OUR FIRM
A Different Kind of
Estate Planning Law Firm.
While some people believe that estate planning is only for those who are particularly wealthy, exceptionally organized with their assets, or for people who are acutely ill and contemplating their death – this is far from the truth! Estate Planning is an essential and rewarding process for families who engage in it.
-
Estate planning is for every husband, wife, mother, father, grandparent, business owner or anyone else who has someone they care about. It is about providing responsibly for those they love, and for anyone who seeks to make a difference in the lives of others after they're gone. Estate planning is not “death planning”! It is actually “life planning” or “family planning."
When done properly, estate planning requires that a specialized attorney lead you through one or more in-depth meetings to uncover your hopes, fears, and expectations for yourself and for those who are most important to you. This process almost always requires the preparation of several sophisticated legal documents, but those documents themselves are not estate planning.
Planning is a process, represented by a complete strategy that is properly documented and maintained by an attorney who has taken the time to get to know you, and who is committed to continuing to serve you through your family’s journeys.
We are committed to serving you by setting up the foundation to continually protect and provide for your family in case you no longer can.
Our Mission.
Our Mission is to co-create your family estate plan based on informed, educated and empowered decisions.
We make Estate Planning simple.
We're dedicated to meeting the unique needs of your family.
We offer high-quality estate planning at prices the average person can afford.
We're focused on solutions.
A LAW FIRM YOU CAN TRUST
What Makes Us Different?
We are a firm for families — Explaining how we’re different requires an explanation of what the “traditional” experience with a lawyer is like. If you’ve worked with a lawyer to prepare a Will, Trust, or any other legal documents in the past, this will sound familiar.
What about other firms? — During the traditional experience, you’ll go in and meet with a lawyer who will oftentimes make things seem very complicated and confusing. You’ll have a good idea your lawyer is smart and seems to know what he or she’s doing, so you’ll nod and answer questions as if you understand everything. The attorney will prepare documents for you and you’ll sign the documents, feeling relieved you finally got that taken care of.
You’ll take a fancy estate planning binder full of documents home, stick them on a shelf or in a drawer, mark estate planning off your checklist as DONE, feel good and perhaps never think about it again.
Several years later, you’ll refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust. Your children will get older, making your Trustee nominations outdated, but you don’t want to call your lawyer because you know you’ll get a bill so you wait until you absolutely cannot. And besides, you’d have to dig through boxes to find your trust documents so you could remember your lawyer’s name and find her contact information.
It’s not until you become incapacitated or die and your family finds the binder you stuck up on a shelf many years before and never looked at again, and then they’ll realize your plan is so outdated that it has nothing to do with your life, your assets and the law. Now your family is at a loss. They don’t know where to turn or what to do, so they contact the same lawyer you used to prepare the documents, who may or may not be picking up your phone call, retired or passed away. In many cases, there are assets that were left out of the trust and an expensive probate proceeding is required.
I know this because not too long ago, when I practiced estate litigation at a big law firm, I frequently saw clients come to that firm to see us to fight over assets because their parents did not properly plan their estate. Unfortunately, what I discovered is the legal industry was not designed to serve families who experience the many changes on their way to success.
Most firms help you prepare for death. We help you prepare for life and its various contingencies! Our firm, on the other hand, helps you plan for your family's future life and your lasting legacy. No matter at what stage of your life, we help you prepare for your life contingencies so your family is prepared and protected. We’ve developed unique systems to give you the same access to a personal attorney even if you were not extraordinary wealthy. You will have the guidance you need to build and maintain a life of prosperity and wealth.
-
In fact, we’ve thrown out the time clocks so you never have to be afraid to call with a quick question. Everything we do is billed on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance, so there are never any surprises.
-
We work to ensure the most important details of your planning are followed-through early on and your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime.
-
We believe your financial wealth is only a small part of your overall Family Estate which is made up of your far more valuable life assets: who you are and what’s important to you, your stories, lessons, and wisdom. Most estate plans are only able to transfer your financial wealth onto the next generation. The intangible nature of your much greater wealth has made it difficult to capture and it is most often lost when someone passes.
We’ve developed tools that allow us to pass on your whole family estate, including your values, stories and wisdom. I won’t go into all of the details here, but we’ll definitely talk about it when you come in for our meeting.
We look forward to seeing you and caring for your family soon!
— Julie Suen
PS — if you think this all sounds expensive, let me GUARANTEE you that our planning is substantially less costly for your family than if you died with a plan that didn’t work or if you didn’t have a plan in place at all. We compared estate planning fees on the island for your family and provide the most competitive pricing on our estate planning packages. Additionally, we truly believe in the importance of our estate planning and will not leave your family hanging. So, we are willing to work with you to create a financing plan if necessary because we know that this planning is the foundation for a life of success!
READY TO BEGIN?
Talk To A Lawyer.
Contact us today to schedule a FREE consultation and take the first step towards planning your lasting legacy.