Saving Parents\’ Precious Resources
Occasionally, I’m stunned by how little current clients\’ or customers\’ needs are considered by service providers. As an estate planning attorney for “non-traditional families,” one of my key concerns for my clients is providing them with services that are not only excellent, but also efficient. Nontraditional families include women who are heads of households with children and, as the primary wage earner, they have 3 issues to continually manage: Financial resources Time Parenting While The Law Offices of Max Elliott may not be able to assist in quality parenting, we do provide services and use tools that bring efficiency to the first 2 issues. In plain English, we help our clients by saving them money and time. Estate planning, as is said so often now, is not just for the very wealthy. So our services allow you to determine the scope of estate planning protection that fits within your financial framework. Are you a median wage earner who rents with a teenager living at home but working his or her way through college? If so, then an estate plan that encompasses education planning and a Qualified Personal Residence Trust, or “QPRT,” may be unnecessary AND we won’t turn you away. We will simply recognize that more than likely, to protect your family and yourself, you will and should want to start with simpler vehicles, which is what you can obtain for probably less than 1-2 months’ rent. BUT… “It’s not money, but time,” you say. Well let’s look at Joan: Joan is an HR executive at a Fortune 500 company and earns more than the median. Plus, she’s up by 5 AM to workout, get the kids off to school and daycare, is working her smartphone by 7:30 at the office by train by 9ish, eats lunch at her desk, is on the 5:15 and cooking or ordering in by 6:30 but answers her email until 10:00 PM. Weekends are for catching up on the latest SHRM reports she missed while taking the train during the week. Joan came up along the ranks in HR, so it would be unwise for us to waste her time talking about 401(k) planning and HSAs. She’s a tech wizard who lives in the ‘burbs and works downtown, so I’d also never think to ask her to commit to only in-person meetings when a teleconference or an exchange on our secure client directory will suffice. Speaking of that directory, if you are the mom, renting, and with the teenager or a parent with kids and no time like Joan, or someone who just wants to save time and money, our secure online portal that is available for clients makes it easy to engage in substantive, secure conversations, exchange documents, and pay fees all in one place. It’s not an open e-mail or even e-mail on our website. It’s a secure, designed specifically for lawyers and used strictly by us and our clients. So, in concluding this shameless “use our service” self-promotional piece, I’ll just say that whoever you choose as your legal services team, make sure that your precious resources are considered and used wisely.
3 Reasons for Essential Family Talks and How to Manage Them, Despite Science-Fiction and Poker
Lawyers are no different from other groups when it comes to disagreeing with each other and, in fact, are probably worse. So while attending a recent seminar on trusts and estate planning, I was pleasantly surprised when my colleagues and I all agreed on one thing: People don’t like having the conversations needed for drafting adequate trusts and planning for the future, especially Baby Boomers and young couples. For example, a friend once told me that he and his wife hadn’t revisited the issue of guardianship for 13 years because it created such a stir the first time. Understandable. What man wants to tell his wife that instead of his mother-in-law, he’d rather have the kids raised by Darth Vader? Disclaimer: My friend did not say that about his wife’s mother. Baby Boomers don’t like talking about this issue because we cannot fathom that the world will continue to exist without us. Similarly, young couples, especially young parents, tend to believe that they are the world. Why not? Still, conversations about retirement and the Golden Years are essential and should be had a lot sooner than the appearance of the first strand of grey. How can we lawyers help if the conversations are sidestepped? Well, we try to provide compelling reasons for having these important chats, such as the following: If you’re a couple in your 20s or 30s the world is at your feet and you should do what you can to protect your world. Have you thought about your values and who in your families, outside of your partner, most accurately reflects those values? When you take vacations without the children and/or pets are you comfortable that your values are supported or do the children need reeling back in when returning from 3 weeks with Grandma? Perhaps you should gently suggest that Uncle Bob or Aunt Carol help Grandma out a few evenings. However, if Grandma rebukes the suggestion by playing the “grandparent trump card”: “I’m a grandparent and can do what I want for my grandchildren,” tell Uncle Bob or somebody to be at Grandma’s a few times a week. When Grandma huffs, blame it on a lawyer. Leaving the healthcare debate for another time, if you’re a Baby Boomer, you probably know that medical wonders abound to provide you or your parents with the physiological retirement deserved. Have you found a way to ensure that when their knees need replacing, Mom or Dad will be able to recuperate in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed without sacrificing your lifestyle or their independence? If, when approaching the subject, they start moaning about you deserting them and them living out their final moments with cold mashed potatoes and a checkerboard, suggest interviewing in-home, part-time caregivers and a cruise that gives AARP members discounts. If that doesn’t work, blame the cold potatoes on a lawyer. If you are a small business owner, your business may be your most valuable asset. When you are ready to release the reigns, at least a little bit, are you and your family comfortable with your individual successor or the successor management? Maybe one family member knows the business inside out and the other family member has no clue but 2 people are needed to run it. Update your business plan and bring the other family member in on management selection of neutral parties. If he or she doesn’t want to be involved from that perspective, blame the million-dollar IPO that the family member got locked out of on an accountant.