A deliberate plan for what matters most.
Williford Law provides individualized estate planning counsel to individuals, married couples, families, and business owners in North Carolina and Georgia. Attorney Jackson Williford works directly with clients to understand their family circumstances, assets, concerns, and objectives before recommending a will-based plan, trust-based plan, or another planning structure appropriate for their needs.
Estate planning at Williford Law begins with advice rather than documents. The objective is to develop a coordinated plan that reflects decisions the client understands and has made deliberately, while addressing the legal and practical issues that may arise during life, incapacity, and after death.
Estate Planning Services Designed Around Your Circumstances
A well-prepared estate plan is more than a collection of legal documents. Each document should serve a defined purpose, and the different components of the plan should work together.
Depending upon the client's circumstances, estate planning may address the disposition of property at death, the administration of an estate or trust, financial decision-making during incapacity, healthcare decisions, guardianship planning for minor children, the management of an inheritance, beneficiary arrangements, business interests, and other matters that may affect the client or the client's family.
An estate plan may include a last will and testament, revocable living trust, financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, advance directive, provisions concerning minor or other beneficiaries, and additional planning documents when appropriate.
The appropriate combination depends upon the client's circumstances and the objectives the plan is intended to accomplish. Williford Law does not begin with the assumption that every client needs the same documents or the same planning structure.
Learn more: What Documents Should Every Estate Plan Include?
Will-Based and Trust-Based Estate Planning
One of the most common questions clients ask is whether they need a will or a trust. There is no single answer that applies to every client.
For some individuals and families, a properly designed will-based estate plan provides an appropriate foundation. For others, a revocable living trust may better address concerns involving probate, management of assets during incapacity, property located in multiple jurisdictions, privacy, or the manner and timing in which beneficiaries should receive an inheritance.
A trust should serve a particular planning objective rather than add complexity for its own sake. During the estate planning consultation, Williford Law evaluates the client's assets, family circumstances, ownership structure, and objectives and explains the practical differences between the available approaches.
The purpose is not simply to choose between a will and a trust. It is to determine which legal structure most appropriately supports the client's overall plan.
Planning for Incapacity as Well as Death
Estate planning is not limited to determining what happens after death. Some of the most significant planning decisions concern what should happen during a client's lifetime if illness, injury, cognitive decline, or another circumstance prevents the client from managing personal affairs independently.
A comprehensive estate plan can identify who should have legal authority to handle financial matters, who should participate in healthcare decisions, and what guidance should apply to certain medical decisions if the client cannot communicate those decisions personally.
Addressing these questions in advance allows the client to select the individuals he or she trusts rather than leaving important decisions unresolved during a period of illness or incapacity. For that reason, powers of attorney and healthcare planning are not merely secondary documents. They address risks and decisions that may arise long before an estate ever needs to be administered.
Learn more: What Happens If You Become Incapacitated Without an Estate Plan?
Estate Planning for Families
Family circumstances often influence the structure of an estate plan.
Parents of minor children may need to consider who should be nominated as guardian and how an inheritance should be managed until a child is prepared to receive property responsibly. Other clients may have adult children with different financial circumstances, concerns about a beneficiary's ability to manage an inheritance, or particular objectives concerning when and under what conditions assets should be distributed.
Blended families can present additional considerations when a client wants to provide for a spouse while also preserving an intended inheritance for children from a prior relationship. The appropriate structure may depend upon the nature of the assets, how property is owned, existing beneficiary designations, and the balance the client wants to achieve among competing objectives.
These decisions are personal. The estate planning process is designed to identify the legal issues, explain the available approaches, and give the client the information necessary to make informed decisions about the structure of the plan.
Estate Planning for Business Owners
Business ownership can introduce planning issues that extend beyond the disposition of personal property.
A business owner may need to consider what should happen to an ownership interest after death, who should have authority to act during incapacity, whether the business can continue operating without the owner, and how personal estate planning documents interact with operating agreements, shareholder agreements, buy-sell provisions, insurance arrangements, and other business documents.
For some owners, business succession and estate planning are closely connected. A personal estate plan that does not account for the business may leave important questions unanswered, while a business succession arrangement that does not coordinate with the owner's estate plan may produce unintended consequences.
When business ownership is relevant, Williford Law considers those issues as part of the broader planning process.
Learn more: How Estate Planning Protects Small Business Owners
The Williford Law Estate Planning Process
Estate Planning Consultation
The process begins with an estate planning consultation lasting up to one hour. The consultation is designed to understand the client's family circumstances, assets, concerns, existing estate planning documents, and objectives and to identify the issues that should be considered before a planning structure is selected. Rather than beginning with a predetermined document package, the consultation provides an opportunity to determine what the client is trying to accomplish and what legal structure is appropriate for those objectives.
Planning Recommendation
After discussing the client's circumstances, Attorney Jackson Williford explains the planning approaches that are relevant to the client's situation and recommends an appropriate structure.
For one client, that may involve a will-based estate plan. Another may benefit from a revocable trust. Other circumstances may require additional provisions addressing children, business ownership, real estate, beneficiary concerns, or other planning issues.
The recommendation is based upon the client's circumstances and objectives rather than the assumption that a particular document is appropriate simply because it is commonly used in estate planning.
Document Preparation and Attorney Review
If the client decides to move forward, the scope of the representation and the applicable fee are established before the estate planning engagement begins.
The documents are then prepared to implement the decisions made during the planning process. Before execution, the plan is reviewed with the client so that the client understands the significant provisions, fiduciary appointments, distribution structure, and other important decisions reflected in the documents.
Questions and appropriate revisions can be addressed before the plan is finalized.
Signing and Completion
Williford Law coordinates the execution of the estate planning documents and guides the client through the signing process.
Execution is not treated as a mere administrative formality. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and related documents may have different execution requirements, and properly completing those documents is an important part of the planning process.
When additional implementation is appropriate after signing, including attention to asset ownership, trust funding, beneficiary designations, or related matters, the client is advised concerning the steps necessary for the plan to operate as intended.
Direct Attorney Involvement Throughout the Planning Process
Estate planning frequently involves decisions that cannot be reduced to a questionnaire or standardized document template. Family relationships, asset ownership, fiduciary selection, beneficiary concerns, incapacity planning, and the consequences of different legal structures require judgment as well as document preparation.
At Williford Law, the estate planning process is attorney-led. Clients work directly with Attorney Jackson Williford in evaluating their circumstances, considering available planning structures, making significant planning decisions, reviewing the completed documents, and completing the execution process.
The objective is not simply to deliver signed documents. It is to create an estate plan that reflects decisions the client understands and a structure the client has deliberately chosen.
Estate Planning Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a trust?
Not necessarily. A revocable trust can be useful in the appropriate circumstances, but it should serve an identifiable planning purpose. Whether a trust is appropriate depends upon the client's assets, family circumstances, ownership structure, concerns regarding incapacity or administration, and objectives for future distributions.
The estate planning consultation is used in part to determine whether trust-based planning provides a meaningful benefit in the client's particular circumstances.
Is estate planning only for people with substantial wealth?
No. Net worth is only one consideration in estate planning. Decisions concerning incapacity, healthcare, fiduciary appointments, guardianship of minor children, administration of property, and the persons who should receive an estate can be important regardless of whether someone considers the estate particularly large.
Estate planning allows those decisions to be made intentionally rather than leaving them entirely to default legal rules or circumstances that arise after incapacity or death.
What documents should be included in my estate plan?
There is no single package appropriate for every client. Depending upon the circumstances, an estate plan may include a will, revocable trust, financial power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney, advance directive, and other documents necessary to accomplish the client's objectives.
Determining which documents are appropriate is part of the planning process.
I already have estate planning documents. Can Williford Law review them?
Yes. Existing estate plans can be reviewed to determine whether they continue to reflect the client's current circumstances and objectives.
A review may be particularly appropriate after changes involving marriage, divorce, children, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, property ownership, business interests, residence, or other significant circumstances.
Begin Your Estate Planning Conversation
Estate planning allows you to make important decisions about your family, property, and future before a crisis occurs. Williford Law helps clients in North Carolina and Georgia create and review estate plans designed around their circumstances, objectives, and long-term needs.