Align Documents, Accounts, and Intentions
Estate planning can feel abstract—until a life event makes it urgent. Many families worry their wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations don’t fully match their accounts or current wishes.
At Lionshead Wealth Management, we serve as a coordinating partner in your estate and legacy planning. As your estate planning financial advisor, our role is to help align financial accounts, retirement plans, and long-term intentions—while collaborating closely with your estate attorney for legal drafting and updates.
This reduces preventable confusion and helps make decisions easier for the people you care about most.
What an Estate Planning Financial Advisor Does
If you’re five to ten years from retirement—or even closer—the focus shifts from accumulation to strategy.
Our pre-retirement retirement planning includes:
We do not practice law or draft legal documents. Instead, we focus on financial coordination and practical oversight, including:
- Beneficiary Review
Reviewing retirement accounts, insurance policies, and investment accounts to ensure designations reflect your current goals. - Trust Coordination
Confirming account titling and funding align with your trust structure in collaboration with your attorney. - Wealth Transfer Planning
Mapping how assets may pass across generations and identifying potential liquidity or tax considerations for discussion with your CPA. - Life Event Checkpoints
Prompting updates after births, deaths, marriages, divorces, relocations, or major liquidity events. - Retirement & Estate Integration
Coordinating IRA planning, RMD strategy, and distribution structures with your broader legacy objectives.
Our goal is practical clarity—not paperwork for its own sake.
A Process You Can Follow
Estate planning becomes manageable when it’s structured.
Step 1: Document & Account Review
We review your will, trust summary, beneficiary forms, and account registrations alongside your broader financial plan.
Step 2: Gap Identification
We identify mismatches—such as outdated beneficiaries or unfunded trusts—and outline questions for your attorney.
Step 3: Professional Coordination
With your permission, we coordinate directly with your estate attorney and CPA to ensure decisions align.
Step 4: Ongoing Monitoring
We revisit estate alignment regularly and after major life events—so nothing drifts out of sync.
This approach turns complexity into clear, actionable steps.
NYC-Specific Considerations
For many New York City families, estate and legacy planning can involve:
- Multi-property ownership
- Multi-state residency considerations
- Closely held businesses or partnership interests
- Concentrated investment positions
- Blended families or multigenerational households
While legal and tax advice remains with your attorney and CPA, we help coordinate financial implementation decisions to reduce friction and oversight.
Stay Ahead of Key Dates and Decisions
Estate and legacy planning isn’t static. Beneficiary updates, Required Minimum Distribution rules, and year-end tax timing can all affect your long-term plan.
Through regular reviews and planning reminders, we help you stay ahead of deadlines—so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.
For broader retirement coordination, visit our
Common Estate & Legacy Planning Questions
Do financial advisors help with estate planning?
Yes—but in a coordinated role. We help review beneficiary designations, align accounts with estate documents, and collaborate with your attorney. Legal drafting and document creation remain with your estate attorney.
Do you coordinate with my estate attorney?
Absolutely. With your approval, we communicate directly with your attorney and CPA to ensure alignment between legal documents and financial accounts.
How often should I review my estate plan?
We recommend reviewing documents after major life events and periodically as laws or financial circumstances change. Regular check-ins are built into our broader planning process.
What happens if my beneficiaries don’t match my will?
Beneficiary designations typically override a will. That’s why regular review is essential—we help identify mismatches so you can address them proactively.
Is estate planning only for retirees?
No. Anyone with assets, dependents, or long-term intentions can benefit from coordinated planning—regardless of age.
How does legacy planning connect with my overall financial plan?
Estate strategy influences investment allocation, liquidity planning, retirement withdrawals, and charitable goals. We integrate these decisions into one coordinated framework.
Stewardship That Extends Beyond Today
Estate and legacy planning is about more than documents—it’s about reducing stress for your family and creating clarity across generations.
Lionshead Wealth Management works with individuals and families throughout New York City, including the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Brooklyn Heights, and Park Slope, to bring structure and thoughtful coordination to complex financial lives.