The Three Goals of Estate Law
Increase
Wealth
Preserve
Assets
Honor
Intentions
Planning your estate is largely associated with conserving it, but planning can increase its value and also provide a measure of stability for your retirement years. Because wealth creation benefits from an exponential trajectory, the earlier in life one begins this process the more impact a plan can have. Finally, planning will permit the actualization of your intended distribution path for assets. Those who will benefit from your estate should receive the largest possible distribution with the least amount of delay.
The Importance of a Plan
Your estate is your property, all of it and of every type and kind, whole or partially owned, whether liquid or illiquid, tangible or intangible, real or intellectual, cash or collectible. If you don't make a plan for yourself, state and federal governments will determine the outcome and disposition of these things through interstate succession statutes and other laws of descent and distribution. The default rules may not be consistent with your ideals, and may not even be in your or your family's best interest. You’ve been smart and worked hard for yourself and your family – make a plan for your legacy.
“Each of us has assets that must be coupled with our needs and desires, whether they’re financial in nature, or emotionally preferable, or simply the outflow of wisdom and preparedness.”
There is no one who wouldn't benefit from making a plan. It's not just an exercise reserved for the wealthy. Each of us has assets that must be coupled with our needs and desires, whether they're financial in nature, or emotionally preferable, or simply the outflow of wisdom and preparedness. These issues run the gamut, from the expected, like final arrangements and probate administration, to the unexpected, like illness and disability, to the core of the practice, like taxes and gifts.
Estate planning also opens the way to making other critical life decisions, like arrangements for children and the specification of healthcare preferences. We help you accomplish these things accurately and in the most efficient way possible. Throughout, we remain guided principally by your wishes.
Now is the right time to undertake the planning process, but there are also key life events that prompt the updating or creation of a plan:
No current plan
Outdated plan
New vision and wishes
Changes in the law
Reduced assets or income of potential surviving beneficiaries
Birth, death or adoption of family members
Marriage or remarriage
Disability, illness or special needs
Inflation
Illiquidity
Accumulation of assets
Business growth and development or purchase/partnership inquiry
How We Help
We are legal technicians in this domain, with expertise far beyond the necessary. We also excel at aligning the technical with the intensely human experience of planning a future. It's our honor to be the facilitator of your foresight. In an era of vast wealth transfer between generations, increased reliance on private resources, and the ever expanding dynamics of family relationships, the importance of undertaking this process has never been greater.