Estate Planning Partner – UHNW (West Coast)

For more than 40 years, Mercer Advisors has been helping families amplify and simplify their financial lives by integrating financial planning, investment management, business management, tax, estate, insurance, and more—all managed by a single team. We deliver comprehensive care once reserved for only the wealthiest households. Today, we serve over 42,800 families across 110+ cities in the U.S. Ranked the #1 RIA Firm in the nation by Barron’s for two consecutive years, Mercer Advisors is an independent fiduciary legally bound to act in our clients’ best interests.

Mercer Advisors offers a workplace that stands apart in the financial industry. More than half of our employees and client-facing professionals are women, reflecting the clients we serve. With a flexible, national footprint, we build our teams around exceptional talent—wherever they are.

About the role

Regis is Mercer Advisors’ offering designed for ultra-high net worth families with complex, multi-generational wealth. Regis clients often have the means to build their own family office and require a deeply integrated wealth management experience with the highest level of service, coordination, and sophistication. We are a team of world-class fiduciary professionals delivering holistic advice across investments, financial planning, estate strategy, tax strategy, and more—with the aim of making every client feel like our only client.

We are seeking an exceptional Estate Planning Partner - Regis to serve as a primary strategic advisor, team leader, and subject matter expert for our Regis families. You will lead engagements alongside senior wealth advisors and other Regis team members with direct accountability for the estate planning client outcomes and experience of our most complex families. This is not a support or review role—you will bring the credibility, judgment, and gravitas that UHNW families expect from their most trusted advisors.

Responsibilities

• Lead client relationships alongside senior wealth advisors and serve as the in-house estate planning strategic partner and subject matter expert to Regis families.
• Maintain and grow a book of Regis clients, families with balance sheets that often exceed $100M.
• Manage a select team of UHNW-focused estate strategists and other operational support specialists to drive excellent client outcomes.
• Partner with Mercer’s broader team of in-house, interdisciplinary experts or a client’s outside advisors to integrate advanced estate planning strategies within the broader financial plan.
• Support new client development through participation in prospective client meetings, industry conferences, and contributions to thought leadership content and publications.
• Serve as a key partner to Regis leadership in efforts to improve and grow the platform—encompassing enhancements to our service and operating model, technology stack, as well as talent or organizational design.
• Design and implement comprehensive estate plans incorporating advanced wealth transfer techniques, including irrevocable trusts (GRATs, IDGTs, ILITs, SLATs, CRTs, QPRTs), revocable trusts, wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and funding-related documents.
• Lead multi-generational planning conversations, including family governance structures, wealth education for heirs, trustee selection, and succession design for closely held businesses.
• Advise on complex estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax strategies; proactively identify planning windows and legislative risk.
• Design and implement complex FLLCs and other business structures, including formation, entity selection, succession planning, buy/sell agreements, and business tax planning.
• Advise on trust administration matters, trust modification and decanting strategies, and trustee/beneficiary conflict navigation.
• Prepare and review deeds, real property transfer documents, and federal and state estate and gift tax returns.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited law school; LL.M. in Taxation or Estate Planning strongly preferred.
• Licensed to practice law in at least one state.
• 15+ years of legal experience in estate planning, with the majority spent advising clients with balance sheets of $25M or greater; meaningful experience with $100M+ families required.
• Deep technical mastery of federal transfer tax law, trust and estate administration, and advanced wealth transfer planning techniques.
• Ability to interpret and convey complex estate planning topics clearly to wealth management teams and clients.
• Experience advising on business succession, liquidity events (IPOs, M&A exits, ESOP transactions), and the estate planning implications of closely held business interests.
• Prior experience in a private wealth department at an AmLaw 100/200 firm or a nationally recognized estate planning boutique.
• Comfort operating in a team-based, financial advisory environment and within a regulated RIA structure; prior experience at a family office, wealth management firm, or multi-family office is a differentiating asset.

Schedule

This professional role requires availability during standard business hours of Monday through Friday from 8AM to 5PM. At times, the role may have early or late hours to meet business tasks and deadlines for external and internal client needs.

Pay

Actual base pay within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the applicant’s geographic location, relevant experience, education, skills, and licenses/certifications. This position is also eligible to earn incentive compensation through one of Mercer Advisors’ incentive compensation programs.

Base Pay Range: $212,500 - $250,000 USD

Benefits

• Company Paid Basic Life & AD&D Insurance
• Company Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Supplemental Life & AD&D; Short-Term Disability; Accident; Critical Illness; and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
• Three Cigna medical plans offerings including two High Deductible Health Plans and a Traditional Co-Pay medical plan
• Kaiser Medical plans available in California
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contributions if enrolled in either HDHP medical plan
• Two comprehensive Dental Plans
• Vision Insurance Plan
• Dependent Care Savings Account for child and dependent care
• 14 Company Paid Holidays including a full week off at Thanksgiving
• Generous paid time off program for vacation and sick days
• Employee Assistance Plan
• Family Medical Leave
• Paid Parental Leave (8 weeks)
• Maternity benefits utilizing company paid STD, any supplemental STD, plus Parental Leave (8 weeks)
• Adoption Assistance Reimbursement Program
• Company Paid Concierge Services for you and your loved ones
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with both Traditional and Roth plans with per pay period match as well as an after-tax option
• Pet Insurance
• Personalized financial planning and guidance from Mercer Advisors professionals, offered at preferred employee pricing