Most people think estate planning is something you finish.
You meet with an attorney. You sign a will or a trust. You update your beneficiaries. Then you check the box and move on.
I understand the appeal of that. It feels tidy.
But I think there is an important distinction between estate planning and legacy planning.
Your estate plan provides the legal instructions for what happens to your assets.
Your legacy plan asks a bigger set of questions: Who do I want to protect? What will taxes do to what I leave behind? And does all of my giving really need to wait until I'm gone?
Those are very different questions.
Start With the Person Who Is Still Here
My perspective on this is personal.
Several years ago my dad died suddenly, and I watched my mom navigate retirement alone afterward. She was trying to understand financial decisions at exactly the time she should have been able to focus on everything else that comes with losing a spouse.
That experience shaped a lot of how I think about financial planning today.
Because when people hear "legacy planning," they tend to think about their children and grandchildren.
I often think about the surviving spouse first.
When one spouse dies, the financial picture can change significantly. One Social Security benefit may disappear because a surviving spouse generally receives the higher benefit rather than continuing to receive both.
Taxes can change too. A couple may file jointly in the year one spouse dies, and certain surviving spouses with dependent children can qualify for special filing status temporarily. Eventually, however, many surviving spouses find themselves filing as a single taxpayer, with narrower tax brackets and different thresholds.
Meanwhile, many of the assets may still be there.
Same house. Same IRA. Same investment accounts.
But now one person is managing everything under a different set of tax rules.
I call this the Widow's Tax Trap.
And it's one reason I believe legacy planning should begin while both spouses are still here. There may be opportunities to simplify accounts, evaluate Roth conversions, coordinate Social Security decisions, and make sure both spouses understand how their retirement income works.
To me, that's the first legacy decision: How do we take care of the person who is still here?
Then Think About What Your Kids Actually Inherit
Once the surviving spouse is protected, the next question is what eventually passes to the next generation.
This is where I think there's a big misconception.
People hear "estate planning" and immediately think "estate tax."
For 2026, the federal estate-tax basic exclusion is $15 million per individual.
That means federal estate tax isn't likely to be the primary tax issue for most families.
But that doesn't mean their children won't have a tax problem.
Consider a traditional IRA.
Under current rules, any non-spouse beneficiaries who inherit an IRA must empty the account by the end of the tenth year following the owner's death.
Why does that matter?
Because withdrawals from an inherited traditional IRA are generally taxable income to the beneficiary.
Imagine inheriting a sizable IRA when you're 52 years old.
You're in your peak earning years. Your spouse is working. Maybe the kids are finally out of college and you're trying to maximize your own retirement savings.
Now you're required to layer distributions from Mom and Dad's IRA on top of your existing income.
The tax rate your children pay on those dollars could potentially be higher than the rate you would have paid yourself.
That's where legacy planning starts to overlap with retirement tax planning.
For example, there may be years after retirement but before Social Security and required minimum distributions when your taxable income is relatively low. Those years can create an opportunity to evaluate Roth conversions.
You're intentionally choosing to recognize some income and pay tax today in exchange for moving money into an account with different tax treatment later.
Does that always make sense? Absolutely not.
But if you have significantly more tax-deferred money than you're likely to spend during your lifetime, it's worth asking: Who do we ultimately want paying the tax on this money, and when?
That's a very different question from simply asking who is listed as the beneficiary.
And Then Comes My Favorite Question: Why Wait?
Once we've thought about protecting a spouse and managing the tax consequences for the next generation, there's one more decision.
Does all of your legacy have to happen after you're gone?
For 2026, the federal annual gift-tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. A married couple can potentially give $38,000 per recipient if the requirements are met. Gifts within the annual exclusion generally don't use any of your lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.
That can create some interesting opportunities for families who have accumulated more than they are likely to need.
Maybe you help a daughter with the down payment on her first home.
Maybe you help a grandchild with college.
Maybe you take the entire family on a trip you'd rather experience with them than leave money for someday.
Charitable giving can fit into this conversation too.
For someone age 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution can allow money to move directly from an IRA to an eligible charity, potentially keeping that distribution out of taxable income. QCDs can also count toward required minimum distributions when applicable.
A donor-advised fund can serve a different purpose, allowing someone to contribute assets to a sponsoring charitable organization and retain advisory privileges over how grants are ultimately distributed.
Different tools. Different rules. Different goals.
But they're all part of the same conversation: What do I actually want my money to accomplish?
Because there is something lifetime giving offers that a bequest never can.
You get to see it matter.
You get to watch your daughter walk through the front door of that first house.
You get to see your grandchild graduate.
You get to sit around the table on that family vacation.
Sometimes the greatest inheritance is seeing your family benefit while you're here to enjoy it.
A Legacy Plan Is More Than Instructions
None of this replaces good estate documents.
You still need a will. You may need a trust. Powers of attorney, healthcare directives and properly coordinated beneficiary designations all matter.
An estate attorney plays an essential role in getting those legal pieces right.
But those documents answer only part of the question.
A comprehensive legacy plan should also consider three decisions: Who are we protecting? How do we manage the taxes? When do we want our giving to happen?
Those decisions shouldn't begin after someone passes away.
They're decisions you can make while you're here.
And that's exactly why I don't think of legacy planning as something you finish.
I think of it as something you get to participate in.