Many areas of the law are left unanswered by Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell , but the fundamental question of whether same-sex individuals can marry has now been answered. There have traditionally been many obstacles LGBT individuals face when it comes to estate planning and taxes, but those obstacles have been cleared a great deal by the Obergefell decision. Married same-sex couples now have access to new tools concerning estate and tax planning that will help them benefit in the same ways that only heterosexual marriages have until now.

While an estate plan has obvious uses - i.e., planning for the disposition of estate assets after the death of a testator - some of the lesser-known benefits of a well-written plan are the provisions that provide for both management of assets and instructions for personal care in the event of incapacity.

People are not stationary - moving to a new state for work, family, or other reasons is a part of life for a great deal of individuals. What happens to an estate plan, though, when a person no longer lives in the state where their plan was created? Is the plan still valid in their new state? Although estate planning documents that were validly executed in one state should generally be valid in another, these instruments may need some modification. It is highly recommended that all executed documents be, at the very least, reviewed by an attorney when relocation occurs.