By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) It often makes sense to situs clients’ trusts in a trust jurisdiction where there is no state income tax, where the trust assets are protected from creditors and divorcing spouses, where estate taxes can be avoided forever or close to forever, and where there is flexibility to make changes to irrevocable trusts that are otherwise protected. But which jurisdictions are best? The First Tier Two trust jurisdictions stand above the rest, Nevada and South Dakota. Although one can argue for one or the other as #1, there is absolutely no believable argument that…
5 Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2024
By Foster Web Marketing If you take a look back at 2023, you’ll see a lot of change over just 12 months. Google’s algorithms and analytics evolved dramatically. Online behavior and user preferences evolved, too. AI technology rapidly took center stage, and lots of law firms rose or fell based on how willing they were to embrace all the changes. Overall, I’d say it was a year full of seismic shifts in the ways that estate planners market and grow their practices online! And, looking ahead, 2024 promises to be another year of significant transformations. Of course, we all know…
8 Steps to Hiring a Great Executive Assistant
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach An executive assistant is an often overlooked position for many estate planning professionals. I know this because I often interact with a lot of attorneys, financial advisors, and CPAs directly on matters that I also know would be best handled by an executive assistant. Not having an executive assistant means that you, the executive, are often stuck with a lot of daily administrative tasks in the office. And that’s fine if that’s something that you enjoy doing and it works for you. But, for most estate planning professionals, that’s a huge misappropriation of the…
Should You Have a Full-Time Marketing Person on Your Staff?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law We often espouse the importance of building your firm infrastructure with competent staff, adding first an executive assistant and/or paralegal, then an associate attorney, and then more staff. Having effective staff is the primary way to leverage your own time and output and increase your profit margin. But most attorneys overlook one particular key staff person when building their practice – – a dedicated full-time person to handle their marketing. Everything from making and confirming appointments to managing the…