Our Philosophy About Estate Planning
We believe that the most successful estate planning is done in the context of a close professional relationship with you as our client—one built around excellent mutual communications and a thorough understanding of your situation. We want to be your lawyers for life.
Gaining a clear picture of your values and goals is the first and most important step in the planning process. We will work closely with you and your other advisors at every stage in order to provide a customized estate plan that meets your specific planning challenges. We believe that we should only propose planning solutions that are fully consistent with your family’s culture and incorporate the wisdom of your other advisors. Our goal is to enable you to protect yourself and your loved ones, and, if you desire, establish a legacy that will last for generations.
Why Estate Planning is Important
Contrary to widespread belief, you don’t need to have a large "estate" before estate planning becomes important. By doing estate planning in advance, you can:
- Transfer property to others in an orderly way
- Reduce or eliminate taxes
- Provide for guardianship of children
- Avoid probate
- Avoid court intervention in the event of incapacity
- Designate who will care for you if you are incapacitated
- Provide for medical decision-making
- Effectively commingle assets
- Protect assets from the claims of creditors
- Generate an income stream
- Leverage charitable contributions
- Create a lasting legacy that benefits loved ones and the community
Planning Tools
A variety of tools are available to meet these important objectives. Which tools are appropriate for you depends on your individual needs.
The starting place is living trust planning, which avoids probate and provides protection in the event of incapacity. In addition to forming a living trust, you should execute powers of attorney for financial management and healthcare decision-making and nominate guardians for your minor children.
If you have a taxable estate, the next step is to explore family wealth transfer opportunities, both during life and after death. If you are charitably inclined, there are a variety of charitable planned giving tools that can provide for favorite community organizations and loved ones as well as reducing or eliminating taxes.
Finally, there is specialized planning for non-citizen spouses and the LGBT community.