By Rod Hatley, J.D., LL.M. When I meet with prospective clients, I invariably tell them that my path to becoming a tax and estate planning attorney began with a 7-year probate. My father, who had been a successful business owner, had been ill with leukemia for a few years. At the time, I was on…
Almost Everyone Makes By Laura A. Roser Estate planning traditionally focuses on your financial assets. But when you think about what matters most, is it your car, home, or bank account? Of course not. The only reason those assets have any value is you’ve assigned meaning to them. You hope, for example, when you give money…
How to Nurture and Pass Along Spiritual Capital in Estate Planning By Charlie Douglas Estate planning needs an extreme makeover. I was dumbfounded when I discovered there was no working definition of “estate planning” at such reputable institutions as the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel or the American College of Financial Services. Seriously, no…
By Martha Hartney Planning for Death Gives Us Courage to Live Fully Since childhood, death has been kind of a constant companion for me—I’ve lost friends and family, had older parents that I constantly worried would die early (they didn’t). I’ve learned that keeping death in the forefront of my mind has the effect of…
By Laura A. Roser “I like to tell the story of two drivers,” says Bracken Darrell, CEO of Logitech. “They both start in San Diego. The first driver gets in his car, turns it on and starts driving around. He doesn’t have a plan. He just drives toward whatever looks interesting. He does this…
I’ve worked with many estate planners throughout the years—both to organize my own affairs and for business. And I’ve noticed an interesting phenomena. It seems the financial services community hides behind elaborate jargon in favor of addressing the emotional reasons their clients are sitting in front of them. They’ll talk about non-revocable trusts, captive insurance…
