Legacy, Estate, Governance, Asset Protection, Succession, & Exit Planning Coordination

Many people (even financial professionals) get these confused, but Legacy Planning is not Estate Planning, nor is it Wealth Transfer, Tax Planning, ect

Estate planning is for wealth,
Legacy planning is for wisdom.
Estate Planning is about passing on your tangible valuables. Legacy Planning is about passing down your intangible valuables, values, life lessons, and ethics. 

So Estate Planning needs to be done technically right, and it does need to be done world class.
But Legacy Planning is a sacred facilitation to help a client show that their life counted, that their stories echo, that traditions can still be honored, and that wealth is more than money.   

You probably need a lot more than a Will.
Yes, most states will still require expensive probate with only a will, so you might need a Trust- but I am talking about the supporting foundational documents.

 Advance Health Care Directives, POA';s, HIPPA releases, General Transfers, Trust Certifications (privacy document), Property Agreements, deeds, ... you probably need at least 5 documents to get it done right.

You see, it's a whole plan, working together and it should be aligned with you tax, financial, and business exit plans to make sure the plans don't collide.
Estate Asset Maps, Ethical Wills, Video LOIs help make sure the plans stay aligned with Legacy and the master plan. 

How do you take care of everything after you are gone? 

You prepare the wealth for the family, then you prepare the family for the wealth. 

You build the systems that support the people, charities, and ideas you love.  

Then you teach the people you love how  to operate it and why it matters.

Seek to understand their life, values, intentions and then, helping them bridge the gap from where they are now to where they want to go.

You teach them how to navigate life, by teaching them to govern family wealth, both tangible and intangible.

It is a litigious society. Any some Lawyers scour for targets to sue. Looking to see how much you own, how well it is protected. 
You have to plan for the worst case scenarios and protect you family more, when you have more. There is a spectrum of asset protection, and most of the time you just need to start of simple. But as you gain more wealth, you may need more sophisticated ways of preventing wealth loss

Succussion is far more than the Legal Entity Transfer Documents that many attorneys sell as a "Succession Plan", or the "backup" continuity/ succession plans from the accounting world.

Now those can be really important pieces, but they can't be done first or in isolation... or it will be almost worthless. You oversee everything in your business, and you will have to transfer the decision making process of every hat you wear.  Ownership Succession, Operator Succession, Leadership Succession is what makes it possible for a business survive an ownership transfer. 

Exitinging, or Selling you business has a lot of moving parts and people think it as easy as selling a house.
But it can takes several years to get you business ready for you to leave and prepare for the eventual transfer/sale. Starting at least 5 years before your intended exit produces the best results, with the least stress, and allows that time to properly plan for taxes and retirement.