- How do I/we maintain and protect the quality of life that I/we have worked so hard to achieve?
- In the event that I become unable to manage my property, my affairs or my health care, who do I want to put in charge of making decisions regarding my property, my affairs and my personal care and what do I want those decisions to be?
- In the event that I become unable to manage the property, affairs and health care of my children or others who are dependent upon me, who do I wish to put in charge of making decisions regarding the affairs, property and health care of my children or other dependents?
- To whom do I want my assets to pass when I die; how quickly do I want the passage to happen; do I want to avoid court supervision with its attendant delay; and who do I want to put in charge of making this happen?
Each of these concepts has subsets and variations depending on the nature of your values, goals, concerns, the size, type and ownership of your assets, the composition of your family and the needs of your family members, the particular liabilities of your profession and the size and nature of any business interests. Financial services executives, performance artists, real estate investors, attorneys, surgeons and the independently wealthy all have some concerns in common and some very different concerns as well. A successful banker with a few horses in Westchester may have some different and some similar concerns as a first generation American with a small fleet of taxis and real estate over seas. Parents of a child developing with physical or mental challenges will likely have very different concerns than the mother of four step children who themselves come from two different fathers. A family owning income producing real estate has different asset protection issues than a doctor. Identifying your particular concerns and goals is the beginning of the estate planning and asset protection process. Once we have done that, we can discuss what options make the most sense for you and answer the questions above.
We will develop an integrated estate planning and business succession solutions with the appropriate level of sophistication or simplicity customized to your goals and concerns. We will help you implement your plan and follow up with you on a regular basis if you wish. We offer trust and estate maintenance programs to realize long term goals to protect, preserve and transfer your wealth. We work will gladly work with your other professional advisors on related areas that can expand your options, including taxation, family concentric philanthropy, life insurance, long-term care insurance and disability insurance, real estate transactions, business agreements, family office support and other private client services.
