In one year, the share of Americans who trust AI more than an attorney for estate planning jumped from 20% to 30%, the biggest single-year shift Trust & Will has measured in six years of surveying. Among Gen Z, that number is 46%.In this episode, Michael Haslam and Brian Edwards break down what that shift actually looks like in their own practice: clients showing up more educated after researching with AI, clients arriving with long AI-generated lists of "suggestions" that take real time to sort through, and the rare but real case of someone trying to treat a fully AI-drafted document as finished. They lay out where AI genuinely helps, where it creates more work than it saves, and the one question that changes everything: have you asked your attorney if they've run your plan through AI themselves.Key Takeaways:The Trust Shift: AI trust for estate planning jumped from 20% to 30% in a single year. But only 5% of people say they'd use AI to create documents with zero attorney review.The "AI Slop" Problem: A long list of AI-generated suggestions often runs 80% irrelevant, and sorting the real recommendations from the noise costs real attorney time and client money.Ask Your Attorney First: A firm's AI is trained specifically on the law and prompted by someone who already knows what matters. That combination beats a client's own AI search almost every time.The Hard Line: Using AI to organize your thinking or draft a rough starting point is fine. Treating an AI-drafted document as finished, with no attorney ever reviewing it, is the one use that genuinely worries them.Michael Haslam and Brian Edwards are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

A brand new federal savings account for kids just opened, with a free $1,000 attached for a lot of families. Most parents have heard the headline and none of the fine print.In this episode, Nathan Croxford and Taylor Stone break down what a Trump Account actually is (hint: it's not a 529, it's closer to a retirement account), who qualifies for the free seed money, and how it stacks up against Utah's my529 and a UTMA account. They walk through what happens the moment a child turns 18, when the account converts and the IRS starts treating withdrawals like income, and make the case for why most Utah families shouldn't choose just one of these accounts.Key Takeaways:Not a 529: A Trump Account is legally treated like a traditional IRA for a minor. There's no tax-free withdrawal bucket for education the way a 529 offers.The Free Money: Kids born 2025 through 2028 get a one-time $1,000 federal deposit, no strings attached beyond filing the election. Every other child under 18 can still open an account and contribute.What Happens at 18: The account converts to a standard IRA the child controls. Early withdrawals get hit with ordinary income tax plus a 10% penalty, with the same exceptions as any IRA (education, a first home, certain medical costs).Why My529 Still Wins for College: Utah's 529 offers a 4.5% state tax credit and fully tax-free withdrawals for education. A Trump Account can be used for school too, but every dollar of growth still gets taxed as income.Nathan Croxford and Taylor Stone are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

87% of people who inherit an IRA make a mistake that can destroy up to half the account's value. Most of them have never heard of the rule they broke.In this episode, Michael Haslam and Brian Edwards break down what actually happens after an IRA or 401(k) gets inherited. The old "stretch IRA" that let heirs spread withdrawals over their own lifetime disappeared in 2020, replaced by a flat 10-year window. And as of 2024, the IRS clarified something most families still don't know: many heirs also owe an annual required distribution in years one through nine, not just a deadline at year ten. Miss it, and the penalty is steep.Key Takeaways:The Stretch IRA Is Gone: Why the old model of "leave it to the kids, they'll spread it over their lifetime" stopped being true in 2020, and why so many plans are still built around it.The Real 10-Year Rule: How the 2024 final regulations settled years of confusion. If the original owner had already started required distributions, the heir owes annual distributions too, not just a lump sum by year ten.The 25% Penalty: What happens if a required distribution gets missed, and the two-year window that cuts the penalty from 25% down to 10%.The Roth Conversion Move: Why converting before death, while the owner is in a lower tax bracket than their kids will likely be, can shift the entire tax bill to a cheaper rate.Michael Haslam and Brian Edwards are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

62% of Gen X adults have zero estate planning documents — a higher rate than Gen Z, Millennials, or Baby Boomers. The generation carrying the most financial complexity is the least protected, and almost nobody is saying it out loud.In this episode, Nathan Croxford and Taylor Stone break down the four pressures hitting Gen X at the same time: supporting aging parents and kids simultaneously, inheriting IRAs under a brutal new 10-year distribution rule, approaching the biggest business exit of their lives, and doing all of it with outdated or nonexistent plans. They make the case for why right now — at peak earning and peak complexity — is the moment to actually build one.Key Takeaways:The Sandwich Squeeze: Why nearly half of adults in their 40s and 50s are supporting an aging parent and a child at the same time — and what happens when neither generation has the right documents in place.The Inherited IRA Time Bomb: How the SECURE Act's 10-year rule replaced the old "stretch IRA," and why inheriting a retirement account during peak earning years can push every dollar into the highest tax bracket.The Business Exit Window: How a $2–10M business sale can trigger $400K–$2M+ in taxes without pre-exit planning — and why the strategy has to start years before the sale, not after.The Outdated Plan Problem: Why a trust from 2011 with beneficiaries from when the kids were toddlers can be just as dangerous as having no plan at all.Nathan Croxford and Taylor Stone are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

The moment your child turns 18, you lose all legal access to their medical records, school records, and financial accounts — not some access, all of it. Most parents find this out in a hospital waiting room, when it's too late to fix.In this episode, Nathan Croxford and Brian Edwards break down exactly what changes the day a child becomes a legal adult, and the three documents that restore a parent's ability to help — before the first week of college, not after an emergency.Key Takeaways:The HIPAA Wall: How turning 18 cuts parents off from medical records entirely — even if they're paying the insurance premium — and the HIPAA waiver that fixes it.HIPAA vs. Healthcare Directive: Why "access to information" and "authority to make decisions" are two different documents, and why a hospitalized adult child's parents need both.The Financial Power of Attorney: How this document covers bank accounts, student loans, housing contracts, and fraud response — and why being a joint account holder only covers that one account.Springing vs. Immediate Authority: Why an immediate power of attorney can act in a real emergency without the delay of proving incapacity.Nathan Croxford and Brian Edwards are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

Selling a highly appreciated business, property, or investment usually means writing a big check to the IRS — but the tax code offers legitimate ways to reduce or eliminate that bill. Most people either don't know these strategies exist, or assume they're only for the ultra-wealthy.In this episode, Michael Haslam and Nathan Croxford break down six legal levers for reducing your taxes — from structuring a sale so it's never a taxable event, to deferring gains for decades, to shifting income to family members in a lower bracket. They cover who each strategy actually helps (business owners selling to family, real estate investors, high income earners, anyone sitting on an appreciated asset), why a properly structured trust can turn a taxable sale into a non-event, and why any strategy — no matter how good it sounds — needs to be vetted by a real tax attorney before you use it.Key Takeaways:The Non-Taxable Sale: How selling a business to a properly structured trust for your kids — instead of directly to them — can eliminate the taxable event entirely.The 1031 Exchange: How real estate investors defer capital gains taxes indefinitely by swapping properties, and why holding until death can erase the deferred gain for good through stepped-up basis.Deductions vs. Credits: Why a tax credit saves you a dollar-for-dollar amount while a deduction only saves you your tax rate — and how a cost segregation study can turn a $1M building purchase into a $300,000 deduction.Changing Your Tax Category: Why capital gains rates beat ordinary income rates for high earners, and how an S Corp structure eliminates self-employment tax on profit distributions.Michael Haslam and Nathan Croxford are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

Most people assume asset protection is for the ultra-wealthy — offshore trusts, Cayman Islands, $50,000 to set up. It's not. And for Utah residents, there's a tool right at home that delivers the same core protection at a fraction of the cost.In this episode, Nathan Croxford and Brian Edwards break down the Utah Domestic Asset Protection Trust — what it is, how it works, and why fewer than half of U.S. states even offer it. They cover who it's actually built for (small business owners, landlords, professionals with liability exposure), how the distribution trustee structure is what makes creditor protection legally bulletproof, and why the window to set one up closes the moment a lawsuit begins.Key Takeaways:The Offshore Alternative: How a Utah DAPT delivers comparable protection to an offshore trust at a fraction of the setup cost — with no foreign trustee fees or IRS international filings.The Distribution Trustee: Why separating distribution authority from trust management is the legal mechanism that keeps creditors out — and what happens if you skip it.The Seasoning Period: Utah's two-year clock for existing creditors, how it can be shortened to 120 days, and why future creditors are protected from day one.What You Actually Keep: The investment control, veto powers, and flexibility that make an irrevocable trust far less restrictive than most people expect.Nathan Croxford and Brian Edwards are practicing attorneys at Voyant Legal in Utah. This episode is for educational purposes only. Visit voyantlegal.com or call 801.951.0500.

A living trust that was never funded doesn't avoid probate — it just delays it. Most Utah families who go through probate anyway had a trust sitting in a filing cabinet the whole time. The document isn't the plan. The funding is.In this episode, Nathan Croxford and Taylor Stone walk through exactly why 7 out of 10 living trusts fail at the worst possible moment, and give you a step-by-step checklist to make sure yours actually works.Key Takeaways:The Attorney-Client Gap: Why most trusts go unfunded — and why both sides assume the other one handled it.Asset-by-Asset Funding: What proper funding looks like for real property, bank accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, vehicles, and business interests under Utah law.The Retirement Account Exception: Why retitling your IRA into a trust triggers immediate income tax on the entire balance — and what to do instead.The Refinancing Trap: How a routine mortgage refinance silently removes your home from your trust — and how to make sure it gets put back.

Leaving everything to your spouse and "trusting them to do right by your kids" isn't a plan—it's a wish. In a blended family, a standard will is a ticking time bomb. Under Utah law, a surviving spouse who inherits outright has full legal ownership and can completely disinherit your biological children, intentionally or not.In this episode, Michael Haslam and Taylor Stone break down the exact tools needed to guarantee financial security for your spouse and protect your children's inheritance.Key Takeaways:The Remarriage Risk: How remarriage can automatically revoke your prior will under Utah Code § 75-2-301.The QTIP Trust: The single most important tool to provide lifetime income for a spouse while locking in the principal for your biological kids.Neutral Trustees: Why naming a spouse as sole trustee triggers family conflict.Three Real Scenarios: Walkthroughs of classic failures involving remarriage, stepchild friction, and special needs asset disqualification.

Roughly 1 in 4 Americans over 50 has no children. That translates to 22 million adults aged 60+ living alone without a traditional family support system—the highest rate in the world.Despite these numbers, the estate planning industry remains stuck in the past. Nearly every YouTube case study, law firm FAQ, and resource guide assumes you have children ready to step in. For Solo Agers—including never-married professionals, divorcees, widows, and those who simply chose not to have children—the standard playbook is broken.Redefining the Four Essential QuestionsWhen "my kids" isn't an option, the four pillars of an estate plan require entirely different strategies:Financial Management: Who oversees my assets if I cannot?Medical Advocacy: Who makes life-and-death healthcare decisions?Trustee Succession: Who ensures my final wishes are honored?Final Arrangements: Who manages my legacy and funeral?In this episode, we’re throwing out the generic templates and building a playbook from scratch specifically for Utah’s Solo Agers. Whether you are looking toward professional fiduciaries or trusted friends, it’s time to create a plan that reflects your actual life.