Estate Planning · CAER Financial Group

Your legacy
deserves a
plan.

76% of Americans have no estate plan. That means the courts — not you — decide what happens to everything you've built, everyone you love, and every wish you never wrote down.

Start Your Legacy Plan What Is Estate Planning?

56%

of Americans have no estate planning documents at all — no will, no trust, no power of attorney

Trust & Will 2026 Estate Planning Report · 5,000 U.S. adults surveyed

10%

of an estate can be consumed by probate costs before a single beneficiary receives anything

Maryland Scheuerman Law, 2025 · avg 5–10% confirmed across states

$105T

will transfer between generations in the U.S. over the next 25 years — the largest wealth transfer in history

CEP Estate Planning Statistics Report, 2025

21%

of families have updated their beneficiary designations — yet these override a will in every case

Empathy.com Estate Planning Research, 2026

Understanding estate planning

It's not about death.
It's about protection.

Estate planning is the legal and financial process of documenting your wishes so that — no matter what happens — the people you love are protected, your assets go where you intend, and your family is spared the burden of making devastating decisions under grief.

It includes deciding who inherits your property, who raises your children if you can't, who manages your finances if you become incapacitated, and what medical decisions are made on your behalf if you cannot speak for yourself.

"A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children."

Proverbs 13:22

At CAER, we don't draft the legal documents — that's the role of your estate attorney. What we do is coordinate the financial layer: making sure your life insurance, annuities, retirement accounts, and beneficiary designations align with your estate documents so your plan actually works as intended.

Without coordination between your financial instruments and your legal documents, even a perfectly written will can fail to deliver what you intended.

The 6 core documents every family needs

Last Will & Testament

Names your beneficiaries, designates guardians for minor children, and appoints an executor to manage your estate after death.

Revocable Living Trust

Holds your assets during your lifetime, transfers them privately after death — avoiding probate and keeping your estate out of public record.

Durable Power of Attorney

Authorizes a trusted person to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Without this, courts decide — not you.

Healthcare Proxy / Medical POA

Names someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot. Eliminates family conflict during medical crises.

Advance Directive / Living Will

Documents your wishes for end-of-life care, life support, and resuscitation — so your family is never forced to guess.

Updated Beneficiary Designations

Legally override your will on life insurance, retirement accounts, and annuities. Only 21% of families have updated theirs.

What happens without a plan

The cost of waiting
is paid by your family.

When you die without an estate plan, the state makes every decision. These are not hypothetical — they are the documented legal and financial consequences that unfold in probate courts every day.

The court distributes your estate, not you

Intestacy laws are blunt and one-size-fits-all. Long-term partners, stepchildren who weren't legally adopted, and beloved friends inherit nothing — regardless of your intentions or your relationship with them.

what an unmarried partner inherits without a will, in most states

Probate can take months — or years

Without a will, the court must determine an executor, validate assets, and hold hearings before any distribution can begin. Assets are frozen. Your family may face weeks or months of financial hardship with no access to accounts.

4–6 mo

added timeline for intestate estates compared to those with a clear will

Probate costs reduce what you leave behind

Attorney fees, court costs, administrator bonds, and creditor claims can consume a significant portion of your estate before your heirs receive a dollar. These costs are largely avoidable with proper planning.

5–10%

of gross estate value consumed by probate costs in contested or intestate cases

The court selects your children's guardian

If you have minor children and die without naming a guardian in a will, a judge who has never met your family determines who raises them. Even loving family members can find themselves in court fighting over custody.

1 in 4

Americans is estranged from at least one family member — making guardian disputes a real risk

Your estate becomes public record

Probate proceedings are filed with the court and are open to anyone. Your assets, your beneficiaries, and the details of your estate can be reviewed by neighbors, creditors, or anyone who searches the court's records.

Public

every probate filing is searchable — a trust keeps your estate private

Taxes can consume up to 40% of large estates

Without proper structuring, estate taxes, state inheritance taxes, and income taxes on inherited retirement accounts can dramatically reduce what your heirs receive. Strategic planning — started now — mitigates all three.

40%

maximum federal estate tax rate on taxable amounts above the exemption threshold

Document deep dive

Every document.
What it does. Why it matters.

These are not bureaucratic formalities. Each document is a legal instruction that protects a specific part of your life and your family's future.

Last Will & Testament

Your voice after
you're gone

A legal document that specifies how your assets are distributed, who manages your estate as executor, and — critically — who raises your minor children if both parents are deceased.

Names specific beneficiaries for specific assets — prevents court from deciding

Designates a guardian for minor children — removes courtroom ambiguity

Appoints an executor — someone you trust to carry out your wishes

Can specify donations to church, charity, or nonprofit causes you value

Must be reviewed after every major life change: marriage, divorce, birth, death

Revocable Living Trust

Probate bypass.
Privacy. Control.

A legal arrangement where you transfer ownership of assets to the trust during your lifetime. You remain in full control. At death, assets transfer directly to beneficiaries — privately, without probate court.

Avoids probate entirely — faster distribution, lower cost, complete privacy

Keeps your estate details out of public court records

Trust ownership rose from 11% to 14% in 2025–2026 — families choosing comprehensive planning

Ideal for blended families, multiple properties, or those who value privacy

Can hold real estate in multiple states — avoiding multiple probate proceedings

Powers of Attorney

Financial & medical
decision authority

Two separate documents: a Financial (Durable) Power of Attorney authorizes someone to manage money and property if you're incapacitated; a Healthcare POA authorizes medical decisions. Both are critical — and frequently missing.

Financial POA prevents court-appointed conservatorship — a costly, slow legal process

Healthcare POA eliminates guesswork — and family conflict — during medical crises

Medical POA ownership rose from 15% to 19% in a single year, signaling growing awareness

Must be "durable" to remain valid if you become incapacitated

Separate from a healthcare proxy — review both with your estate attorney

Beneficiary Designations

The document that
overrides everything

Beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, retirement accounts (IRA, 401k), and annuities legally supersede your will. If your will says one thing and your beneficiary form says another, the beneficiary form wins — always.

Must be updated after every marriage, divorce, birth, or death of a named beneficiary

Only 21% of families have updated theirs — a critical gap in most estate plans

An ex-spouse can legally inherit a 401k if the designation was never changed

Name contingent (backup) beneficiaries — a primary who predeceases you creates chaos

CAER reviews all beneficiary designations as part of our coordination service

Who needs estate planning

If you have people you love,
you need a plan.

Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. If you have children, a home, a retirement account, or anyone who depends on you — waiting costs more than acting.

Young Families

If you have children under 18, a will naming their guardian is not optional — it is the only way to ensure a judge doesn't make that decision for you. Parents with young children are simultaneously the most vulnerable and the most underplanned demographic.

Business Owners

Without a succession plan, your business can be dissolved, frozen, or forced into a fire-sale after your death. Buy-sell agreements, business trusts, and key-person life insurance must work in concert with your personal estate plan.

Pre-Retirees (50–65)

The decade before retirement is the highest-stakes window for estate planning. IRA beneficiary designations, Roth conversions, required minimum distributions, and Social Security timing all carry estate implications that compound without coordination.

Blended Families

Intestacy laws were not written for blended families. Stepchildren, children from prior relationships, and unmarried partners are regularly disinherited by state law. A carefully drafted will and trust structure protects everyone you love — regardless of legal title.

Those With Strong Faith Values

If charitable giving, tithing to your church, or leaving a spiritual legacy matters to you, it must be written down. Verbal promises carry no legal weight. A will and trust can permanently encode your faith values and giving commitments across generations.

Property & Asset Holders

Real estate owned in multiple states creates multiple probate proceedings. Investment accounts, digital assets, cryptocurrency, vehicles, and business interests all carry distinct transfer rules that require proactive coordination — not assumptions.

Estate planning by the numbers

What the 2026 data
actually shows.

From Trust & Will's 2026 Report (5,000 respondents), Empathy.com's 2026 research, and CEP's national statistics database.

Finding

Rate

Change YoY

Implication for your family

Americans with no estate documents at all

56%

Flat (55% → 56%)

More than half of all Americans leave their family with no instructions

Will ownership rate

26%

↓ from 31% in 2025

Will ownership fell 5 points in a single year — a sharp reversal

Trust ownership rate

14%

↑ from 11% in 2025

Families choosing comprehensive vehicles over standalone wills

Medical POA ownership

19%

↑ from 15% in 2025

Still leaves 81% of families without medical decision protection

Families with updated beneficiary designations

21%

Not tracked prior year

Beneficiaries override wills — yet 79% of families haven't updated them

Families expecting smooth wealth transfer

28%

Not tracked prior year

72% of families anticipate complications — most of which are preventable

Families who had detailed estate conversations

32%

Not tracked prior year

87% talked about future plans, but only 32% discussed specifics with clarity

U.S. wealth transfer over next 25 years

$105T

$2.5T in 2025 alone

The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history is underway now

How CAER works with you

From first conversation
to complete coordination.

We don't practice law — we coordinate the financial layer of your estate plan so your documents, your accounts, and your intentions all point in the same direction.

Legacy Discovery Call

A no-pressure conversation about your family, your assets, and your goals. We listen before we advise.

Estate Snapshot Review

We map what you have — insurance, retirement, real estate, business interests — and identify gaps in your protection.

Attorney Introduction

We connect you with a trusted estate attorney from our referral network in your licensed state to draft the legal documents.

Financial Coordination

We align your beneficiary designations, life insurance, annuities, and retirement accounts with your new documents.

Annual Legacy Review

Life changes. Your plan should too. We schedule annual reviews to keep every document, designation, and policy current.

Faith & legacy

Your legacy is
more than money.

At CAER, we believe estate planning is a spiritual responsibility. Leaving your family protected — financially, legally, and emotionally — is an act of love and stewardship. Scripture affirms this not once, but across the whole of God's Word.

"A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous."

Proverbs 13:22

"But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

1 Timothy 5:8

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

Proverbs 15:22

Start your legacy plan

The best time was
yesterday. The second
best time is today.

There is no legal document that can be drafted retroactively. The will you don't write protects no one. The trust you don't create saves nothing from probate. Let CAER begin the coordination — and introduce you to the right estate attorney in your state.

CAER coordinates — you don't pay twice

We work alongside your estate attorney — no duplication, no confusion, total alignment between legal documents and financial instruments.

Referral network in all 9 licensed states

KY · IN · VA · WV · GA · MI · SC · NC · FL — vetted estate attorneys ready to serve CAER families.

Faith-aligned guidance throughout

We understand legacy as a spiritual responsibility, not just a financial transaction. CAER families receive advisors who share their values.

Begin Your Legacy Plan

A CAER advisor will reach out within one business day. No pressure, no commitment — just a conversation about protecting your family.

First name

Last name

Email address

Phone number

Your state

What's your main concern?

Anything else you'd like us to know?

Your information is never sold or shared with third parties. By submitting, you agree to be contacted by a licensed CAER Financial Group advisor. CAER does not practice law. Estate planning documents are prepared by licensed attorneys in our referral network. © 2026 CAER Financial Group · caergroup.com

Your legacydeserves aplan.

It's not about death.It's about protection.

The cost of waitingis paid by your family.

Every document.What it does. Why it matters.

If you have people you love,you need a plan.

What the 2026 dataactually shows.

From first conversationto complete coordination.

The best time wasyesterday. The secondbest time is today.

Your legacy
deserves a
plan.

It's not about death.
It's about protection.

The cost of waiting
is paid by your family.

Every document.
What it does. Why it matters.

If you have people you love,
you need a plan.

What the 2026 data
actually shows.

From first conversation
to complete coordination.

The best time was
yesterday. The second
best time is today.