The Practical Planner

73 Episodes

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Celebrity Estate Plan Horror Stories, From Prince to Heath Ledger

2026-10-2920:39

Celebrities have managers, agents, and advisors around them, yet many still leave estate plans that fail their families. Thomas Kopelman is joined by Lisa Hendrix Weigel, Sr. Counsel, Strategic Growth at Wealth.com, to walk through the most instructive cases. Whitney Houston and Heath Ledger signed wills before their children were born and never updated them. Prince died without a will, and his estate spent years in litigation. James Gandolfini and Philip Seymour Hoffman had wills with little estate tax planning behind them. From testamentary trusts that still go through probate to QTIP planning, this episode shows advisors why most horror stories start with skipping the basics.

How to Fix a Mistake in a Trust

2026-10-1416:12

Even a small mistake in a trust can change where the assets go. Thomas Kopelman and Anne Rhodes walk through the most common errors, from a misspelled beneficiary name to a section reference that points nowhere. Anne explains how tracing the flow of assets through a plan can catch them. Then they cover how to fix a mistake: an amendment for a revocable trust, or beneficiaries agreeing to change an irrevocable one. They also explain splitting a pot trust, trust protectors, decanting, and when only a court can fix it. Whether a trust is revocable or irrevocable, this episode shows advisors that clients are rarely stuck with a document that is wrong.

How to Remove or Replace a Trustee

2026-09-2819:58

Knowing how to remove or replace a trustee comes down to what the trust document allows. Thomas Kopelman and Anne Rhodes cover why clients change trustees, from aging relatives to a corporate trustee that no longer fits. Then the mechanisms: a simple amendment to a revocable trust, trustee appointer and trust protector roles, and the court petition older documents leave as the only route. They also explain the release of liability a departing corporate trustee may ask a client to sign. And they cover when moving trusteeship out of California can reduce a trust's state income tax. Whether a trust is revocable or irrevocable, this episode shows advisors where to look and why clients are rarely as stuck as they think.

Ultra High Net Worth Estate Planning: The Top 5 Strategies

2026-09-0122:44

Giving assets away without giving up access is the puzzle at the center of most ultra-high-net-worth planning. Thomas Kopelman and Lisa Weigel are joined by Chris Nason, head of private wealth at Wealth.com, to walk through the tools that solve it: spousal lifetime access trusts and the surprisingly consequential question of how a document defines "spouse," dynasty trusts in South Dakota and other perpetuity-friendly states, GRATs, and installment sales to grantor trusts. They also cover the divorce and death risks that can lock a grantor out of a SLAT, and how life insurance backstops them. Whether a client has ten million or a hundred, this episode maps which strategies fit and what each one actually costs.

International Estate Planning Strategies

2026-08-2028:15

A green card makes someone a spouse in every way but one: the unlimited marital deduction. Thomas Kopelman and Lisa Weigel are joined by Chris Nason, head of private wealth at Wealth.com and a longtime international estate planning attorney, to unpack the cross-border problems hiding inside ordinary American plans — the non-citizen spouse who needs a QDOT, the child whose move abroad quietly converts a domestic trust, and the unreported foreign account that can cost half its value in a single year. They also cover expatriation, the exit tax, and who counts as a covered expatriate. Whether or not a client lives abroad, this episode shows advisors where the tripwires sit and when to call a specialist.

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