When The Blum Firm reached our 40th anniversary three months ago, I announced the milestone by reflecting on how our estate planning law firm has grown and evolved over the years. In that announcement, I shared that we would be launching a new initiative in early 2021. I’m excited to celebrate that new offering with you now: Family Legacy Planning.The aim of this new endeavor is to partner with you to create a process and structure to help your family succeed from generation to generation. It takes more than hopes and dreams for future generations to thrive. Hope is not a strategy. We need to be intentional.
Family Legacy Planning has started to emerge as a critical part of the estate planner’s toolbox. It was born out of asking clients: “What keeps you awake at night?” We learned how much our clients worry about their family’s future. We have all observed horror stories of inheritances that failed.
Labels began to surface to try to put a moniker on this new aspect of planning: Family Governance; Holistic Estate Planning; Family Dynamics; “Heart” vs. “Head” estate planning; Qualitative vs. Quantitative estate planning; the “Soft” issues of estate planning (although, ironically, these issues are typically “hard” to address). We believe the term “Family Legacy Planning” encompasses all these concepts.
Coming out of 2020, now seems an ideal time to focus on the family. The pandemic heightened our awareness of our need for family, as well as the fragility of this precious asset. On a personal note for Laurie and me, mixed in with the hard times came the gift of two new grandsons, born only a few weeks apart. There’s nothing like having grandkids to make you even more acutely aware of the importance of both the “head” and the “heart” aspects of estate planning. A family’s financial success, important as it is, is only part of the story. We want to create a meaningful legacy and pass it down to our heirs. As we say in Hebrew, L’dor Vador, from generation to generation.
In the coming weeks, be on the lookout for regular emails from us explaining the features of Family Legacy Planning. We urge you to make it a New Year’s Resolution to focus on your family this year and learn the steps you can take to help set up your family for success.
Marvin E. Blum
Marvin and Laurie Blum and their growing family.