Estate Planning: The process of organizing and preparing for the management and distribution of a person’s assets after their death. Power Of Attorney (POA): A legal document that grants an individual (or group of persons, or even an organization) the right (i.e., the power) to act on another person’s behalf. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): a federal law enacted in 1996 that sets national standards for protecting sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge. Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act: Signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 20, 2019, this piece of legislation will have the largest direct impact on retirement accounts since the passage of the Pension Protection Act in 2006. Required Minimum Distribution (RMD): Distributions that are required by the IRS to be taken from most types of pre-tax retirement accounts upon reaching a specified age (73 in 2023). Eligible Designated Beneficiaries: Designated beneficiaries of retirement accounts who fall into one of the following categories: surviving spouses; individuals who are disabled; persons who are chronically ill; persons not more than 10 years younger than the deceased individual; minor children of the decedent; or certain trusts. Non-Eligible Designated Beneficiary: Due to the changes brought about by the SECURE Act these individuals are not able to stretch retirement account distributions and must comply with the 10-year rule. See-Through Trust: A trust that can qualify as a Designated Beneficiary to an inherited retirement account, subject to the SECURE Act’s new 10-Year Rule. These trusts must be valid under state law, irrevocable upon the retirement account owner’s death, contain identifiable beneficiaries, and submitted to the IRA custodian or plan administrator by Oct. 31 of the year following the year of death (or in the alternate, a certified list of trust beneficiaries can be provided by the same date).