Rieder Law, PC

Rieder Law, PC Life and Legacy Planning, Probate, Guardianships, Special Needs Trusts, Social Security Disability

ADVISOR QUOTE:“The lowest-tax answer isn’t automatically the best answer for your family.”Dana Rieder, Personal Family L...
09/02/2026

ADVISOR QUOTE:
“The lowest-tax answer isn’t automatically the best answer for your family.”
Dana Rieder, Personal Family Lawyer®
When I review an IRA beneficiary decision, I’m not looking at a tax bracket in isolation.
I’m looking at the retirement account, the trust, your other assets, the people who will inherit, the protections they may need, and what you want your wealth to make possible.
Your CPA, financial advisor, insurance professional, and estate planning attorney may each see a different part of that picture.
My role as your Personal Family Lawyer is to help connect those parts so they tell the same story.
Because this isn’t only about where your money goes.
It’s about helping the people you love receive it with the structure, guidance, and protection needed to become good stewards of what you built.

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Q/A:Q: “Should I remove my trust as my IRA beneficiary because trusts reach the 37% tax bracket so quickly?”Please don’t...
09/01/2026

Q/A:
Q: “Should I remove my trust as my IRA beneficiary because trusts reach the 37% tax bracket so quickly?”
Please don’t make that decision based on one number.
Your trust may be providing protections your family needs.
If it can retain IRA withdrawals, the trust may pay more in income tax. But those assets may remain protected if your child faces a divorce, lawsuit, addiction crisis, or season when receiving the money outright would do more harm than good.
When I review this with you, I don’t look only at the tax rate.
I look at who will inherit, what’s happening in their life, what else they may receive, what protection they need, and what you want this wealth to accomplish.
The lowest-tax answer isn’t automatically the best answer for your family.

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NEW BLOG POST:You did the work.You saved for retirement, created an estate plan, and named beneficiaries because you wan...
08/31/2026

NEW BLOG POST:
You did the work.
You saved for retirement, created an estate plan, and named beneficiaries because you wanted the people you love to be protected.
That matters.
But the rules changed after many families created their plans.
In 2026, a trust enters the 37% federal marginal income tax bracket once taxable income exceeds $16,000. A single individual doesn’t enter that bracket until taxable income exceeds $640,600.
That number deserves your attention. It does not tell you what to do.
A trust may protect your child’s inheritance during a divorce, lawsuit, addiction crisis, or season when they aren’t ready to manage the money. Removing that protection to reduce a tax bill could solve one problem while creating a much bigger one.
The right question isn’t simply, “How do we pay the least tax?”
It’s, “What do I want this wealth to make possible, and how do I protect that purpose as efficiently as I can?”
This week’s article explains how the original SECURE Act changed inherited IRA planning and why your IRA, trust, and beneficiary designation need to work together.

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Stop by Bee Cave Arts Foundation and visit us! Rieder Law sponsoring the Bee Cave Art Foundation Art Show Today 2-4. ...
08/29/2026


Stop by Bee Cave Arts Foundation and visit us! Rieder Law sponsoring the Bee Cave Art Foundation Art Show Today 2-4.




There's a difference between having a will and having a plan. Most families don't find that out until it matters. This w...
08/29/2026

There's a difference between having a will and having a plan. Most families don't find that out until it matters. This week's article is your checklist for what actually comes after you sign.

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DID YOU KNOW:Did you know that signing a trust and funding a trust are two completely different steps? Most families onl...
08/28/2026

DID YOU KNOW:
Did you know that signing a trust and funding a trust are two completely different steps? Most families only do one.
Signing a trust creates a legal container. But the assets don't move automatically. Your home, your bank accounts, your investment accounts: if those aren't actually transferred into the trust, they're still in your name, not the trust's name. And assets still in your name go through probate, regardless of what the trust says.
This is one of the most common estate planning failures I encounter: a family paid for a trust, assumed they were protected, and found out years later that nothing was ever transferred into it. The trust document was in a folder. The plan never actually happened.
If you received a trust this August, or if you've had one for years and aren't sure whether it's funded, that's the question to ask your attorney this week.

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ICYMI:In case you missed it this week, the thing most families discover at exactly the wrong moment.The beneficiary desi...
08/27/2026

ICYMI:
In case you missed it this week, the thing most families discover at exactly the wrong moment.
The beneficiary designation forms on your retirement accounts, your life insurance, and your bank accounts with transfer-on-death elections are the ones that actually control who gets the money. Not your will.
It doesn't matter what your will says. Beneficiary designations override your will completely. And those forms, often filled out at your first job, when you were 22, before your spouse, before your kids, are sitting in a file at the institution right now, with whatever names you put on them then.
A former spouse. A parent who passed away. A child named directly, which creates a court-supervised guardianship of that money until they turn 18.
The fix is straightforward: a review of every designation, a primary and a contingent that reflects your actual life. But it has to be done deliberately. It doesn't happen automatically.
This week's article is the full checklist for what comes next after making a will.

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ADVISOR QUOTE:There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't whe...
08/26/2026

ADVISOR QUOTE:
There's a reason most families feel like their estate planning is handled, and then find out it wasn't when something goes wrong.
They got documents. They didn't get a plan.
Documents are tools. A will is a tool. A trust is a tool. What creates real protection is a relationship with a Personal Family Lawyer who knows your family, holds the whole picture, and reviews the plan as your life changes, so the gaps don't show up at the worst possible moment.
That's what a Life & Legacy Planning relationship looks like. Not a transaction. Not a folder in a drawer. A real attorney who knows who your kids are, who the right guardian is today, which accounts need updated beneficiary designations, and whether your trust is actually funded.
If you made a will this month and want to know whether it's actually doing its job, this is a good time to find out.

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Q/A:Q: "I just made a will. Am I actually done?"This is the most common question I hear this time of year, and I want to...
08/25/2026

Q/A:
Q: "I just made a will. Am I actually done?"
This is the most common question I hear this time of year, and I want to be honest about the answer.
A will tells a court what you want when you die. It does not update your beneficiary designations. Those designations override your will completely, regardless of what it says. It does not fund your trust. Signing a trust and funding it are two completely different steps, and most families only do one. It does not address what happens if you're incapacitated rather than deceased. And it doesn't update itself when your life changes.
Real planning, a Life & Legacy Planning Session, covers all of it. What's in place, what's missing, and what actually needs to happen next.
A will is a starting point. It is not a plan.

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