Thursday, September 01, 2011
How a Houston Estate Planning Lawyer Can Help You Create Your Legacy
By: Kimberly Hegwood, Houston Estate Planning Attorney
There are a variety of reasons that people in Houston seek out a qualified estate planning lawyer. There’s the need to provide for your heirs or to protect them from tax penalties, for example. But, many people are discovering that an estate planning lawyer can also help them develop the legacy they wish to leave behind. Planning now can help you ensure that your beliefs and values are not only upheld, but even advanced by the choices you make for your estate.
While creating a plan is important for your family, there are many other ways to use your worldly wealth. In an age when people are becoming more introspective and choosing to live their ideals, it is comforting and even exciting to know that you can continue to do so after you are gone. It’s not just about donating money to a good cause, it’s about knowing that your life has made an impact on those people and ideals that are most important to you.
Creating a legacy with the help of your Houston estate planning lawyer also affects those who knew you in life. Children, grandchildren, and other significant people are able to see your example of grace and generosity. They will remember your actions with pride and will hopefully follow in your footsteps to support your cause or to take up one of their own. That is the true meaning of a “legacy.”
Defining Your Legacy
While a skilled estate planning lawyer will be able to help with the details, creating a fitting legacy certainly begins with you. The first step is to take a look at your own values and interests. What are you passionate about and why? Perhaps you are an animal lover or a cancer survivor or a bicycle enthusiast. The most important aspect of creating a true legacy is to choose a cause that truly speaks to your heart.
Your contribution, no matter how large or small, may not be enough to find a cure for a disease or eradicate animal cruelty in <insert city>, but by homing in on your cause, you can find ways to make a significant impact. Perhaps you have enough material wealth to donate a piece of cutting-edge medical equipment to your hospital’s oncology department. Or maybe your wealth will allow you to pay for new infrastructure to support the expansion and growth of your favorite cause.
Of course, you may have a smaller contribution to make, but it can still be put to amazing uses. Offsetting the cost of adoption for a few animals at the local shelter may not seem like a “grand gesture,” but for the families and pets adopted, it will mean the world. If you are an enthusiast or collector, how could your physical assets benefit others? Could you contribute your prized art collection to a museum or donate your bike collection to a nonprofit that provides them to low-income children?
Setting up a legacy with your Houston estate planning lawyer does not need to be all about money. It’s about preserving part of your spirit and passion in ways that you are able. It’s about knowing that you’ve done something important with your life. It’s also about being someone that future generations will remember with pride and respect and inspiring them to create legacies of their own.
If you’re now ready to start laying the legal framework of your “legacy plan,” then be sure to give our Houston wills and trusts office a call at (281) 218-0880 and ask to schedule a free Lifetime Legacy Planning Session. These sessions are normally $750, but we’ve made space for 10 people to come in absolutely free with the mention of this article. Call today!