In my opinion, a good estate planning result where property is properly transmitted as desired, and family relations among the survivors are not harmed during the estate planning and administration process. Notice that conspicuously absent from this definition is any mention of taxes.  I humbly submit that taxes have always been the easiest piece of the estate planning puzzle to solve, yet the overwhelming majority of estate planners still focus their attention almost solely on the tax piece, probably because it is easiest to solve and also the easiest to demonstrate quantifiable, tangible results. This is not easy to do.  Why is this so difficult to achieve?