By Foster Web Marketing You spend all year working with clients and crafting plans to secure their legacies. Now that it’s December, why not give a little something back to yourself that will make your life easier, save you time, and boost your business in 2024? If it’s not already part of your strategy, marketing automation software is a real game-changer because it takes so much “busy work” off your plate—but that’s not all it can do. Below, let’s unwrap seven reasons why marketing automation software might be the ultimate gift for your estate planning practice this year. 1. Increase…
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts: Why the Huber Case is a Million Percent Wrong
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) In Waldron v. Huber (In re Huber), Waldron v. Huber (In re Huber), Case No. 11-41013 (Bankr. W.D. Wash. Nov. 25, 2013), the court (in dicta) ruled that the law of the residency of the settlor of a Domestic Asset Protection Trust (“DAPT”) applies rather than the law chosen in the trust agreement for purposes of determining whether a DAPT is protected from the creditors of the settlor. [Dicta is a portion of the judge’s opinion that is not essential to the resolution of the case. Huber was a bankruptcy and fraudulent transfer…
It’s You! Hi! You Might Be the Problem! It’s You!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach I am not going to sugarcoat this article and it may rub some people the wrong way. This is a topic that has the power to be life-changing and transformative to your life and your practice, but it depends on what you do with this information. I recently had the pleasure of sharing the success story of estate planning attorney, Leigh Cowden, who finished up her first year of practice with close to $400,000 of revenue in her first year! While I was like a proud mama bear to share how much she had…
Do Client Maintenance Plans Really Work?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Two of the major issues confronting estate planning attorneys are the commoditization of our “products” and increasing low price competition thanks to the do-it-yourself kits and internet trusts. One way to combat these issues is to emphasize and show your prospects how your “product” is superior to what your competitors have to offer, such as by differentiating the services available to the client after the sale. Think about it, when you purchase or lease a car, don’t you usually…
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…
5 Commonly Overlooked Uses of Life Insurance
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Now that estate taxes apply to less than 0.2% of Americans, I have had life insurance agents (as well as financial planners, CPAs, and attorneys) ask me whether there’s any need for life insurance anymore in clients’ planning, beyond the still standard needs for replacing the income of a head of household or funding a business partner buy-sell agreement. Over my 40+ years of experience in advising clients on estate, tax, and financial planning, I have seen and utilized…
The Top 35 Overlooked Best Practices for Executive Assistants
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach and Kirsten Allen, Executive Assistant Working for our boss, estate planning attorney Philip Kavesh, we combined have over 28 years of executive assistant experience. Throughout this time, we have been able to gain numerous best practices and good habits for providing administrative support to a busy executive. Also through our time in interfacing with many busy attorneys, we have interacted and even worked side-by-side with our fair share of assistants that either lacked the skills, experience, knowledge, training, or personality to be able to properly support their bosses. So we have seen what works…