Estate planning myth: Your estate planning attorney, other attorneys, accountant, insurance agent, banker, and financial advisor will all work together to put together the best estate plan for you.
Estate planning reality: If you leave just one of your professional advisors out of the loop or bring them in at the wrong point in the process of putting together or updating your estate plan, then chances are your estate plan won't be complete or will fail. Why? Because many professionals resent not being consulted from the beginning and often times the goals and objectives of one or more of your professional advisors will be in direct conflict with those of your estate planning attorney. For example, while an estate planning attorney may recommend a complex series of trusts and family limited liability companies to minimize a client's liability and estate tax bill that will nonetheless complicate the client's income tax situation, the client's accountant may have been working for years to simplify the client's income tax situation. If something like this happens to you, then your estate planning attorney and accountant will need to be on the same page in order to give you the best advice possible and not undermine each other's recommendations and credibility.
The recommendation: If you work with a team of professional advisors and you want your estate plan to work when it's needed, then bring all of your advisors together at the very beginning of the estate planning process.