The Action Items allow you to fine-tune the details of a client's estate analysis. Here, you can update variables like funeral and probate expenses, play around with the impact of different planning horizons, and even propose trust strategies. The Action Items are divided into two columns: Basic Information on the left, and Trust Strategy on the right.
As a starting point, you will see the following items listed under Basic Information:
Client & Co-Client's Planning Horizon: The assumed age of death for each client. You can adjust the planning horizons to illustrate what changes will occur in the estate analysis if clients were to pass away at different times. Do note that changing the planning horizons within the Estate Analysis will not impact any other modules in RightCapital.
Funeral Expense: Funeral expenses will be automatically added to the 'Taxes and Fees' tiles within the analysis flow chart, reducing a client's estate before it is passed on. Funeral expenses should be entered in
today's dollars; your
General Inflation rate will be used to project this value in future dollars.
Probate Expense: Probate expenses will be automatically added to the 'Taxes and Fees' tiles within the analysis flow chart, reducing a client's estate before it is passed on. Probate expenses are entered as a percentage of the gross estate, excluding qualified accounts (see below).
In addition to the items above, you can also click the Edit button in the lower right of the Action Items to include several other items. These items include Cumulative gift, Gift tax paid, and DSUE amount:
Cumulative Gift: Generally, no estate taxes are due if the estate value is less than the lifetime gift/estate exemption. However, that exemption may be reduced throughout the client's life if they make gifts that exceed an annual gift exclusion ($19,000 in 2025). If a client has made gifts in excess of the annual exclusion, the total value can be entered in the cumulative gift field. The value entered in this field will reduce the gift/estate exemption threshold for that client.
Gift Tax Paid: This field addresses a scenario where clients make gifts in excess of the annual gift exclusion, but choose to pay the taxes in the year that the gift is made. The estate tax calculated will be reduced by the total dollar amount that you enter here.
DSUE Amount: Allows you to include any deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE) a client may have from a previous marriage. The value entered in this field will increase the gift/estate exemption threshold for that client.
In addition to the Basic Information items described above, you can also use the Action Items to propose Trust Strategies. By adding a trust strategy, you can illustrate a scenario in which assets are moved from the client's taxable investments into a trust type of your choosing. Once added, the estate flow chart will update to reflect the impact of your trust strategy.
For more details on proposing trust strategies within the Estate Analysis, please reference the article below:
