Thankful and Grateful: Eckert Byrne’s Thanksgiving Message
Dear Friends,
This season is traditionally about gathering with loved ones and expressing gratitude for what we have. It’s about celebrating all that we have in our lives that is bountiful and good. It’s the opportunity to practice seeing ALL that surrounds us for which we are grateful for. Life is not perfect, but it’s always an adventure.
In reflecting on this year, I urge you to talk to your loved ones about your legacy planning.
Break the taboo of talking about your money, what it means to you, and how you view your wealth for giving opportunities for family or charities. This last year has revealed to me that not all people chosen are ready and able to step up to their fiduciary role and assist when needed. It’s clear that adult children are often unprepared for accepting “wealth” and knowing how to manage the process when parents die. Do not assume that the people you have named will know what to do when the time comes.
Now is the perfect time to have these conversations with your loved ones. Our time on this earth is unknown and it behooves us to have conversations that are honest and loving to prepare our “helpers” to carry out our legacies.
To help facilitate these conversations, we offer our clients a “Family Legacy Meeting” to discuss the aspects of planning that you want your loved ones to know about so there are no surprises. It offers you the opportunity to allow us to facilitate and simplify these conversations. The clients who have engaged us have walked away feeling relieved and at peace. Maintaining your estate plan does not only involve making sure your documents are up to date, it also requires getting your loved ones ready to manage the estate when you are gone. I want to help you with this too.
It has been our experience that some of the stress and worry regarding the transition during this time can be relieved if your children or loved ones know who to call and already have an established relationship with your Estate Planning Attorney. We use the Family Legacy Meeting as a tool to create trust and a relationship between your family and our team.
We employ a Privacy Checklist to ensure that the information discussed with your loved ones is only the information that is shared. After the Privacy Checklist is considered, your Family Meeting can be scheduled so that we can guide you and your guests through your estate plan (with the visual aid of our flowchart). The Family Meeting provides the perfect chance for your loved ones to ask us questions about their role in the planning and details about the eventual administration of your estate.
Please email Chase to get a copy of the worksheet we send to clients in preparation for this meeting.
After discussing with your family, if you would like to discuss gifting strategies beyond the annual exclusion amount or would like to strategically gift into trusts, then please let us know and we would be glad to meet with you to discuss further. Please email Chase (chase@eckertbyrne.com) to schedule an appointment.
We look forward to further our continued work with you and your families. We wish you a wonderful start to the holiday season and a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Anna