Estate Planning Attorneys
Estate planning is more than ‘making a will.’
Everyone knows they need a will. Everyone knows, at some level, what happens if they die without one. There is almost always a famous person in the news who died without a will just to reinforce the point. The chaos that ensues is public and stays that way for years. A will – even with a trust – without estate planning is like showing up at kickoff to coach a football game with a few pages of plays and no idea of when or how to use them.
Not planning can lead to challenges and years of litigation, something that Charles Dickens noted back in 1852:
“It's about a will and the trusts under a will—or it was once. It's about nothing but costs now . . . We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting. .
Challenges and litigation are not the legacy anyone wants to leave their family. Planning avoids that. And so much more.
Starting an Estate Plan
The word ‘holistic’ has been overused for years, but sometimes it’s the only word that fits. As it does for estate planning. It is hard to overstate how important it is to consider a myriad of seemingly unrelated facts and feelings in designing an estate plan that will accomplish what our clients need it to. It begins with communication. No one wants to contemplate their mortality. It’s difficult to talk about for even the most pragmatic of clients. Making provisions for family members, a business, or a home is never as simple as ‘divvying up the assets.’
There are many considerations – state and federal laws, taxes, family situations, and emotions - and every decision results in a new set of considerations. Hopkins Centrich has years of experience guiding clients through the labyrinth that estate planning can become. While doing so our ability to relate and empathize with clients is as important as our deep knowledge of the law and taxes.
Our attorneys and staff understand that estate planning is as much an art as it is a science. We know it can be emotional, we know that even the most sophisticated clients will find some instruments, some taxes, and some solutions arcane and/or complicated. We passionately believe that our most essential is the ability to make the most complex estate situations and solutions easy to understand. We are creative. We are agile. We quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, including changes in the law.
Estate Planning Considerations
When planning an estate, decisions must be made. From what happens to the house to who takes over a business to who to name as the executor(s). There’s a lot to navigate. It takes technical expertise, empathy, and practical wisdom to successfully take a client from an idea of what they want to a plan that makes it a reality.
A small sample of those decisions:
Who should receive your assets – today, tomorrow, in the event a spouse or other heir predeceases you? When should children receive their inheritance? Immediately? At certain ages?
Should you be gifting? Or pursuing other tax reduction strategies?
Is there a business succession plan?
Do you have philanthropic interests that should be considered?
Who will make financial and/or medical decisions in the event of your incapacitation?
Who do you ask your fiduciaries – executor, trustee, or guardians?
How can you protect the estate from a spendthrift?
How to minimize state and federal taxes while still achieving your goals.
How to deal with retirement, 401(k) accounts, and other qualified monies.
This is just a handful of the issues and decisions facing our clients. Hopkins Centrich is adept at assisting clients with those decisions regardless of complexity while recognizing that some decisions are emotionally charged.
Estate Planning Documents
The results of those decisions are reflected in carefully drafted testamentary documents. They may include:
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Healthcare Power of Attorney (Healthcare Proxy)
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Last Will and Testament
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Living Trust
(Revocable or Irrevocable)
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Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
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Living Will (Advance Healthcare Directive)
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HIPAA Authorization
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Letter of
Instruction
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Disposition of Final Remains Authorization
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Guardianship Designations for Minor Children
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Trustee Designations
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Digital
Assets Authorization
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Codicils
There are, of course, many variations. Documents are precisely tailored to fit our client’s wishes while complying with the law. Every plan is unique. But they are not static. They are meant to be reviewed and altered as needed to keep up with changes – tax and probate laws, family changes, a new business, an old one sold, and much more.
The process may seem daunting, the facts complex, the decisions hard. It’s undeniable, however, that the alternative – not planning – is not an option. The attorneys and staff at Hopkins Centrich are your guides. We listen, we understand, and we make the complex understandable. The results are grounded in law, are creative while efficient, and, most importantly, do what our clients need and want them to do.
About Hopkins Centrich
Hopkins Centrich PLLC provides cutting-edge, high-quality, creative legal solutions for business and business owners in Texas.
Our attorneys and staff have decades of experience in virtually every aspect of business law in The Woodlands and Texas. We have designed and incorporated businesses, managed their every legal concern, engaged in litigation on their behalf, aided with mergers and acquisitions, managed mergers, acquisitions, and sales.
Hopkins Centrich knows Texas business law. We are uniquely positioned to help business owners from startup to merger or sale or transfer to family members.
When we work with a client, our sole focus is on them. We take advantage of everything technology has to offer to optimize how we work. That gives us more time to spend with you, more time to understand the issues, and more time to negotiate and prepare for trial.
We get that no one wants to contact a law firm unless they feel they absolutely have to. When they do, it almost always means that ‘things have reached a head.’
The attorneys and staff of Hopkins Centrich understand business. We understand business owners. We will make any legal process understandable; you will know what is happening with your case every step of the way, and you will never have to track us down for answers.
How We Work
Hopkins Centrich is a team with a deep bench. All our attorneys have extensive litigation experience which they fully use when called for.
Hopkins Centrich’s attorneys all have ‘big firm’ backgrounds. They formed our firm with the goal of keeping the best of those firms while employing far more personal experience for our clients.
We do this by using technology to its fullest. We will make use of every cutting edge legal and business technology and methodologies to ensure that we will continue to deliver the highest quality legal services to our clients while allowing us to respond promptly and efficiently to client needs, exceed project requirements, operate effortlessly with narrow timeframes, and develop innovative and flexible legal solutions at competitive fees.
We are creative. We are agile. We quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, including changes in the law.
Our vision statement may sum it up best. We will deliver highly skilled, ethical, and aggressive legal representation to every client by:
Responding promptly to our clients’ needs;
Anticipating business and legal trends that may affect our clients;
Managing our clients’ matters in an efficient, caring, and proactive manner;
Communicating regularly and clearly with our clients