The Importance of Trusted Advisors

During our lifetime many of us rely on the counsel of trusted advisors whether they be accountants, financial advisors, lawyers, stock brokers, business coaches or insurance agents. For some of us, we may formulate a strong relationship with one or more trusted advisor over many years and therefore our advisors may possess intimate knowledge in respect to  a specific area of your business and personal matters.

If you are a business owner that operate one or more businesses you may have built strong trusted relationships with an accountant, who aside from attending to your quarterly and yearly accounts, may also be across your tax planning, business projections and forcastings as well as distributions to family trusts together with in-depth knowledge of your business entities and any other trust or investments that you may control or own during your lifetime.

Likewise, your financial advisor is likely to have a strong understanding of all of your investments and how all of your assets are structured together with current values of investment portfolios.

Depending on the complexity of your estate, the assets that you hold and the structures that you have established to hold these assets, it may take some time for your executor to gain a full comprehension of your business structures,  personal assets, joint assets together with assets that you controlled in Trusts at the time of your death.

Given this, it is highly recommended that when putting your Will in place that you list your current advisors and stipulate that you would like your executor to seek the advice or your advisors upon your death. This will enable your executor to meet with your advisors after your death and gain a comprehensive overview of your assets and structures.

Trusted advisors can be extremely valuable, not during your lifetime but also subsequent to your death when they are able to play an important role in advising your executor and loved ones in respect to your business and personal assets, thus providing an invaluable resource at an emotional and challenging time.

Disclaimer: The advice provided in this blog is of a general nature only and you should always seek legal advice relevant to your own circumstances.