I am writing to recap the last three articles I’ve written about Estate Planning. You may or may not know, but I recently transitioned my practice from a focus on litigation (i.e. the necessity of confronting courtroom conflict every day) to a focus on estate planning and being a personal family lawyer for my clients. Why? To help my clients avoid courtroom conflict. Similar to how many business lawsuits can be avoided, many types of courtroom conflict that affect families can be avoided. All it takes is proper planning and guidance. And that is reason enough for me to switch the focus of my practice from being a trial lawyer to a personal family estate lawyer.
Every family in Oklahoma needs an Estate Plan
In our last couple articles, we discussed various aspects of estate planning, beginning with why every family should have an estate plan. Without one, your assets can be completely lost, going to the state instead of to your loved ones. Additionally, not having an estate plan forces your family into court, and creates potential for conflict among family members as well as creditors.
I then went on to explain why traditional estate plans from most attorneys in Oklahoma tend to fail. While that is disappointing to hear, it’s a very real consequence of the “set it and forget it” attitude of most estate planning attorneys. Fortunately, you can prevent these failures and create a plan that will work when your family needs it. We can avoid many of those problems with better planning, better education and communication to the client and the client’s family, and by and by having a personal family attorney play a greater role in ensuring the plan is fulfilled versus leaving it all to uninformed family members.
Another overlooked issue by many attorneys is the importance of estate planning for families with young children. Most estate planning attorneys tender to focus on older clientele. The thought is, “well, these folks are closer to death.” And while elder clients absolutely deserve and need to have adequate estate plans in place, families with young children should not be a second in priority demographic. As I explained in that article, a lack of planning (or even a traditional plan) can fail to keep your minor children out of state custody in the event of your death. That is why all of my estate plans include a Kids Protection Plan, which I am happy to explain to you during our consultation.
Now that I’ve covered the fundamental point that every family needs to have an estate plan – at a minimum, to ensure your assets are not lost and your children are not left with strangers – I’m going to transition to talking about how these plans can be used strategically by you to keep your family out of court, out of potential conflict, and truly preserve your legacy.
Using Estate Planning to Avoid Court and Conflict
My next set of articles will discuss how estate planning can keep your family out of court and avoid potential family conflicts. I will first start with explaining the probate process, which is a court process required for those without estate plans in place (and even for most families that have a traditional plan).
I will then explain the many reasons why you want to avoid the probate court process, for the sake of your family’s privacy but also to protect your assets and your heirs from creditors and unexpected judicial decisions. Finally, I’ll explain how our estate plans avoid probate and all of the expenses and inconveniences associated with it.
If you would like to schedule a 15-minute discovery call to learn more about how to create an estate plan that works for you, contact our office here to get on our calendar. You may also call our office at (405) 607-7799.