Quick answer: Absolutely!
Are all estate attorneys familiar with the tax code and the impacts of estate plans? No.
If an estate attorney does not understand taxes and the tax consequences of an estate plan, they’re only covering half their bases. Hopefully they have a tax attorney on call to help with tax complications and questions.
One thing I learned early on in my career is that I needed to have a strong understanding of taxes in addition to estate planning skills. In order to help my clients, which includes answering those difficult tax questions, I expanded my experience in taxation. I thought that this was a common practice for estate attorneys. Recently I learned that this was not the case.
A number of estate attorneys have never worked on the estate or trust tax returns that result from the estate plans they create. I find that building an understanding of my clients’ financial situations, be that via preparing their tax returns or simply going over the tax details with them, helps in completing the picture of their current estate and how that coincides with their legacy goals.
I feel that having this deeper understanding of taxes, and being able to work with the tax code, allows me to better serve my clients.