An estate is all the rights, titles, and interests that a person has in any property.  Estate planning is the process of planning for the accumulation, preservation, and distribution of an estate to effectively and efficiently accomplish both tax and nontax objectives.  Therefore, estate planning is concerned with many of the same aspects of financial planning as are income tax planning, investment planning, insurance planning, and retirement planning.  However, the estate planner must place all of these aspects into a coordinated plan that will simultaneously accomplish three objectives:

1. preserve the wealth that others have helped to create;
2. allow the client to use that wealth as desired during his or her lifetime; and
3. pass the greatest possible amount of that wealth to designated recipients in the appropriate form at death