A great estate plan helps you think more clearly about your life and how you want to share what you value with the people and organizations that are important to you.
Most people (including estate planning attorneys) approach estate planning as a “death and dying protocol.” We disagree. To create a workable estate plan we have to understand how you live today and what really matters to you: not just from a financial perspective, but also from a heart and mind perspective.
In our planning process, we discuss not just what you own, but everything you want your loved ones to know and have. We help you make – and document – decisions that reflect your true wishes.
We find that people’s lives often become more complex than they realize: you may have built a business, earned stock options, invested in real estate, or created a blended family. These are just a few examples. It’s essential that your estate plan considers every aspect of your life so that there is no ambiguity, confusion or disagreement about what your wishes really are.
A successful estate plan covers three main areas:
Your Assets
Through the planning process, we’ll understand all of your assets and prepare instructions for your heirs to inherit them.
Some assets, like publicly traded securities, are easy to transfer. Other assets, like a business you’ve built from the ground up, or a collection you’ve curated, may require more detailed planning. For example, you may decide your business should be sold, or a succession plan may need to be created.
These distinctions matter when it comes to passing your assets to your heirs. We’ll help you determine whether your assets should be restructured to make inheritance more manageable.
Our goal is that your plan ensures that the people and organizations you want to inherit can do so without unanticipated conflicts, legal action or complications.
Important People
A workable estate plan prepares your executor and heirs to understand what you have – ranging from investments to cherished possessions – and what they’ll need to do with it.
The planning process should also include meaningful conversations on a wide range of topics – ranging from love to money and everything in between – with people you care about. Some heirs may be disappointed by, or disagree with, a decision. Others may simply have difficulty thinking about a future where you’re not there.
We find that people appreciate clarity on what you really want.
We’ll guide you to have these conversations so that you can say what needs to be said, and your heirs can understand your wishes.
Important Decisions
We help you make decisions that are right for you, even when it’s difficult.
Your children may have different needs from each other. You may be weighing how to balance gifts to your family versus gifts to organizations you care about. You may anticipate or experience conflict due to some of your decisions.
We’re here to guide you to make decisions that are right for you.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
If you’d like to discuss your estate plan, and how to make the right choice for your estate planning attorney, we’d love to talk.
Please CONTACT US here to start the conversation.