Can I Get an Estate Plan with that Bugaboo?

 

Alexandra Kontos, Esq.
The "K" in RKE Law Group

Baby-making season is in full effect at RKE Law Group. Three of our key employees are expecting babies in the next five months.  Perhaps it is these close-to-home pregnancies that are causing me to notice baby bumps everywhere, whether out at restaurants, shopping, in court and ALL OVER social media. Now don’t get me wrong. I do NOT have baby fever; I am perfectly happy and content (not to mention BUSY) with my two daughters, at least for right now.

In fact, it was not that long ago that I was shopping for baby strollers myself. When I was expecting Alexa, the Bugaboo was the most popular stroller around. You could get it brand new for about a thousand bucks (Ouch!). Or you can do what I did and buy the floor sample at the Ideal Baby Store (that monster baby store in Hialeah) for less than half of the original price. Still, it was a hefty purchase for me at the time.

Today, trendy moms can purchase a stylish Stokke Crusi Stroller for $1,250 (www.albeebaby.com). According to www.financesonline.com, the luxury baby market for clothing alone is expected to grow to $10.6 billion (that’s right… BILLION!!!) in 2014 (http://financesonline.com/10-most-expensive-newborn-items-fit-for-a-royal-baby/). This particular article highlights the “Most Expensive Diaper Bag,” the Louis Vuitton Monogram Mini Lin Diaper Bag, which retails at $2,200. Crazy, right?!

Expensive strollers; elaborate baby showers with gifts galore; beautiful maternity photo shoots; and the latest new-baby trend, The Gender Reveal Party… the list goes on and on, and the dollars continue to add up. With the billions being spent in the new-baby industry, it is shocking to learn that so few parents with young children actually have an estate plan in place in the event of an unexpected death. In fact, despite the reality that a court designates who becomes a child's legal guardian if both parents die, the research indicates that only 39% of parents with minors in their households have estate planning documents, and 13% believe that their spouse and children will automatically receive the assets they have in the event of their death. (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/26/what-america-thinks-about-estate-planning/)

Now, I know you may be thinking that Estate planning is only for people who have a lot of money and a lot of assets. I used to think the same thing. But that is simply not the case. It is in our generation’s best interest to be proactive and forward-looking, and get educated about the importance of planning for our family’s future. Now, I admit that the thought of planning for what will happen to your family when and if you should pass away unexpectedly is not nearly as much fun as planning a Gender Reveal Party, but, in my opinion, it absolutely should be a priority for expectant couples and for families with young children.

Say, for example, you buy a life insurance policy and designate your children as beneficiaries of the policy. If you die while the kids are still minors, and you have not named a guardian or another representative to administer the proceeds on behalf of the kids, a judge may appoint a stranger as a guardian. This person would be entrusted with administering the funds for the benefit of your children. And what if the guardian’s decisions are not in line with your intentions? If you have not specifically named this person as guardian and provided a blueprint for providing for your children, there are bound to be differences in opinion. Bottom line: you would be leaving your children’s future to chance.

The good news is that meeting with an attorney and setting up a trust to receive and manage the life insurance proceeds will ensure that your intentions are carried out, and that your children are raised and provided for according to your own intentions.

Personally, I admit that I did not really think I needed a trust-based plan up until a few months ago. For me, getting my estate plan done is one of those (many) items on my “To-Do” list that I know is really important, so “I really need to get to that as soon as I have some down time.” But then life happens. And the down time never comes. So I get it.

  

With that being said, today (as in right this very second), I commit to having my own estate plan complete by summer’s end. I am not only doing this for myself and for my daughters, but also for the larger goal of being able to educate parents about the importance of planning for their families’ future. We are committed to being able to offer this service for our clients, and that is very exciting because it means that we can reach more people and touch more lives.  So, stay tuned, and til next time…

PEACE, LOVE & LAWYERING J

Alexandra Kontos (the “K”)

RKE Law Group

Chief Business Development Officer, Guardian of Client Happiness and Team Culture, Attorney & Head of the Family Wealth Building Division

Start Before You’re Ready!

Alexandra Kontos Esq.
RKE Law Group, Partner

I have always loved to write. I graduated from college with a degree in Public Relations. I even worked as a Senior Staff Writer for my college newspaper. Then came law school during which I un-learned everything I’d learned about writing, and replaced it with the rigid, law school-required IRAC method (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion… for those who are curious). Then, of course, followed several years of drafting legal letters, notices and motions in my practice. I’ve done my share of writing. So, why have I felt so much resistance to sitting down and committing to writing this blog?

I’ve recently picked up meditation as a way to relieve stress and become a more centered and spiritual person. I’m a huge fan so far! When I sit in the “stillness” (as my woo-woo friends say), I feel guided to answers that I’ve been looking for. So, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been seeing “signs” and Facebook and Instagram posts EVERYWHERE with this message: “Start before you’re ready.” So here I am!

When I look back at the last few years since we first hung our shingle and went out on our own, that is exactly how we’ve approached opportunities:  we start before we’re ready. The three of us met at a giant “foreclosure mill” law firm during the height of the foreclosure/housing market crisis. The work itself was very faceless, in that there was little, if any, client interaction, and we certainly weren't helping anyone, aside from helping the banks foreclose on struggling homeowners who could not afford their mortgage payments.

I remember conversations about how we should go out on our own and actually help people SAVE their homes. We had the experience from both sides of the law; we loved to help people; and we wanted to make an impact in this world (doesn't every lawyer start out wanting that?) We had plenty of drive, but what we DIDN'T have was capital to comfortably start the business, clients, or a concrete plan for what the business would actually look like and how it would operate.

We did it anyway. We street-hustled our way into business networking groups and professional happy hours, and talked to whoever would listen. We gave away a lot of free legal advice, and a ton of our time, but we made relationships that later proved to be invaluable to our law firm and to us as individuals. We started before we were ready, and learned along the way.

These efforts led us to work with a marketing company who gave us a huge (and I mean HUGE) boost to our bottom line. This company knew how to generate leads, and allowed us to focus on what we were good at: the law and helping people. The explosive growth in business came at the expense of having to outsource certain aspects of our business, and not having complete control and autonomy over our law firm, and over the manner in which we served our clients. As fate would have it, about a year later, it was time to put our big-girl pants on and bring everything back in-house (i.e. I hired six loan modification processors in one week’s time!) And, no, we were definitely NOT ready for this. But we did it anyway. And, thank you Universe!

Now that you know our story, I’ll tell you about our intention for this blog (by the way, I can actually feel the resistance lifting as my fingers hit the keys on my MacBook Pro... Yay!!)

Our vision is to provide a platform for women to learn about who we are, and why we do what we do. The legal world has traditionally been a man’s world, and we are here to change that. We want to inspire women to gain control of their lives, and to lead their families and their businesses to a healthy and abundant future. We want to inspire little girls (like my daughters, Alexa, 5, and Athena, 3) to set super-high goals, and to never play small in life. We want to change the perception of the legal industry and, while we’re at it, we want to change the world.

Please keep reading this blog. Send us comments. Tell us what you want to hear more about and less about. At RKE, we dig honesty, so don’t be shy! You will hear from Monica and Lisa, my “Sisters-in-Law and Business” (a/k/a my Partners in this crazy venture), as well as more from me. We will probably stumble along the way, but we totally expect that… and that’s part of the fun!

Remember that if you feel resistance before setting out to take action on something you've been wanting or meaning to do, this is totally normal. The reward on the other side will be so great! (I promise!!) Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best:  “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”

So, I encourage you to take the first step. Start Before You’re Ready! J

Peace, Love and Lawyering…

Alexandra Kontos, (The “K”)

Chief Business Development Officer; Guardian of Client and Team Happiness and RKE Culture; Attorney & Head of the Family Wealth Building Division