcomesaren't worth coloring in between
the lines.
It's better to map this out inadvance.
You brought up the,
Stoy Hall (13:46):
the most important part about buy sells and it's
the not easy stuff, right?
Disability can get complex, butkind of can be more clear cut.
Obviously death is very clearcut, but those nuances that
happen in partnerships, right?
Mm-hmm.
People change as things go.
We all are changing and adaptingand, and growing into our own
(14:06):
self, but you add now zeros tothat.
You add age to that, you, youadd life experiences and I think
there's a lot of opportunitiesthere that people don't think
could happen.
Agree.
Could pop up.
Yeah, I don't wanna work, andyou're still gonna make the
business run and operate, right?
Mm-hmm.
Or, you know what, and, and someof these I'll see is I, I want
(14:26):
my spouse, I want someone elseinvolved even more heavily,
right?
Yep.
Or I wanna leave it to thisperson.
Even though that even thetypical buy sell typically
doesn't have that some I've seenwhere the partners are like,
yeah, we'll just leave it to ourstate.
It's fine.
They'll, they'll take care of itand run it.
One of'em doesn't like the otherspouse, one of'em doesn't like
the other's child.
Uh, you, you know, all theplethora of things.
(14:49):
So it's very important thateveryone listening, like you
actually ask all thosequestions.
Mm-hmm.
You either have an attorney askthose questions, uh, you know,
you just walk through with yourbusiness partner planner like
me, or or Griffin coach, likeyou guys, like doing that is so
important because thosequestions you won't think of,
'cause you're excited, you'regetting your business going,
you're thinking about all theoptimism and all those good
(15:10):
things.
Mm-hmm.
And it's our job to come in andbe like.
Great.
Love that.
What if, what if, what if, whatif?
Griffin Bridgers (15:17):
Yeah.
And value and liquidity are twohuge other huge issues that you
know, that hey, you and yourpartner may agree, oh yeah,
we're gonna give each other asweetheart deal, but your estate
may not agree.
Your spouse may not agree tothat.
You're gonna end up fighting.
Or you, you do this when thebusiness is young and you think
it's worth 500,000, then one ofyou dies when it's worth a
hundred million.
(15:37):
If you've never updated thatvalue, you're in a bad
situation.
If the value is updated and youdon't have the liquidity to buy
out a partner, that's its ownissue too.
You're hamstring the businessthen.
Stoy Hall (15:48):
Absolutely.
And then the business fails andno one wins.
So that's not a great thingeither.
Alright.
What are, where do you see thebiggest failures, um, in some
real cases you've dealt withwhen people are either doing a
succession planning or, or doingtheir estate planning?
What are some of the biggestfailures you've seen?
Griffin Bridgers (16:04):
I think some of the biggest failures are a
failure to appreciate, um.
The assets and the dynamics ofthe family.
Um, you know, we're talkingabout business interests.
So, uh, again, we get that areyou active in the business
versus are you sitting back andwaiting for a paycheck While
both owners are there, they'rewilling to put in sweat equity
and crank all the profits backinto the business.
(16:26):
Well, once one of you is gone,that dynamic changes.
If there's not a buyout, if youwant this to pass on as a legacy
asset to your heirs, well guesswhat?
They're gonna wanna see somereturn from the business, and if
they're not, they're gonna wantto come and blow things up.
So keeping that in mind is veryimportant that, um, oftentimes
an estate planning is really aprojection of the way you would
(16:48):
do things, whereas you fail toappreciate how others might do
things and how they mightrespond.
So beyond that too, I think oneof the biggest failures is just,
um, not doing the heavy lifting.
Like if you have a business, uh,where are the accounts?
Who co-signs?
How can you access the vitalinformation?
What lives in your head that youknow and can quickly access to
(17:12):
do your job day to day and runthe business that someone
stepping into your shoes isabsolutely not going to have and
is gonna take hours to piecetogether on their own, assuming
they even can
Stoy Hall (17:24):
agree.
I agree to those.
What are um.
So now everyone's listeninggoing, oh boy.
Um, I got a lot to think about.
I'm feeling a certain way.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Like with that anxiety, which isa good thing, by the way,
people.
Yep.
But what are some, I guess,practical things that people can
think about and go, okay, now Ineed to get going, right.
I need to, I need to, mm-hmm.
(17:45):
Start now.
What would be that like firststep or two steps that they need
to do now that
Griffin Bridgers (17:49):
they're listening?
Well, I mean, I think thebiggest thing for me is, yeah,
you can visit a professional toget the documents done, but it
helps to think a little bit inadvance about what you actually
want to do.
Oftentimes you'll have clientscome in and say, okay, we want
estate planning.
Okay, great.
If you've given any thought towhat your estate plan looks like
or who will benefit, who's incharge of carrying out your
(18:11):
instructions?
And uh, the answer is often no.
Um, what do your other clientsdo?
And it's funny'cause you know,this is something that you can
truly own.
Uh, but a lot of peoplepassively participate and say,
okay, it's up to myprofessionals and advisors to
make those decisions for me, orto make suggestions that really
(18:32):
then end up passing asdecisions.
And ultimately this is somethingfor you to be proud of, your
legacy.
And, you know, for better orworse, it's something where I
think mindset is the mostimportant starting point.
If anything, it's not somethingyou have to do.
It's something you get to do,and I think a lot of people just
(18:53):
don't act because they don'tthink they deserve that good of
a legacy, which I'm here to tellyou today, you're wrong.
You deserve to leave a greatmemory of your time on Earth.
And even if you want to do that,um, that legacy is eroded by
your failure to do the work now.
So.
Even if it means eating theelephant one bite at a time,
(19:15):
that means, hey, doing littlesteps now aggregates and is
better over time than justwaiting and trying to maybe get
motivated to do everything inone swoop and then forgetting it
for 20 years and never touchingit again and again, as we
mentioned at the beginning,having that be probably as bad
in some cases as having donenothing to begin with.
Stoy Hall (19:36):
Right.
Point you just made about likethe mindset and, and the, the
emotions behind leaving yourlegacy.
Something that we hear about allthe time is one cost, duh, that
comes up all the time.
And two saying, I don't evenhave enough assets or anything
to have a legacy.
What, what do you say to that?
I got some thoughts on that, butwhat do you say to that when
(19:56):
people say the one of those twothings?
Well, I mean.
Griffin Bridgers (20:01):
No matter how simple you think your situation
is, um, you rarely leave asimple outcome for your heirs.
And I, I've really started tospend a lot of time on, even if
you have a couple major assets,there's things that you can
shore up given your time onEarth right now that are gonna
make things really easy.
So, just because you think yoursituation is simple, because you
(20:24):
have the head knowledge to stepin at a moment's notice and
settle everything.
That doesn't mean somebodystepping into your shoes would
think the same.
So the more advanced work youcan do now to say, okay, I think
my situation is simple.
Can I.
Give that simplicity to somebodyelse, um, the, the better off
(20:45):
you're gonna be.
So really, I, you know, that'show I've started to reframe
estate planning is that yeah, ifjust because you think it's
simple doesn't mean somebody canstep into your shoes to do that,
but you can make it simple forthem.
And, you know, my tagline hasbecome, death is never easy, but
you can make it easier.
Stoy Hall (21:02):
I love that, love that tagline.
'cause it's not easy.
Um, been through it with mymother and my grandmother
recently and it's like there areso many moving parts, even
though we had plans put inplace.
Mm-hmm.
There's still so much that needsto be done, both physically, but
also emotionally.
'cause you're grieving.
Yep.
Right.
Like that's the part.
Me as the, as the one who isdying.
(21:23):
I don't think about it all thetime, is like, yeah, I think
it's simple.
But then you add in this, thestress, the anxiety, the, the
grieving and things getcomplicated pretty quick.
Agreed.
Pretty quick.
Uh, based upon your knowledge ofeverything that's moving parts
of this year, is there anythingpeople need to prioritize or
think about changing, um, priorto December 31st of this year?
Griffin Bridgers (21:43):
Well, I think the good news is we've gotten a,
a reprieve from the tax side.
So if you are in that high networth strata where you are
worried about making lifetimegifts and trying to shore those
up before year end, you have alittle more bit more wiggle room
now.
Now we have a permanent, uh,estate tax exemption that's
gonna go up to 15 million.
In 2026, it's gonna continue tobe indexed for inflation from
(22:07):
then on.
And most importantly, there's nolooming sunset where it's
guaranteed under law to go downby one half or something at some
point in the future, like wethought was going to happen at
the end of this year.
So.
We don't, we no longer have thaturgency.
So now you can be a little bitmore intentional about planning
without letting the text hailwag the dog.
(22:29):
So I think there are stillcompelling reasons to do good
planning.
Now, obviously the planning fordeath.
Is vital.
Uh, making sure you havedocuments that address what's
gonna happen at your passing andeven creating a plan that you
can easily update in the future.
And we talked about wills.
A lot of people now userevocable living trust.
(22:52):
So even if you have a will,maybe a good idea to.
To pivot to that type of planbecause that witnessing
requirement and everything Italked about, in most states,
you don't run into that withyour revocable living trust.
It's much easier to change itsterms or even completely replace
the instrument keeping the sametrust name, even maybe with just
a notary signature, so itcreates a little bit more
(23:12):
flexibility.
In your planning moving forwardand a a vital component of any
estate plan, I always like tosay we're answering two
questions.
Who and how, but who is at thecenter of that?
How means nothing withoutaddressing who.
So I think it's important torevisit maybe even annually, the
people you name to differentroles in your documents.
(23:34):
You've got executors under yourwill, but you also have trustees
under a revocable, revocableliving trust.
Agents or attorneys, in fact,under powers of attorney to make
decisions for you.
Pulling those out and figuringout who they are and giving'em a
second look and saying, Hey, isthis person still suitable?
I think it's vitally important'cause oftentimes we'll have a,
a friend from long ago we'venamed and we've since had a
(23:56):
falling out with them.
We don't like them anymore.
They're posting some goofy stuffonline and we don't trust them
to handle our family's moneyanymore.
So, you know, really thinkingthrough those types of
relationships, I think isimportant.
And then making the rightupdates to your documents to
change those roles around asneeded.
Stoy Hall (24:15):
Yeah.
And he dove right into theactionable steps.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna stealthat and say the first
actionable step is to review.
Your documents, review who'sinvolved, like you had said,
between power of attorneys,executors, trustees, you name
it.
And another step there is notonly to review who they are,
review it with them so they knowtheir role.
(24:35):
I've seen it a lot where theydon't remember their role.
They didn't remember that theywere gonna be that person.
Right.
Um, especially if you did this10 years ago or five years ago,
or you're young.
Some of us don't know what thatrole intent en entails.
I would take it a step furthertoo and educate them on what it
means.
Right.
Some people just say, I'll doit.
I'll take care of you no matterwhat.
(24:56):
But they don't know what itmeans to be a trustee or an
exec.
Mm-hmm.
And those roles are not easyand, and in some states I would,
I, let me back up.
I'll let you answer this, but Ibelieve in some states they're
required to be paid too, to bein those positions between some
estates.
And if you don't tell them that,you don't tell your family that
there's gonna be another RIFthere as
Griffin Bridgers (25:18):
well.
Exactly, and I think thedocuments we've talked about so
far are ones you need to lean onan attorney to do things like
wills and trust and powers ofattorney.
For the most part, those aregonna be directions to another
attorney or a judge or a court.
But there's a lot you can do interms of.
Interpersonal communication andmaking your wishes known, for
example, instruction manuals.
(25:39):
And if you really wanna deepenthat relationship with your
attorney or an advisor, it's amatter of, okay, I, I, I, I've
done the work here to get thebase documents in place.
I wanna take things to the nextlevel now.
So what can we do here to makesure there is no question about
what somebody's authority is orwhat they need to do.
Or the timeframe or Or where theskeletons lie so they can jump
(26:02):
in and do the job instantlywithout delay.
Stoy Hall (26:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
What would you say businessowners must review, right?
We just talked about individualsa little bit, but what should
business owners review right nowand what should be their first
step once they've done thereview?
Griffin Bridgers (26:19):
I think really business owners, it helps not
only with your buy sell, but ifit's separate, your company
agreement, your partnershipagreement, to pull those out
every year and just give them afresh look.
And I know it's light, it's notlight reading, it's not fun to
do.
Um, so we, we live in an agewhere any attorney should be
competent to provide you asummary of, of what that says.
(26:41):
You know, really the draftingattorney should have done that
up.
Front.
And if they haven't maybe asked,Hey, are you willing to do this?
And you know, for better orworse, a lot of'em can run up
through an AI search enginenowadays if we're being real.
And then, you know, updatethings, you know, supposedly as
they should.
Um, but I'd say making sure youare comfortable with the current
(27:01):
governance structure.
I think with business ownerstoo, compliance becomes a big
thing that depending on yourform of business and the state
you're operating in, uh, youknow, you have Secretary of
State.
Filings, but you also havemeeting minutes and things of
that nature that might berequired under law.
Making sure those are up to dateand part of your corporate file
(27:22):
and organization I think isimportant for any business owner
that, um, you know.
In terms of all these governingdocuments we've talked about,
perhaps the simplest questionis, do you know where all of
them are?
We talked about where your willis located, but is there a
central file for a businessowner or the secretary of a
(27:43):
business to pull out everything,be able to provide it at a
moment's notice?
Often the answer is no.
So sometimes it's just a matterof, okay, we're gonna get.
Our stuff together this year andfocus on making sure we have a
comprehensive guide of everydocument that affects how we run
our business and govern it andmake sure it's in the same
(28:03):
place, you know, whether it's inpaper or store digitally or
both.
So anybody you know, whetherit's us, a partner, a, an
advisor, or somebody after ourpassing can look under the hood
and know exactly what's goingon.
Stoy Hall (28:17):
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
And that would probably be thebest next step for everyone.
Absolutely.
Just first get organized and putit all together.
Mm-hmm.
Then do it right and that it'sgonna take time.
Don't, don't get me wrong, weall go through these as well.
Like it takes time to find it.
Yeah.
It takes time to remember whereto put it and then to write it
down to be like, okay, this iswhere all our stuff is.
Yeah.
So all of you listening, that'sa very good step.
(28:39):
Just get it organized, put ittogether, then the next step, go
on and, and to review it.
Yeah.
Griffin, I appreciate you andfor those, we're gonna leave a
little teaser because the nextepisode that he is on that comes
out in December, has somethingreally, really amazing and
interesting coming out that he'sbeen working on.
So fun teaser means you have tocome back to get to the next
(29:00):
episode, but I appreciateeverything that you do both for
our industry and and for biggerones like that.
So thank you again and uh, welook forward to the next one.
Looking forward to it.
Thank you everyone.
Black Mammoth (29:26):
The proceeding program was sponsored by Black
Mammoth.
Any awards, rankings, orrecognition by unaffiliated
third parties or publicationsare in no way indicative of the
advisors future performance orany individual client's
investment success.
No award ranking or recognitionshould be construed as a current
or past endorsement of blackmammoth.
(29:47):
Information regarding specificawards, rankings, or
recognitions is available on theBlack Mammoth website, www.black
mammoth.com.
All investment strategies havethe potential for profit or loss
Investment strategies such asasset allocation,
diversification, or rebalancingdo not assure or guarantee
(30:08):
better performance and cannoteliminate the risk of investment
losses.
There are no guarantees that aportfolio employing these or any
other strategy will outperform aportfolio that does not engage
in such strategies.
This broadcast should not beconstrued by any client or
prospective client as asolicitation to affect or
attempt to affect transactionsand securities or the rendering
(30:30):
of personalized investmentadvice due to various factors
including changing marketconditions.
The information discussed inthis broadcast may no longer be
reflective of current positionsor recommendations.
Information presented isbelieved to be factual and up to
date.
Black mammoth do not guaranteeits accuracy and it should not
be regarded as a completeanalysis of the subjects
(30:53):
discussed.
The tax and the state planninginformation discussed is general
in nature and is provided forinformational purposes only and
should not be construed as legalor tax advice.
Listeners should consult anattorney or tax professional
regarding their specific legalor tax situation.
Past performance is notindicative of future results.
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