A year in review. Here are a few takeaways from 2025.

What client’s appreciated? – understanding their own plan

Our clients have consistently appreciated the team making sure they understood how and why we were taking certain steps.  It is not unusual for us to review several times how a trust works and the steps a client should take in the future.  For other clients, they really appreciate how we organize their estate – we obtain copies of deeds, include directions, and provide summaries of assets and instructions on what he clients need.  Furthermore, we respond to questions so that the client knows we are here to help them.

What is the hardest lesson? – waiting too long

The hardest lesson is waiting too long. We have several cases each year where we cannot complete an estate plan due to an individual’s loss of capacity.  The pattern we see is that there is an initial consultation with a parent or loved one, and the family does not want to commit.  They want to look around.  The problem is that life gets in the way.  Frequently, we get a panicked call a few months later that we have to put together a plan right away.  The problem is by the time we interview the parent or family member, they do not have sufficient capacity to be able to do an estate plan.  At this juncture, are options are much more limited, and that’s difficult for a family to hear when all they needed to do was proceed when they had the chance.

What did we learn? – in family disputes, transparency matters.

A lesson we keep learning is the importance of supporting our clients.  This is most often true when we are dealing with a guardianship estate or a decedent’s estate.  When there is no estate plan in place, family members do not know their rights.  They read the internet or ChatGPT but that only gives you an incomplete answer at best.  The uncertainty or misunderstanding of rights leads family members to take positions that are not founded in the law.  We step in and provide clarity by setting out a roadmap.  The challenge is getting everyone to agree – transparency goes a long way in having families work out these issues.