The following are areas in which halacha can impact estate planning:

The Torah laws of succession state that when a man dies and leaves sons as well as daughters, the sons inherit his estate, whereas the daughters receive nothing. If he only leaves daughters, then the daughters inherit the estate. Additionally, a firstborn son inherits from his father twice as much as any other son.

The time-honored approach to adapting the Torah laws of inheritance is the use of the "Shtar Chatzi Zacha". The way it works is that a man writes a document that obliges him to pay a large sum of money (more than the value of the entire estate) to his daughter, with the condition that in the event that his son(s) pay the daughter a share of the estate, she releases them from the obligation to pay the debt. It is known as a "Shtar Chatzi Zacha" because it was the custom to award the daughter a portion of the estate equivalent to half of each of the sons. Basically, when a man dies, his sons will have a choice: either give their sister(s) an equal share in the estate or else the sons will have to pay off the debt effectively resulting in being left with nothing.

ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE/ LIVING WILL

Halacha governs many end-of-life issues. Generally, people are not permitted to squander the gift of life, even if it is difficult or seemingly grave. Without an Advanced Health Care Directive end-of-life decisions might be made contrary to halacha. The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudath Israel of America has a national campaign to encourage people to sign a "halachic health care proxy."  This form helps to ensure that all medical and posthumous decisions made on behalf of another would be made pursuant to halacha.

GUARDIANSHIP OF CHILDREN

The issue of guardianship of children is of particular importance to the ba'al teshuvah community. Jewish law requires that parents to train their children in the performance of mitzvot, and a father has the obligation to teach his sons Torah. Unfortunately, in most cases the extended family of a ba'al teshuvah would not be able to fulfill the parents' obligations of teaching Torah, in the event, G-d forbid, that both parents die. Ba'al teshuvah parents should take special consideration when choosing guardians for their children. If parents do not appoint guardians through estate planning, a secular judge would appoint guardians of the judge's choosing.