All rights reserved. BY L. RUSH HUNT L. Rush Hunt is a lawyer in Madisonville, Kentucky, where he devotes much of his time to areas of estate and trust law. Risks and rewards, trusts and gifts.
Elderly clients have a lot of questions about financial and estate planning.
Lawyers can offer clients general investment information, and can advise on the use of trusts to lessen federal estate taxes for married clients, the use of trusts for single and married clients for non-tax reasons, and gift giving to grandchildren. Clients approaching retirement years are often bombarded with investment advice from various salespeople. For example, it is shocking to see the number of elderly clients who are convinced to cash in certificates of deposit or high-grade bonds to buy annuities. An annuity may be an appropriate investment, but most are pushed on elder clients by the salesperson's desire to make a 5 percent sales commission, rather than because it is a good investment. The same is true for many other investments.