By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Most advisors stick to using their own home state’s trust laws and fail to take advantage of other states’ more favorable laws. This would be like forming business entities in your home state rather than going to traditional best states such as Nevada or Delaware. This analogy should put in perspective how much is lost for the client by failing to maximize the use of more favorable trust laws. What This Means for the Clients The clients of advisors who fail to use out-of-state trusts often can’t modify preexisting irrevocable trusts without going…
5 Tips for Building Your Estate Planning Referral Network
By Foster Web Marketing Many estate planning firms rely heavily on referrals—and, more often than not, those referred clients tend to be “perfect clients” for the firm. From the start, they’re already more inclined to hire you because they’ve been sent to you by their family or friends. They’ve already heard wonderful things about you and your staff, and they know that you’ve already helped people in situations similar to theirs. It should be absolutely no surprise that these are the types of leads that are most likely to convert into real clients and cases for your firm! A significant…
The Top 8 Mistakes Estate Planning Attorneys Make When Buying or Selling a Practice
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law If you’re an estate planning attorney, like it or not, you will exit the practice of law someday. And I’m sure if you’ve already built a good practice, you would like to see a smooth, professional transition of your clients when the time comes, as well as maximize the financial return for all of your many years of hard work. If you’re an estate planning attorney who is still building your practice, you are probably looking for the cheapest…
2023 National Estate Planning Awareness Month
The third week of October is National Estate Planning Awareness Week. It’s October 16-22 this year. Bringing awareness and educating the public about estate planning is crucial to not only keeping families out of Probate Court, but also for helping manage, preserve and distribute their hard-earned assets to their loved ones, as they wish. To help spread the word about estate planning and National Estate Planning Awareness Week, feel free to download and use the image below in your public marketing (website, blogs, newsletters, social media, etc.).
The Art of Confirming an Appointment
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Knowing the steps of how to properly confirm an appointment – – any kind of appointment, including a phone appointment, client meeting, lunch meeting, etc. – – is extremely valuable to any office looking to continue to operate efficiently and effectively. However, I have found that a lot of people don’t do this (or don’t do it properly) and this can result in a lot of disruption in the office. Whether or not you are the one responsible for confirming appointments, if you know that your office could benefit from a makeover in your…
Are You Fitting Jobs to People?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Hiring, training, and managing employees have certainly not been easy things to learn when it comes to owning my own law practice. I say it time and time again, but these are the things that we never learned in law school, but yet seemingly take up a great deal of time (and expense) if not done well. One common mistake that I am guilty of making in the past, but that I’ve seen come up quite a bit lately…
How Law Firms Are Harnessing the Power of AI in Marketing
By Foster Web Marketing With the rapid advancements in 2023, law firms are increasingly recognizing the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and applying it to their marketing and lead-generation strategies. These innovative strategies may be new, but they’re powerful. And the firms that embrace them have been able to quickly gain a competitive edge, streamline their processes, and drive more profitable growth with fewer resources. Below, let’s take a look at some of the ways law firms are harnessing the power of AI in marketing and putting themselves on the cutting edge of this emerging trend. Understanding AI in…
Three-Year-Old Tiffany Oshins Interviews Daddy About Domestic Asset Protection Trusts
By Tiffany A. Oshins and Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) Three-year-old student Tiffany A. Oshins (“Tiffany”) recently sat down with her father, estate planning attorney Steve Oshins (“Daddy”). Tiffany interviewed Daddy about asset protection planning and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts. Below are highlights from the interview. [Daddy helped Tiffany with a lot of her spelling.] Tiffany: I overhear you talking about asset protection planning all the time. How do you start this conversation with prospective clients? Daddy: Many of them come to me specifically for asset protection planning. So the conversation is simple with them because they already have that…
How to Work Around California’s Anti-ING Trust Legislation
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) It finally happened. California passed SB 131 in its 2023 legislative session which, among other things, sadly contains a provision treating all so-called Incomplete Non-Grantor Trusts (“ING Trusts”) as grantor trusts taxed to the settlor. This takes away a key tool planners have used for many years to reduce California state income tax on taxable income not sourced to California. The legislation is effective retroactive to January 1, 2023, so many California residents were wrongly punished for following the law that existed prior to the date this legislation passed. It remains to be…
Most Estate Planning Websites Are Designed to Fail
By Tom Foster, Owner and Founder of Foster Web Marketing The websites for most estate planning law firms suffer from a common problem. It’s a problem that is completely obvious to visitors and potential clients, but it often goes undetected by the lawyers that own the website. In the lawyers’ eyes, their websites appear to be attractive and contemporary, with all the bells and whistles needed to attract, convert, and retain their ideal clients. However, in the eyes of their visitors, their websites are falling flat. So, what’s going on? What is this problem that’s so pervasive that it affects…