Frankly, many people do not have clearly defined objectives, although they do have concerns. Too often, families focus on a single objective or concern in isolation. For example, they know that estate tax planning is important. However, because estate planning is complex, they often select one from the hundreds of available techniques without careful consideration of alternatives. They also may not have a thorough understanding of the technique’s potential impact on the rest of the family’s objectives and concerns.
We start with extensive discussions with appropriate family members to help them develop their objectives. We do this in part by offering invaluable insights into the potential impact of planning alternatives. We gained this insight in part by having helped wealthy families deal with the effects, both good and bad, of planning undertaken two, three and more generations earlier. These discussions also help us understand family members’ abilities, perspectives, hopes and dreams.
Together, we develop and refine your objectives and concerns. Based upon this input, we develop coordinated strategies to accomplish the objectives and deal with the concerns. We then help you understand the ramifications of the strategies and refine them as necessary.
If appropriate, we can work with other family members and relevant persons to understand the broader dimensions of the issues and to identify areas of agreement and disagreement. We can then help gain their understanding and acceptance of these plans.