Estate Planning is all about finding a balance.

Estate Planning is all about finding a balance.

For most people considering Estate Planning, we want to protect our loved ones from the probate process and make sure that we still have control of the funds during our lifetime.  We may come with no exposure to the field or a lot that we’ve learned from our community or online.  Either way, your attorney should be spending time to help you craft an Estate Plan that matches a blend of your family dynamics, wishes, concerns, and ability to be administered seamlessly.

Some people come to the process with no thoughts on how to divide their assets, who they trust to handle key responsibilities, and what they need to think through.  Others may have very particular wishes that they have had for quite some time.

When embarking on your Estate Planning journey, you want to find a happy medium.  If you leave your wishes up to a default standard without giving your own input, your plan may not ultimately fit your needs and you might not even understand what it says.  If you have specific thoughts about your wishes, you will want to discuss these with your attorney.  A good attorney will consider both your wishes and also the future implementation of your Estate Plan.

Sometimes people have ideas that they heard of from someone else, online, or in a movie.  These ideas may be realistic or they may be impractical and challenging to administer.  Diligent attorneys should discuss these issues with you so you can decide together on a plan that works as intended and does not cause too undue stress on your loved ones to implement.

In my practice, we focus on customized, comprehensive, and compassionate Estate Planning.  This means we go through different scenarios, talk about how things work, and ensure clients know how their plan works before they sign.  This also means that I am honest with clients about different options to consider and also when something they are contemplating may be more complicated to administer than they envisioned.  This process can be emotional for some families and though we don’t expect anything to happen to most clients anytime soon, we need to ensure their plan makes sense for them and works.

For instance, say a client comes in saying they want to leave $1 to a distant family member they don’t really like just so that the family member will feel included.  By putting that distant family member as a beneficiary, they are legally entitled to review your Trust upon your passing.  This can cause conflict and potential litigation that the client didn’t consider.  Another example is if a client has wants to impose restrictions or requirements on their successor trustee that may compromise the successor trustee’s fiduciary duty.  We need to weigh the concerns that the client has with the reality of how things would actually work.

If two families end up having very similar Estate Planning designs, that should be because their wishes were actually similar.  It should not be because they didn’t know their options.  Every family we work with brings in their preliminary ideas then we work together to design.  Both the clients and I ask questions through the process because often, you don’t know what you don’t know. Diligent attorneys will use their experience, both in legal writing and administration, to guide families in a sensitive and thorough manner.

As we seek balance in our daily, work, and family life, your Estate Plan should also be intentionally balanced so you can feel peace and confidence that your legacy will be honored.