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Welcome to the latest episode of the Physician Cents Podcast, where we explore complex financial topics tailored specifically for physicians. Whether you're a medical student, resident, fellow, or attending physician, you're going to find valuable insights that can help you increase your financial IQ, further your financial journey, and improve your overall well-being. Hosted by Chad Chubb and Tyler Olson, let’s dive in!
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Estate planning is one of those tasks that sits on the to-do list for years. You know it matters, you know it affects your family, and still, it is very easy to say, “Yeah, I should do that... later.”
For physicians, it is even trickier. Your time is limited, your risk is higher than average, and your finances are usually more complex than a simple “leave it all to my spouse” plan.
Today, we're diving into this topic with Kyle Claussen, CEO of Resolve, who specializes in contract review, estate planning, and asset protection for physicians. Resolve -- Use the code "PhysicianCents10" for 10% off!
This guide breaks down what Kyle shared in a conversation with Tyler Olson and Chad Chubb. The goal here is simple: help you understand what you actually need, what can wait, and what mistakes to avoid so your future self and your family do not want to haunt you.
You will see how wills, trusts, guardianship, asset protection, and even date nights all tie into the same big idea: protecting your people and your money in a way that matches your values.
Estate planning is not fun. Nobody is waking up on a Saturday fired up to talk about feeding tubes and guardianship.
Most doctors come into this conversation with some version of:
Here is the problem. If you do nothing, you still have a plan. It is just the default plan your state gives you, and you probably are not going to like it.
On top of that, being a physician usually means:
So your “I will get to it someday” has more moving parts and more risk attached.
If you want a broader checklist built just for doctors, the estate planning guide for physicians is a great companion to what you are reading here.
Let us start with the part no one talks about until it is too late: what happens if you die with no plan at all.
“Intestate” just means dying without a will.
When that happens, your state pulls out a rulebook and says, “Cool, we will decide who gets what.”
Very rough summary of how that usually looks:
That might not sound terrible at first glance, but intestacy comes with two big problems:
Intestacy also does nothing for:
So, yes, the state has a plan. It just is not your plan.
There are certain life events that should immediately flip on the estate planning light in your brain.
The big one is:
Other common triggers:
If you are a physician with kids, you are squarely in “do it now” territory.
Let us talk life insurance, because this is where a lot of physicians accidentally set up a disaster.
Imagine this setup:
You and your spouse go on a trip. Something awful happens. The 7-year-old is now set to inherit $1 million.
That sounds loving, but in reality, it is a legal and financial mess.
Here is how a few common setups compare.
The key is simple: beneficiary forms need to match your actual plan. You cannot fix them after you are gone.
Physicians often plan as if they will die one at a time. In reality, families travel together.
Picture this worst-case scenario: both parents and kids are in the same accident. No beneficiaries left. No clear backup plan. What happens to the money?
If you have no will or trust, the state default rules kick in again. Maybe your estranged sibling gets everything. Maybe a parent you would not have picked controls your estate. That is usually the point where people say, “Oh no, absolutely not.”
A better backup plan might include:
This is worst-case scenario planning, but that is exactly what estate planning is supposed to cover.
Let us sort out the basic tools you always hear about.
A will Tells the court who gets what and who is in charge of the process. It also lets you name guardians for your kids. It does not avoid probate.
A revocable living trust You create it while you are alive. You are usually the trustee and can change it anytime. The big perk is that assets titled in the trust can skip probate and move more smoothly to your beneficiaries.
Here is where it gets interesting for young families:
You can bake contingent trusts into a will, so if a child is a minor when you die, a “young beneficiary trust” springs to life. It holds money for them and follows the rules you set. That might delay access to age 25 or 30, or allow staged payouts.
So, you can use:
Either way, anything that involves kids and timing is not cookie-cutter. This is where generic online forms start to fall apart.
Let us strip this down to the core documents almost every physician should have, especially if you have kids.
1. Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA) Names who can make medical decisions if you cannot. Often includes or pairs with your living will.
2. Financial Power of Attorney Names who can handle your money, sign documents, and deal with bills and accounts if you are incapacitated.
3. Will At a minimum, this should:
4. Revocable Living Trust (when it makes sense)Particularly useful if:
5. Pour-Over Will & Certificate of Trust If you use a trust, the pour-over will says “anything I forgot to title correctly should pour into my trust.” The certificate of trust is like an ID card for the trust that you can show to banks and title companies.
Now, the question that scares people: cost.
Kyle’s view of typical attorney-drafted plans:
So yes, it costs real money, but it is usually nowhere near the monster number many people imagine.
The living will is the form everyone hates reading, and for good reason.
This is where you get questions like:
“Yeah, you want to do what with a feeding tube for how long?”
It usually covers:
In many states, your living will language is rolled right into your healthcare POA. For most people, it is confusing and emotional. For many physicians, it is oddly familiar, and they often want more customization.
Kyle mentioned that doctors are some of the most opinionated people on these forms. You have seen what end-of-life can look like in real life, so you often know exactly what you want and do not want.
Physicians like real estate. A lot.
Rental in your training city, a house in your current state, maybe a short-term rental somewhere sunny. It sounds fun until you learn that every state where you own property can require its own probate.
One primary probate in your home state, then ancillary probate in each other state.
That is how someone with five rental properties in five different states ends up with five probates, often at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars.
That extra planning is often a 10x financial win for your heirs, even if you have to pay for it while you are alive.
You have probably seen or already used some of the online or AI-powered estate tools floating around. Some advisors even offer them as a free perk.
Kyle’s take is very measured:
The two big risks:
For physicians with growing assets, kids, or rental properties, the odds that your situation fits neatly into 20 generic questions are pretty low.
If you want to see what a physician-specific approach looks like from a planning firm’s perspective, take a look at the resources from WealthKeel LLC or Olson Consulting LLC. They both serve doctors and think about this topic every day.
Estate planning and asset protection are cousins, not twins.
Estate planning Focuses on what happens to your stuff after you die. Who gets it, when they get it, and who is in charge.
Asset protection Focuses on keeping your stuff safer while you are alive, from:
They meet in the middle in a few places:
Irrevocable trusts are where asset protection gets serious.
You give up control of the principal, at least in a real way. The trust, run by a trustee, owns the assets. Creditors usually cannot reach them if the trust was set up properly and early enough.
Kyle highlighted two common use cases for physicians:
There are look-back rules:
Key idea: shifting assets to protected buckets has to happen before the lawsuit or nursing home admission is on the horizon. Once trouble shows up, you are usually too late.
This is why he kept coming back to the idea of being early instead of reactive.
Your estate plan is not a “one and done” document set.
Kyle’s rule of thumb:
That means:
In his words, you should pull them out and look on a regular cadence.
Here is where a lot of physicians perk up. “Asset protection” sounds fancy and cool. It does not have to be.
Kyle’s advice was very much “walk before you run.” Start with the easy wins.
1. Malpractice insurance
You probably already have this, but it is worth making sure:
Your highest risk early in your career is usually tied to your job, so this is the first line of defense.
2. Tenancy by the entirety (where available)
In some states, married couples can title their primary residence as “tenancy by the entirety.”
In simple terms, both of you own 100 percent of the property. If a creditor comes after just you, they usually cannot take the house, because your spouse also owns all of it.
The best part: when you buy the house, this is often a simple box to check. No extra cost.
3. Umbrella insurance
Cheap, boring, very useful.
An umbrella policy sits on top of your auto and home liability coverage and gives you an extra layer, often $1–$5 million. It can help with:
You want to confirm what your specific policy covers, especially if you have rentals.
4. LLCs for rentals and side gigs
If you own rental property and have the option from a lending standpoint, holding it in an LLC is a no-brainer for rentals.
Why?
Kyle’s concern with skipping the LLC and just “buying more umbrella” is simple. You have to make sure your policy even covers what you think it does, and even then, a big claim can exceed your coverage.
A serious slip-and-fall or injury case can be big enough to eat your net worth if everything is in your name.
5. Domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs) for later
For physicians later in their career with a solid balance sheet, you may see:
That is where a domestic asset protection trust can fit. You move assets into a more locked-down bucket, keep some income or interest, and know that principal is harder to reach.
Not an early-career tool. Definitely a “graduate level” option.
Some physicians push back on LLCs because they feel like a hassle.
Kyle’s answer: the risk of not using one can be much worse.
If someone is hurt on your property and you are found liable, that judgment can skyrocket past:
Using an LLC keeps the risk siloed. If something bad happens, the exposure is usually limited to what is inside that entity.
It is not exciting work, but it is better than having your entire net worth at risk over a broken sidewalk.
One of the sneaky best asset protection tools physicians already have is their workplace retirement plan.
401(k)s and 403(b)s that fall under ERISA have very strong legal protection. In many cases, the only thing that can cut through that protection is divorce.
Rolling everything into a traditional IRA can:
So leaving money in qualified plans is often asset protection by default, plus good tax planning.
One of the biggest pain points financial planners talked about with Kyle is this: most estate attorneys work in one state, maybe two. Physicians move a lot. Your contracts may be in three different states. Your rentals might be elsewhere.
Every state has its own bar rules and licensing. So that sharp estate attorney in Charlotte probably cannot help with your new rental in Tennessee.
Resolve built their model around this exact problem for doctors:
Your estate plan does not live in a vacuum. It has to move with you.
Good estate planning is a team sport.
You get the best results when:
If you like following the professionals behind the conversation that sparked this guide, you can find Tyler on Twitter at @olsonplanner and Chad at @WealthKeel.
Estate planning and asset protection do not have to be scary, but they do need to be intentional. As a physician, you carry more risk, more income, and more responsibility, which means the cost of ignoring this is higher.
Start with the basics: a will, powers of attorney, and a clear guardian plan for your kids. Add a revocable trust when it makes sense, clean up your beneficiaries, and put simple asset protection moves in place like strong malpractice coverage, umbrella insurance, and LLCs for rentals. Then, every few years, sit down, pull the documents out, and make sure they still match your life.
Your future self, your spouse, and your kids will never complain that you spent a little extra time getting this right.
Again, a BIG thank you to Kyle Claussen for being our guest for this episode! 🙏 Resolve -- Use the code "PhysicianCents10" for 10% off!
The best of the best list is a paid sponsorship, but these are professionals/companies that Tyler and Chad collaborate with within their own practices or have been vetted to earn a spot on this list. By supporting our sponsors, it allows Chad & Tyler to dedicate more time to you and the Physician Cents community. If you ever have a question (or not a great experience, which we don’t expect!) about a sponsor, please let us know. We call it the “best of the best” for a reason, and we will maintain that standard for our listeners & viewers.
This information is for general purposes only. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific professional financial, tax, or legal advice, as individual circumstances vary. Please see a financial professional, CPA, and/or an attorney in regards to your own individual situation.
Wealthkeel’s Advisory Services and Financial Planning offered through Vicus Capital, Inc., a Federally Registered Investment Advisor. WealthKeel LLC, 615 Channelside Drive, Suite 207, Tampa, FL 33602 -- 267.590.9533.
Olson Consulting LLC, Offering Advisory Services and Financial Planning, is a State-Registered Investment Advisor.
A podcast designed specifically for physicians, offering a breakdown of complex financial topics to help you develop your financial IQ, further your financial journey, and improve your well-being. Whether you're a medical student, resident, fellow, or attending physician, you're sure to learn something new that will benefit your journey.
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