Scope is agreed before the first client conversation
The engagement is defined in writing at the outset: what question the insurance work answers, what it explicitly does not touch, and who owns each deliverable. A liquidity analysis for an illiquid estate is a scope. "Reviewing the client's financial picture" is not.
The referring professional stays in the room
Meetings are joint unless the referring professional prefers otherwise. Findings go to the attorney or CPA first. No adjacent product conversation is opened with the client — not annuities, not investments, not anything outside the agreed scope — without the referring professional's knowledge.
Documentation that survives review
Every recommendation arrives with the assumptions stated, a conservative illustration alongside any illustrated rate, the carrier selection rationale, and the alternatives considered and rejected. If the file has to be defended years later — to a successor trustee, a beneficiary, or a regulator — the reasoning has to be readable on its own.
The related best interest and suitability guide covers the documentation standard in more detail.
Compensation transparency
Insurance is a commissioned business, and that fact should be disclosed plainly rather than discovered. The commission structure of any recommended contract is disclosed to the referring professional. Attorneys and CPAs face their own professional conduct rules on referral fees; we do not propose arrangements that put a referring professional's license at issue.
Where we are useful, and where we are not
We are useful on estate liquidity, business succession funding, large-face and impaired-risk underwriting, premium finance evaluation, policy audits on existing coverage, and annuity income design. We are not an RIA, do not provide tax or legal advice, and do not act as a fiduciary. That boundary is stated to clients as well as to referral sources.
For the underwriting side of complex cases, see underwriting advocacy for difficult HNW cases.
Starting a case
Most engagements begin with a short scenario summary and no client identification. If the structure is workable we say so; if it is not, we say that too. Start a confidential conversation.