Do your plans address the positive or negative financial implications to your client from inheriting assets or funding a parent's long-term care? They should, but what if you didn't?
Do your retirement plans address the implications of a child's education costs or unanticipated mental or physical impairments resulting from an illness or injury (and not covered by health insurance-e.g., Christopher Reeve)? Should your plan be required to anticipate every possible event in order to be comprehensive?
Do you ask about the financial hardships of siblings? Do you ask about children with special needs? You should, but are you able to anticipate everything?
What if your clients don't know that they are named as guardians for their nieces and nephews or their neighbor's children? If your plan was "comprehensive," could a jury determine that you should have at least mentioned the possibility? Every possibility?
We cannot anticipate every possible scenario!
Other planners may find fault with the word "coordinated," but I certainly believe it to be a more accurate description of what we do and certainly safer for us in a litigious society.
Herbert K. Daroff, J.D., CFP, is a business and estate planning advisor with Baystate Financial Planning in Boston.