“Eric I started my professional career as a soldier, more specifically as an Airborne Ranger Special Operator after graduating from Washington and Lee University with a Finance degree in 1980. After 8 successful years in this environment, including command of two different units, I began my legal career when  the US Army sent me to Law School, with full pay and benefits. I started by helping to draft new Rules of Engagement for Special Operations missions.  This was the early 90s and many soldiers were deploying to the Gulf Wars and as attorneys we were completing Soldier Readiness Planning (SRP) and I recognized the process and information was just were too down and dirty for soldiers’ plans. While they walked away with basic Wills, and Powers of Attorney, for loved ones left behind, should they ever be forced (God Forbid!) to manage their soldier’s estate, I recognized these simplistic documents were insufficient for any person of moderate means.  I served 8 more years as a military attorney then left active duty and decided I did not want to practice law at that time, so I got an MBA and started consulting with Big Firms Accenture and Deloitte.  I followed that with several years as a corporate executive at Xerox Corporation and then Cognizant Technologies.  I kept my license active and eventually moved to Palm  Beach, Florida.

There I witnessed many friends and their families experience major problems with estate plans that left them embroiled in litigation, and conflict among family members.  I did all I could to help to direct them to fix the problems but almost always it was too late – usually after a wealthy loved one had passed with outdated or inadequate plans of protection and distribution.   

I have been convinced at this point that there had to be a better way.  When I discovered the Personal Family LawyerL model and Life and Legacy planning I was overjoyed at the thoroughness of the approach and material available to support attorneys in preparing Best in Class Life and Legacy documents for their clients and  I developed a personal mission to help ALL families and people to protect their LIFE and LEGACY with strong and careful planning.  I realized that my greatest asset to accomplish this was my Law Degree and MY Law License.  I decided I needed to tap into this to help people like ME who were dual income families, former military, with young children.  Especially those on a trajectory to be High Net Worth while they were in early stages of creating a Legacy.

The pivotal moment came when family members of a Billionaire came to me for personal advice as opposed to legal advice about how to fight back against what they thought were unscrupulous actions by their Father's Attorney.  While the attorney ostensibly believed he was carrying their Father’s wishes, he had faied to protect the estate from probate and other costs and delays that SHOULD be avoided at a loved one’s passing.

What I saw among the Palm Beach Crowd and elsewhere,  is that clients would see their attorney for Estate documents, they'd sign the documents (most often not having a clear sense of what they were signing), and then take the documents, stick them in a drawer and not look at them again.

That's just what the typical estate planning experience had become. And I knew my clients' plans would fail as a result.

There was nothing abnormal about it, but it didn't feel right to me. There must be a mechanism for following up with clients regularly, making sure their assets were titled properly, new assets were added to plans, new heirs were added and communicating regularly to make sure their plans continued to work throughout life.