Estate planning for young physicians: protect the next two years

Step 1: Start with the family decision

The parent who handles school pickups or sees the insurance bill often notices the risk first. Both adults still need to agree on who would care for the children, who would manage their money and what happens if the surviving parent is also unavailable.

Kwame and Colleen should write those choices down before worrying about a complex tax structure. For a physician couple with student debt, high income and a practice, a simple instruction that the family can explain matters more than a plan nobody remembers.

For 2026, the IRS estate tax basic exclusion is $15,000,000 per person. That makes federal estate tax rarely the first issue for this reader. Guardianship, access to cash and beneficiary control usually deserve attention sooner.

• Name a guardian
• Choose a money manager
• Plan for both parents unavailable

Step 2: Gather the records behind the names

Collect the 403(b) or other workplace statements, beneficiary forms, term-life declarations, wills, trust papers, ownership records and any practice buy-sell agreement. Record each account's balance, owner, primary beneficiary, contingent beneficiary and custodian. A blank contingent field deserves a direct question.

Call the plan custodian or your employer's benefits office and get three answers: does the form control at death, is spousal consent required, and how will they confirm a change? Assante Wealth Management prefers a short record that shows the account, the person who controls it and the evidence that the custodian accepted the instruction.

The same check belongs in related physician financial planning. A new employer account or rollover may have a different form, even when the old account had the right names.

• 403(b) statements
• Term-life declarations
• Wills and trust papers
• Practice ownership records

Step 3: Ask why the deadline matters

A deadline turns a general worry into a cash question. When Kwame and Colleen's youngest starts college in two years, a death during that window could create a liquidity need before a practice sale or tuition decision is settled.

Ask the insurer how long coverage lasts and ask the custodian when a beneficiary change becomes effective. “After processing” without a confirmation method is a warning. Get a dated receipt, confirmation number or other record.

Assante Wealth Management also asks what happens after signing. Markets can fall, health can change and the law can change. Leave room for a bad year by identifying accessible cash and choosing an annual date to reread the forms.

• Youngest starts college
• Coverage duration
• Confirmation method

Step 4: Test the forms with a dollar cost

Hypothetical: Kwame and Colleen are 52 and 50. Kwame owns a three-doctor primary-care practice, Colleen runs its front office, they have $1.3 million saved, and a possible practice sale of $1.2 million. Their youngest starts college in two years. The timing matters because a sale offer is not tuition cash until the transaction closes.

Their workplace account holds $500,000. A stale former-spouse beneficiary means the intended family could temporarily receive $0 while the claim is resolved. The arithmetic is direct: $500,000 account minus $0 available to the intended beneficiary equals a $500,000 liquidity gap. The account still exists, but the family may not be able to use it when the tuition deadline arrives.

Naming a former spouse or leaving a 403(b) beneficiary blank can send a $500,000 account through the wrong claim process, delaying access and potentially changing who receives the money. Organized, conscientious physicians fall into this too, usually because a rollover, remarriage or job change left an old form sitting untouched at a custodian nobody calls anymore.

Kwame and Colleen obtain the current form, name a primary and contingent beneficiary, confirm the custodian's receipt and have an attorney review whether the practice interest and life-insurance instructions need separate treatment. The fix doesn't create $500,000. It reduces the risk that the family cannot access money when tuition begins.

Before adding complex estate structures, complete guardianship instructions, term-life coverage analysis and beneficiary forms, then have an estate attorney review the plan under your state's law. Assante Wealth Management keeps the account list short enough to check, because more accounts create more places for an old instruction to survive.

• Current beneficiary form
• Primary and contingent names
• Custodian receipt
• Attorney review

Step 5: Have the legal review answer the hard question

An estate attorney should translate guardianship wishes, trustee powers and state law into signed instruments. A beneficiary form can override a will for many retirement accounts, so the account instruction and legal plan need to tell the same story.

Keep term life separate from the practice's sale value. A buyer's offer is not cash until the transaction closes and its terms are known. This page doesn't replace state-law legal work, an insurance review or practice-sale advice; special-needs planning, blended families and business succession need separate attention.

• Signed guardianship instructions
• Trustee powers
• Practice ownership terms

Step 6: Recheck after a life or account change

A young physician shouldn't assume a new account copied an old beneficiary. Request the form and confirmation from each custodian after divorce, remarriage, a birth, a death, a new employer, a rollover or a change in practice ownership.

Put one annual review date on the family calendar. Investments can lose value, and you may receive less than you invested, so the family should know which cash source remains available if markets are down when a health event or tuition bill arrives.

The review can stay simple: compare the one-page family instructions with each account statement, life-policy declaration and practice record. Assante Wealth Management keeps those pieces in one file and avoids adding funds or accounts. Every extra account is one more beneficiary form to pull each year.

• Divorce or remarriage
• Birth or death
• New employer or rollover
• Practice ownership change

What would Assante Wealth Management ask if this applies?

Assante Wealth Management would ask which account provides cash for the children during a two-year tuition or income gap, and whether every beneficiary form matches the legal plan. The next question would be who can verify guardianship and trust instructions under state law, not whether a complex tax structure is needed.

Clients can raise the same question with Assante Wealth Management while reviewing physician financial planning, student loan planning or practice transition planning. The office is at 317 South Juniper Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, United States, and households are advised remotely by video conference and telephone.

A physician couple with at least $500,000 in investable assets can send Assante Wealth Management a short note through the site listing the accounts, the deadline and the family concern behind the question. Often the result is a corrected beneficiary form and a referral to an estate attorney, not a more complicated investment arrangement.