United States
Hong KongEstate Planning: 10%, and the domain most candidates rush
Ten per cent of the exam, about 17 of the 170 questions on our derived counts. It covers property titling and beneficiary designations, wills and probate, trusts, gift and estate tax, deductions, incapacity planning and business succession.
Ten per cent, and the domain candidates from investment and insurance backgrounds most reliably leave until last.
What is in it
- Property titling and beneficiary designations.
- Wills, probate and intestacy.
- Trusts - types and uses.
- Gift and estate tax.
- Marital and charitable deductions.
- Incapacity planning.
- Business succession.
- Estate planning for non-traditional relationships.
Titling comes first
Because it overrides the will.
Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes to the survivor. A beneficiary designation on a retirement account or life policy controls that asset. Neither is affected by what the will says, and a will that contradicts them does not win.
That is the single most examined idea in the domain, and it is the one clients most often get wrong in real life.
An ex-spouse named on a retirement account from a previous marriage, never updated, receives the account regardless of the will and regardless of the divorce in many circumstances. It is the most common and most avoidable estate planning failure there is.
What changed recently
The basic exclusion amount was set at USD 15 million for 2026 by the 2025 reconciliation act, and indexed thereafter.
The scheduled reversion to roughly half that figure, which dominated estate planning advice for years, did not happen. Any material describing a 2026 sunset is stale - and it is the fastest way to date a source in this domain.
What most clients actually need
Very few clients face federal estate tax at a USD 15 million exclusion. The domain still matters, because most estate planning is not about tax.
It is about who receives what, who decides when the client cannot, whether probate is avoided, whether minor children are provided for, and whether the plan reflects the family that exists rather than the one that existed a decade ago.
State tax is separate
Several states impose their own estate or inheritance tax, with exclusions far below the federal figure - sometimes by an order of magnitude.
A client comfortably below the federal threshold can have a substantial state liability, and a plan built only on the federal number misses it.
Dollar limits here are indexed annually and the transfer tax exclusion was changed by the 2025 reconciliation act. Confirm the current figure before relying on it.
Common questions
How much of the CFP exam is estate planning?
Ten per cent, about 17 of the 170 questions on our derived counts. It covers titling, wills and probate, trusts, transfer tax, incapacity and business succession.
Why does titling come first?
Because it overrides the will. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship and beneficiary designations control those assets regardless of what the will says.
What is the most common estate planning failure?
A stale beneficiary designation - an ex-spouse named on a retirement account from a previous marriage, never updated, who receives it regardless of the will.
What is the current estate tax exclusion?
USD 15 million for 2026, set by the 2025 reconciliation act and indexed thereafter. The previously scheduled reversion to roughly half that did not happen.
Does state estate tax matter?
Considerably. Several states impose their own estate or inheritance tax with exclusions far below the federal figure, so a client below the federal threshold can still have a substantial liability.