Frequently asked questions

Estate planning is arranging, in legally valid documents, who manages your affairs if you're incapacitated and who receives your property when you die. A core plan is typically a will, a durable power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive with a HIPAA authorization, and — for many families — a revocable living trust.

Yes. An estate plan decides who raises your children, who can talk to your doctors, and who manages your bank account if you're in the hospital — none of which depends on wealth. Without documents, state intestacy law and court-appointed decision-makers fill the gaps.

Your state's intestacy statute distributes your probate property along a fixed family hierarchy — typically spouse and children first — and a court appoints an administrator and, if needed, a guardian for minor children. Unmarried partners, stepchildren, and charities receive nothing under intestacy.

A revocable living trust does not automatically replace a will. A separate will may direct probate assets left outside the trust and nominate guardians for minor children. The documents needed depend on state law and your plan.

Review periodically and after major life events — marriage, divorce, a birth or death, a move to another state, or a significant change in assets. Review beneficiary forms too: valid designations generally control under the governing plan or policy rather than a later will, subject to applicable law.

The agent under your power of attorney acts for you while you're alive; that authority generally ends at your death. A nominated executor administers the probate estate only after the required appointment or grant of letters. They can be the same person, but the roles and time windows are distinct.

Activation and capacity findings are governed by state law and the document. While you have capacity, you make your own healthcare decisions; amendment and revocation rules are also state-specific.

The directive says who decides; a HIPAA authorization permits specified disclosures but does not compel them. A qualifying personal representative may separately exercise HIPAA access rights under 45 CFR §§ 164.502(g) and 164.524.

A document is valid if it's executed the way your state's statute requires — for a will, that generally means signed by you and attested by two witnesses; powers of attorney and directives have their own signing and notarization rules. Elephant's templates are state-specific drafts; they are not counsel-signed until a bar-licensed attorney of record reviews them. The app walks you through the usual execution steps — confirm them with your own counsel.

Federal estate tax depends on the taxable estate, adjusted taxable gifts, any specific gift-tax exemption, deductions, credits, and available exclusion. The 2026 basic exclusion is $15 million per person; portability can preserve a deceased spouse's unused estate-and-gift exclusion, but not GST exemption. Some states and DC impose separate estate or inheritance taxes.

In 2026, qualifying present-interest gifts can use a $19,000 annual exclusion per recipient ($38,000 with a valid gift-splitting election). A return may still be required for future interests or another filing trigger. Direct tuition and medical payments can qualify for separate exclusions when paid to the organization or provider.

A conventional revocable trust generally does not change the grantor's federal income-tax reporting while the power to revoke is retained, and that retained power generally keeps transferred assets in the federal gross estate. Its primary purpose is not federal tax reduction.

Delaware is common when institutional investors require it. Solo founders operating from one state often incorporate at home to avoid foreign qualification, a second registered agent, and duplicate annual filings. Delaware franchise tax for corporations uses methods set by 8 Del. C. § 503, including an authorized-shares method and an assumed-par-value method. See our guide: https://elephant.estate/resources/home-state-vs-delaware-incorporation

Often yes, until a lead investor or priced round requires Delaware. Many angel checks and SAFEs do not include a Delaware incorporation clause on day one. Revisit state choice before a priced round or when counsel drafts NVCA-style preferred stock. See our guide: https://elephant.estate/resources/home-state-vs-delaware-incorporation

Usually no if you operate from one home state. A services or consulting LLC with no institutional investors typically forms locally to avoid foreign qualification, a second registered agent, and duplicate annual filings. Delaware is for investor template stacks, not automatic tax savings.

Family holding LLCs often form where the property sits or where the family lives — not automatically in Delaware or Wyoming because of marketing slogans. Multi-state portfolios may use layered structures; that is a counsel and CPA conversation, not a one-size template.

If you form a corporation or LLC in one state but operate from another, the operating state usually requires you to register as a foreign entity (Certificate of Authority). That means extra fees, a registered agent in that state, and annual reports in both places — a common reason bootstrap founders form in their home state instead of Delaware.

No. Elephant is a software platform, not a law firm, and doesn't provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Documents are generated from state-specific draft templates. Treat them as drafts until your own counsel reviews them — attorney sign-off is still pending before anyone should rely on them as final instruments.

Documents are envelope-encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, transmitted over TLS 1.3, and every sensitive action writes an append-only audit record. Multi-factor authentication is mandatory for principal accounts. See the Security page for the full architecture.

Access is scoped per member. You can invite a spouse as a co-principal, give adult children or beneficiaries read-only views, and grant professionals like attorneys or CPAs access to specific documents only. Executors can be given access to the estate documents and vault. Break-glass access that activates under defined conditions is planned.

Tembo is Elephant's AI assistant — named for the Swahili word for elephant. Tembo helps you organize your household, explains estate concepts in plain English, and remembers details you share so you don't have to re-explain them. Tembo educates and organizes; it does not give legal advice, and complex questions can be escalated to a human specialist.

Tembo's memory is household-scoped and stored in Elephant's systems — not in a third-party chatbot. You can review, correct, forget, or pause what Tembo remembers under Settings → Tembo memory. Memory is used to personalize help inside your household; it is not used to train public models.