31 Jul Your Lawyer Is Your Coach.

When you think about doing an estate plan, you think about documents. A will. A trust. But, what is effective estate planning all about? It’s about more than just a document.

It’s setting things up to transfer in the most efficient way when you die. That takes knowing how things transfer in your state. It takes knowing exactly how your assets are owned and if each individual asset has any direction on where it, specifically, goes.

A will or a trust is a tool. And for many people can be necessary tools to create efficient transfers for their situation. But they have to be applied properly. And ownership has to coordinate with those tools.

We think of lawyers as people who create official documents. And we can make really good documents. Documents that are flexible and continue to work as circumstances change….

… but. We are really good at knowing what documents you need you need in the first place. We know what will be the most efficient transfer of your assets in your situation. Because for most of us, this isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve seen assets transfer easily. We’ve seen great intentions fall short. We’ve seen family members have far more to do at literally the worst time in their lives to do it… when it could have been prevented. And because of all of that we are more than just someone who hands you an official document.

We’re your coach.

We know how different legal processes work. The benefits and drawbacks of them. We know the rules.

Because we know the rules, we can come up with a game plan with your particular situation in mind… your financial situation and your family situation, to set up your assets to transfer as efficiently as possible.

It isn’t just handing you a will. It’s being in your corner to guide you through the best game plan.

It’s determining whether the drawbacks of having a trust are worth it to you. It’s figuring out if automatic transfers will work as smoothly as hoped. It’s determining whether a probate process has any benefit. And then putting together the right documents that execute the plan…. documents that are prepared to deal with your life as it changes.

Don’t just think about estate planning as signing some documents and never thinking about it again. You are organizing your affairs, so that the ones who are left grieving you aren’t also stuck having to clean up a legal mess. To effectively organize, you need to find a coach.