No. Adair & Associates and LPL Financial do not provide legal advice or services, and we do not draft, amend, or execute estate planning documents. That work belongs to a licensed Maryland attorney. Our part is the financial side: reviewing beneficiary designations and account titling, modeling how assets would actually transfer, and coordinating with your attorney so the plan on paper matches the accounts in practice. If you do not have an attorney, we are glad to help you find one.

A will directs how property you own in your own name is distributed after death, names a personal representative, and can name guardians for minor children. It takes effect only at death and generally goes through probate, which is a public court process. A trust is a separate legal arrangement that holds assets you transfer into it, can operate during your lifetime as well as after death, and generally avoids probate for the assets it holds. Many families use both. Which combination fits your situation is a legal question for your attorney. Our job is making sure whichever structure you choose is actually funded and reflected in your accounts.

Generally, no. Retirement accounts, annuities, and life insurance pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary designation form held by the custodian or insurer, and that designation typically takes precedence over your will. This is the most common gap we find: a will that was carefully updated after a divorce, a remarriage, or a death in the family, sitting alongside a beneficiary form from fifteen years earlier that nobody thought to change. Reviewing those forms costs nothing and takes very little time.

Yes. Maryland's estate tax exemption is currently $5 million per person, and unlike the federal exemption it is not indexed for inflation, so estates tend to grow toward it over time. The Maryland estate tax rate is graduated and tops out at approximately 16% on the amount above the exemption. Maryland also permits portability, meaning a surviving spouse may use a deceased spouse's unused exemption, but the election must be made on a timely filed Maryland estate tax return. It is not automatic. Confirm current figures and filing requirements with your tax or legal professional.

Maryland is currently the only state that imposes both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. The inheritance tax is a flat 10% on the clear value of property passing to beneficiaries who are not in an exempt class. Close relatives are exempt: a spouse, children and other lineal descendants, parents and grandparents, and siblings. Nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and unmarried partners generally are not, which catches a lot of families off guard. It is one good reason to look carefully at who is named on your accounts.

For 2026 the federal estate and gift tax exemption is $15 million per person, indexed for inflation in later years. A married couple can effectively shield roughly twice that amount, but preserving the first spouse's unused exemption requires electing portability on a timely filed federal estate tax return, a step that is easy to miss when no tax appears to be due. The federal exemption sits far above Maryland's, so for most Maryland families the state thresholds are the ones that matter first.

Under the SECURE Act, most adult children who inherit a traditional IRA or employer plan must empty the account within ten years of the original owner's death, and under current IRS regulations annual distributions may be required during that window if the owner had already begun required minimum distributions. Those withdrawals are taxable to your child, and they often land in their highest earning years. Certain eligible designated beneficiaries are treated differently. That group includes a surviving spouse, a minor child of the account owner, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, and a beneficiary not more than ten years younger than the owner. These rules have changed repeatedly, so confirm your own situation with your tax professional.

Probate is the Maryland court process that validates a will, settles debts, and authorizes transfer of the assets you owned in your own name. It is a routine administrative process, but it takes time, carries fees, and becomes part of the public record. Assets that pass by beneficiary designation, by joint titling, or through a funded trust generally bypass it. Whether avoiding probate is worth the added structure depends on your assets, your family, and whether you own property in more than one state. That is a conversation to have with your attorney.

Every three to five years as a baseline, and right away after anything material: a marriage or divorce, a birth, a death in the family, a move to another state, the sale of a business or property, a significant change in wealth, or a change in state or federal law. Beneficiary designations deserve a faster cycle than that. We look at those at least once a year, because they take five minutes to update and cause real damage when they are wrong.

Not necessarily. Plenty of people book an introductory call just to get a second opinion on one thing: a beneficiary form, an inherited IRA, a trust they are not sure was ever funded. If it turns into a longer relationship, that is a decision for later. The first conversation commits you to nothing.

We do not work from an account minimum. The introductory call is where we learn what you are trying to solve, and where we tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. If we are not, we will say so.