When you’ve worked hard to protect and grow your wealth, an estate plan is one of the most meaningful financial decisions you can make. However, 56% of U.S. adults have no estate planning documents, according to a 2026 survey. Meanwhile, the complexity of settling an estate continues to increase.1
Whether you’ve recently experienced a major life transition or simply want to confirm that your assets go to the people and causes you intend, a well-structured estate plan can help you protect what you’ve built, minimize taxes, and communicate your wishes clearly.
Why estate planning belongs in your overall financial plan
Estate planning is far more than a set of documents you complete once and file away. It’s a key part of your overall financial picture. It should evolve as your life, your family, and the tax rules change.
A comprehensive estate plan works in coordination with your investment strategy, tax planning, and financial goals to create a cohesive approach to help protect and grow your wealth.
Because estate planning touches nearly every aspect of your financial life, it works best when it isn’t treated as a stand-alone experience. Decisions about trusts, beneficiary designations, gifting strategies, and taxes can all influence one another. A coordinated approach helps ensure those decisions align with your broader financial goals rather than being made in isolation.
A complete estate plan typically includes one or more trust structures or a will, a durable power of attorney, a healthcare directive, and beneficiary designations on certain accounts. Each document has a specific purpose, and together, they create a framework.
This framework can help reduce delays and costs while ensuring your intentions are honored.
Understanding the core documents of an estate plan
A will is the most recognized estate planning document, but it’s often misunderstood. A will directs how your assets are distributed after your passing, but it doesn’t avoid probate — the court-supervised process of settling an estate that can be time-consuming and potentially costly.
A revocable living trust, by contrast, can allow for the transfer of your assets directly to your beneficiaries without going through probate. It also provides an important layer of continuity: If you become incapacitated, a named successor trustee can manage trust assets on your behalf.
Powers of attorney and healthcare directives name individuals to act on your behalf if you are unable to do so. A durable power of attorney appoints someone to manage your financial affairs. A healthcare directive, which can incorporate a living will or advance directive, shares your medical preferences if you’re unable to speak for yourself. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center study, only about 31% of U.S. adults have a living will or advance healthcare directive in place.2
How tax planning and estate planning work together in 2026
One of the most meaningful updates to the estate planning landscape came in July 2025, when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law. The legislation permanently raised the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million per person starting Jan. 1, 2026. For married couples, the exemption is now $30 million.
That said, the new landscape does not remove the need for careful, tax-focused estate planning. It simply shifts its focus.
For families with estates below the federal exemption, retaining appreciated assets until death may be more advantageous than gifting them during your lifetime, because heirs typically receive a step-up in cost basis that can reduce future capital gains taxes. However, state-level estate and inheritance taxes remain in effect in many states, often with significantly lower exemption thresholds, making tax planning an ongoing priority regardless of the federal exemption level.
Learn more about tax-efficient wealth transfer, trusts, and preserving your family legacy. Our article explains why:
- Transferring stewardship through inherited wealth requires a shift from short-term use to long-term preservation.
- Taking a strategic pause during the first year helps avoid irreversible decisions and lock-in tax consequences.
- Understanding the tax treatment of different inherited assets is essential for preserving after-tax wealth.
- Creating a structured framework through trusts protects assets, guides distributions, and helps extend wealth across generations.
- Preparing the next generation through open communication and shared values is as critical as the financial strategy itself.
A coordinated approach can support your investment strategy, charitable giving, and multigenerational wealth transfer goals. It may also deliver a tax-efficient outcome for your family. Working with professionals who integrate tax and estate planning within a single financial plan can help you find the most suitable strategies for your needs.
Protecting your assets through trust structures
Trusts can serve multiple purposes beyond probate avoidance. Depending on your goals, a trust can help protect assets by:
- Holding assets for beneficiaries who are not ready to manage an inheritance.
- Providing for a family member with special needs.
- Directing assets to charity in a tax-advantaged way.
- Keeping the distribution of your assets private.
A revocable living trust is one of the most widely used structures for families seeking greater control and flexibility. While it doesn’t shield assets from creditors or reduce estate taxes during your lifetime, it helps enable a streamlined, private transfer of property at death and provides continuity in the event of incapacity.
For families with more complex needs, such as those that own multiple properties, have business interests, or have beneficiaries that cross generations, irrevocable trust structures may offer additional planning benefits.
Long-term thinking matters here: More than nine in 10 respondents in a 2026 study cited longer life expectancy as an important consideration in financial and wealth planning. This finding highlights the need for structures that manage wealth across decades, not only at transfer.3
Incapacity planning: protecting what you’ve built
A common misconception is that estate planning is only about what happens after you pass away. Some of the most important documents in your plan address situations that may happen during your lifetime. These include times when illness, injury, or cognitive decline leave you unable to make decisions.
A financial durable power of attorney appoints a trusted person to manage your financial affairs. This person can pay bills and oversee investments, among other responsibilities, on your behalf. Without a financial power of attorney, your loved ones may need to seek court authorization to help you, a process that can be slow, costly, and stressful.
A healthcare directive shares your wishes for medical care and names an agent to make decisions on your behalf. Learn more about the four essential documents that are the basis for creating an effective estate plan.
These documents are among the most important, and most often overlooked, components of a comprehensive estate plan. Reviewing and updating them periodically, especially after major life events, can help ensure they reflect your current circumstances and wishes.
Coordinating estate planning with your investment strategy
Estate planning and investment management can often be more effective when they work together. How your accounts are titled and who you name as a beneficiary can affect how assets transfer at death. These decisions may also override the instructions in a will.
Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s usually pass by beneficiary designation, not through probate. Review those designations often and confirm they match your overall estate plan.
A coordinated approach also considers the tax character of different assets. Some assets, like traditional pretax retirement accounts, may include tax liabilities that beneficiaries will need to address. Thoughtful decisions about which assets to gift, hold, or leave through your estate can help minimize the tax burden on your heirs and help ensure more of what you’ve built reaches the people who matter most to you.
Taking the next step
Estate planning is not a one-time task — it’s an ongoing part of managing and protecting the wealth you’ve worked to build. Whether you are updating a plan for the 2026 tax landscape or taking the first steps, a proactive approach can help minimize costs, reduce complexity, and help ensure your wishes are carried out as intended.
According to a recent report, 40% of Americans say passing down family values is their top estate planning priority, ahead of any financial goal.4 That perspective underscores why a well-designed estate plan should reflect not only your financial picture, but the legacy you want to leave.
Our four-step estate planning experience
At Mercer Advisors, your advisor guides you through each step. The goal is to keep the experience simple, allowing you to focus on making informed decisions. The steps include:
- Questionnaire. After you and your advisor agree that you need an estate plan, you will complete a questionnaire. It will list your beneficiaries and designate fiduciaries in important roles, such as your estate’s trustee and agents. There’s no need to complete extensive research beforehand, as your advisor will help you navigate the questionnaire and identify the information needed throughout the planning process.
- Plan design. Next, you meet with an estate strategist to design your estate plan. Your strategist will answer any questions you may have and tailor the plan to your specific circumstances. An assistant will also support your strategist, answer your questions, and help as needed.
- Plan review. After your estate plan is drafted, you’ll have a chance to review everything before meeting with your strategist. During that meeting, you’ll go over the documents together, make any final updates, and get answers to any remaining questions.
- Completion. When we finalize your estate plan, we’ll mail the completed documents to you for your signature.
Clients with $1.5 million or more in assets under management receive foundational estate planning and document preparation at no additional cost, while all other clients have access to these services for a subsidized flat fee.
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A comprehensive estate plan is a coordinated set of legal documents and financial strategies that work together to direct the distribution of your assets, minimize taxes, manage your affairs during incapacity, and help ensure your healthcare and financial wishes are honored. It typically includes a will, one or more trust structures, durable powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designations.
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Yes, but estate planning addresses far more than federal estate taxes. Probate avoidance, incapacity planning, beneficiary coordination, state-level taxes, and asset protection are all important reasons to have a comprehensive estate plan regardless of your taxable estate size.
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A will directs how your assets are distributed after your passing but generally requires going through probate. A revocable living trust allows assets to transfer directly to beneficiaries without probate, provides continuity during incapacity, and generally offers greater privacy. Many families use both — the trust to hold most assets and a “pour-over” will as a backstop.
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You should review your estate plan after major life events — marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a beneficiary or fiduciary, a significant change in assets, or a major shift in tax law. As a general practice, a review every three to five years can help keep your plan aligned with your current circumstances and goals.
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Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and certain investment accounts transfer assets outside of the probate process — and can override what a will says. Coordinating these designations with your estate plan and making strategic decisions about which assets to hold versus transfer during your lifetime can improve tax efficiency and help ensure your wealth reaches your intended beneficiaries.
1 “2026 Estate Planning Report.” Trust & Will, April 28, 2026.
2 “Experiences with estate planning and discussing end-of-life preferences.” Pew Research Center, Nov. 6, 2025.
3 “2026 Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans.” Bank of America, June 2026.
4 “State of Estate Planning Report 2026.” Vanilla, Jan. 22, 2026.
All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. Some of the research and ratings shown in this presentation come from third parties that are not affiliated with Mercer Advisors. The information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed or warranted by Mercer Advisors. Content, research, tools and stock or option symbols are for educational and illustrative purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular security or to engage in any particular investment strategy.
Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All Estate planning document preparation and other legal advice are provided through select third parties, with which Mercer Advisors has a contractual relationship.
