Estate Planning in Alpharetta, GA
Checking the Details That Decide What Happens
We review your estate documents and account beneficiaries, and tell you what needs updating.
Fee-Only • Fiduciary • Independent RIA • CFP®, ChFC® • 30+ Years Serving North Atlanta
Where Estate Plans Break
The problems we see are almost always paperwork. Who's named on which account, who can act if you can't, how things are titled. They go wrong quietly, and they decide whether your family inherits a plan or a mess. Tax rarely enters it: the federal exemption is $15 million per person, and Georgia adds none of its own.
At Daner Wealth Management, we help families in Alpharetta, Roswell, and Johns Creek make sure the paperwork matches what they want. That starts with one list of what you own, where it is, and who's named on it.
When to Start This Conversation
- Your documents were signed more than five years ago
- You've married, divorced, or had a child since the last review
- You've changed jobs and rolled over a retirement account
- You own property or a business interest in another state
- Nobody has confirmed who's named on your accounts
- You have minor children and haven't named a guardian
- You're not sure who could step in if you were unable to act
What We Work Through
- What Your Heirs Receive. A traditional IRA left to an adult child has to be emptied within ten years, so the income lands during their peak earning years. Business interests, real estate, and concentrated stock can leave heirs owing money with no cash to pay it, forcing a sale of the asset they wanted to keep. More on how holdings fit an estate plan.
- Who's Named on Your Accounts. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and transfer-on-death registrations pass by beneficiary form. Whoever is named gets the money, even if your will says otherwise. An ex-spouse still on a 401(k), a rollover that reset the beneficiary to nobody. We read the actual forms.
- Who Can Act If You Can't. A financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive name who steps in if you're incapacitated. Without them, your family has to go to court first. These get used more often than a will does.
- How Things Are Titled. In Georgia, anything in your name alone with no beneficiary and no trust goes through probate. Worth checking whenever you buy property, open an account, or change marital status.
As a fiduciary, we coordinate with your estate attorney, who drafts and executes the documents.
How We Take Estate Planning Deeper
Trust and Estate Planning
We work out whether a trust is worth the cost, which type fits, and what funding one involves, alongside your attorney.
Legacy Planning
We help you decide what you want the money to do after you're gone, and get it written down clearly enough to hold.
Charitable Giving Strategies
We structure giving during your life or at death, and show you what each route costs you and your heirs.
We don't charge by the service or take commissions on products we recommend. As a fee-only firm, we charge an all-inclusive percentage of assets under management, generally 0.75%–1.25% annually, so our only incentive is doing right by your plan. We'll walk you through exactly what that means for your situation before you commit to anything.
Why Choose Daner Wealth Management
Marc Daner, CFP®, ChFC®, has helped families organize what they leave behind as part of a full financial picture for more than 30 years. As an independent, fee-only fiduciary, we're required by law to act in your best interest, not selling products or earning commissions. We explain your options in plain language and stay with you as your plan evolves.
Start With a Conversation
If it's been a while since anyone looked at your documents, we'd welcome the conversation. Schedule a consultation with Marc Daner to talk through how your estate plan fits your full financial picture.
Estate Planning FAQs
Get your questions answered about estate planning.
Yes, and this is the most common misunderstanding we run into. The exemption only decides whether tax is owed. Whether your assets reach the right people, whether someone can act for you during incapacity, and whether your family spends a year in probate are separate questions.
No to both. Georgia repealed its estate tax in 2014 and has never had an inheritance tax, so beneficiaries owe no state tax on what they receive. Property in another state can be different. A few states do tax inheritances, and their rules apply to assets located there.
No. We're not attorneys and we don't draft or execute documents. We work alongside your estate attorney and handle the parts on our side: beneficiary designations, account titling, and whether the financial plan supports what the documents say. If you don't have an attorney, we can point you toward one.
Georgia law fills the gaps. State intestacy rules pick who inherits, following a fixed order of relatives that may not be who you'd have chosen. Accounts with beneficiary designations pass to whoever is named, current or not. If you have minor children and haven't named a guardian, a judge decides that too.
