Wills, Trusts, and Estates
If you have a family or own a home, you need estate planning. Parents go to work daily, making sacrifices for their children’s well-being. They purchase a home, establish a college fund, and envision their children living much easier lives than their own. Then, tragically, one parent passes away unexpectedly. The surviving parent cannot afford to make monthly mortgage payments and decides to sell the home. Armed with a percentage of their deceased parent’s wealth, the surviving children purchase luxury cars and enjoy one fun weekend in Las Vegas.
"Attorney Shehu believes that parents--not the court--should decide who cares for children in the event of a parent’s death or disability. He helps new parents provide for their children by naming a hand-picked guardian and protecting the family’s home."
Like it or not, if you live in Connecticut, you already have a default estate plan. Unless you have prepared legal documents expressing your intentions, a Probate judge will distribute your assets to your heirs upon your death. The state will decide who gains custody of your children. Do you even know who the Probate judge is for your town? Have you truly provided for your family’s well-being if you have neglected to consider them after your death?
Shehu Legal provides comprehensive estate planning throughout Connecticut, with a special focus on protecting young families, faith-based legacy planning, and generational wealth transfer and asset protection for physicians.
The Shehu Wealth Shield™--Not Your Parents’ Estate Plan
You wouldn’t buy your children a personal computer from 1995. You wouldn’t let a doctor treat you based on 1980’s imaging technology. Why would you let a lawyer use twentieth-century estate planning techniques and forms?
The Shehu Wealth Shield™ is not a set of documents. It’s an iterative system that empowers parents and professionals to take control of their finances, protect their values, and provide for their children.
Here’s how the Shehu Wealth Shield™ is different.
Why Is Traditional Estate Planning Flawed?
Traditional estate planning is a method of arranging a person’s property and affairs to pass to heirs upon death. It originated as a tool for the wealthy about 100 years ago. Attorneys have done little to innovate this practice area since then. However, traditional estate planning is flawed. It is basically “death planning.” It fails to account for your present circumstances, as well as the use of property during your lifetime. Likewise, traditional estate planning neglects periods of disability—the time you might spend battling dementia or cognitive illness. In such situations, the Court of Probate would decide who controls your freedom and your finances.
Traditional estate planning begins in the attorney’s office. He will meet you (probably for the first time) and ask personal questions about your finances. You’ll hand over a large sum of money. In a few weeks, you’ll sign some documents and be on your way. Those documents will find a home in your broom closet or basement, tucked beneath your record player or camcorder. Sure, you won’t know what you’ve signed, but you’ll be protected, right?
Maybe.
What Is The Shehu Wealth Shield™?
At Shehu Legal, estate planning is not “death planning.” The Shehu Wealth Shield™ is a method of wealth and asset preservation that allows you to provide for yourself and your family while living. It allows you name a trusted spouse, family member, or friend to care for you and your children if you experience sickness or disability. Finally, the Shehu Wealth Shield™ permits you to retain a degree of control over your property after your death. To accomplish these purposes, the Shehu Wealth Shield™ uses a variety of tools drawn from Attorney Shehu’s extensive and multidisciplinary law practice. These tools include:
Real Estate Deeds and Titles: Real estate law governs the buying, selling, and use of a real property. Property titling of property is an essential component of The Shehu Approach™ to wealth preservation.
Wills: A legal instrument that allows a person to pass property to heirs within a probate proceeding.
Trusts: In layman’s terms, a trust is a set of instructions given to someone else that explains how you want your property managed and distributed. More specifically, a trust splits the title to property in two—legal and equitable. Legal title is transferred to a trustee who must safeguard the property for beneficiaries. These beneficiaries hold equitable title, which allows them to use and enjoy the property.
Limited Liability Companies (“LLC”): A creature of business law, a limited-liability company limits an owner's liability to his investment. This option is open to partnerships and sole owners. In most cases, the company's income is claimed by the owners on their personal tax returns.
Living Will: A living will provides instructions on your medical care if you are in an irreversible coma or persistent vegetative state.
Appointment of Health Care Representative: This document provides permission for a trusted person to make health care decisions on your behalf.
Power of Attorney: A power of attorney allows another person to sell, purchase, acquire, or dispose of your property is specific situations designated by you.
"The Shehu Wealth Shield™ gives you a degree of control over your life, freedom, and property when you are most vulnerable."
The Shehu Approach™ To Estate And Legacy Planning
Shehu Legal aims to establish your individually-tailored Shehu Wealth Shield™ as quickly as possible, while balancing the need to gather crucial and accurate information. To accomplish this purpose, we utilize The Shehu Approach™. The Shehu Approach™ is a data-driven, participatory method of eliciting information from our clients over the course of a few different conversations. Allowing for the passage of time enables our clients to consider options, formulate questions, and achieve the best outcomes. Because of its participatory nature, The Shehu Approach™ will not work for every client. If Shehu Legal determines that a client is not a good fit, we will happily refer you to another attorney. For those clients who may benefit from The Shehu Approach™, we will ask you to undertake the following steps:
Introduction and Scheduling Call
The Shehu Approach™ begins with a potential client scheduling a “Best Fit” Consultation. We will gather very basic information and establish a time to talk in greater detail. You’ll be provided with a form that asks for information necessary to assess your options.
Zoom “Best Fit” Consultation
A potential client next participates in a “Best Fit” Consultation via Zoom. Two to three days before the consultation, a potential client will complete the Shehu Wealth Shield™ questionnaire. During the consultation, the attorney will review your responses, assess whether The Shehu Approach™ is adaptable to your situation, and present a list of options.
The Shehu Wealth Shield™ Planning Session
The Shehu Wealth Shield™ planning session is the backbone of The Shehu Approach™. You will work with Attorney Shehu to craft a plan that caters to your goals. How will you maintain your property and assets during your life? Who will manage it if you become disabled? How will your property be disposed upon your death?
Document Execution
Following your Shehu Wealth Shield™ planning session, your attorney will prepare the documents necessary to accomplish your objectives. Once they have been drafted, the attorney will review them with you, and you’ll sign them in the presence of a notary or Commissioner of the Superior Court. Additionally, you may be provided with a list of instructions regarding certain planning tools.
Follow Up
After approximately one month, Shehu Legal will reach out to confirm that you have effectively completed any designations required by your Shehu Wealth Shield™. Estate planning is not a “one and done” activity. As your life circumstances change, you may need to update your Shehu Wealth Shield™. One of the hallmarks of The Shehu Approach™ is client follow up. Shehu Legal endeavors to ensure that our clients’ objectives are met, even when life situations change.
Special Circumstances And Enhanced Plans
Shehu Legal recognizes that our clients may have unique circumstances that necessitate a heightened level of preparation and care. Families with young children, physicians, and people of faith are comforted by The Shehu Approach™, and its ability to understand and meet their needs. Additionally—and unfortunately—Shehu Legal has worked with families who have one or more heirs confronting substance abuse issues.
Young Children and the Shehu Family™ Shield: The Shehu Family Shield™ is an affordable solution for families with young children. Its goal is to preserve wealth for the future use of children. Shehu Legal ensures that the needs of children are met by allowing parents to name a guardian of choice for their children. This trusted person would care for their children in the event of death or disability. Additionally, the Shehu Family Shield™ includes tools to allow a third party to consent to medical care for their children should a parent be unreachable. A parents’ wealth is safeguarded to ensure its preservation for the children’s education, lifetime use, or investment.
"The Shehu Wealth Shield For Physicians™ protects assets against malpractice claims and uses wealth strategies and input from a physician’s financial advisor to ensure that a physician’s family does not suffer a change in lifestyle."
The Shehu Family Wealth Shield For Physicians™
Physicians and surgeons face unique wealth planning considerations: (1) malpractice liability; (2) substantial earnings in the later part of life; and (3) vast differences in earnings between spouses.
First, it is not easy to practice medicine in Connecticut. Liability for medical malpractice claims is not limited, and damages are not capped. Connecticut physicians and surgeons understand that a single mistake—or an overly litigious patient—can cause enormous financial harm to a doctor and his family. The Shehu Family Wealth Shield For Physicians™ takes a holistic—and realistic—approach to protecting assets from malpractice claims. Our recommendations involve a thorough examination of personal and business finances.
Second, Shehu Legal realizes that doctors often incur educational and mortgage debt between the ages of 20 and 35. Wealth accumulation drastically spikes after those years. In some situations, it makes sense to carry that debt as part of an asset protection strategy. Like other high net worth individuals, doctors must consider the ever-shifting limits of the estate and gift taxes.
Third, vast differences in earnings between spouses can be extremely problematic if the primary breadwinner dies unexpectedly or becomes incapacitated. Using wealth maximization strategies and input from your financial advisor, Shehu Legal will ensure that a physician’s family does not suffer a change in lifestyle.
"The primary purpose of the Shehu Recovery Shield™ is to foster a beneficiary’s commitment to treatment and recovery."
Substance Use Disorder and The Shehu Recovery Shield™
Many Connecticut families are no strangers to the opiate epidemic. Grandparents and parents have worked diligently to secure a measure of wealth, and they fear the consequences of passing on a large inheritance to a beneficiary with substance abuse or mental health issues. Yet, no parent wants to disinherit a child for having a health problem.
The Shehu Recovery Shield™ seeks to provide for a beneficiary with substance use disorder while safeguarding the wealth amassed during your lifetime. Using a recovery-based model, the Shehu Recovery Shield™ does not sweep the problem of addiction under the rug; rather, the beneficiary’s circumstances are addressed head on. Distributions only occur if the beneficiary is actively committed to treatment and recovery. The trustee retains final authority over distributions, but he is charged with establishing a treatment team that includes a care manager, psychotherapist, counselor, physician, psychiatrist, and nutritionist. This treatment team agrees on a treatment plan that includes both long and short-term goals for the beneficiary. These may include participation in AA or NA meetings, submitting to random blood and urine tests, and maintaining regular employment or educational training. The primary goal of the Shehu Recovery Shield™ is to foster the beneficiary’s commitment to recovery—providing for the beneficiary’s maintenance and support is often only a secondary goal for our clients.
Leave a Legacy-- Be Remembered Well
Faith and Value-Based Legacy Plans
At Shehu Legal, a “wealthy family” is not defined by the number of trailing zeroes in a bank account, but rather by its commitment to core values. The most prosperous families have an understanding of the values that are important to them, and these families make a conscious effort to impart those values to subsequent generations. Indeed, since the time of the Old Testament, biblical patriarchs have relied on ethical wills to pass Judeo-Christian traditions and morals to their children. Our forefathers realized that true familial inheritance cannot be measured in dollars and cents, but in the stories, principles, faith traditions, and life lessons that have been passed down from father to son and mother to daughter.
Traditional values have been eroding since the 1960’s. Along with the breakdown of the family—the core building block of society—family values and traditions are being lost. Children spend more time in front of screens and less time with mommy, daddy, grandma, and grandpa. Intergenerational conversations occur infrequently, allowing the ties that bind family members across generations to unravel. In twenty-first-century Connecticut, your family’s values and identity WILL be lost unless you take deliberate action. The Shehu Family Legacy Capsule™ relies on tools from Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions to help you leave a lasting legacy. These tools include:
Ethical Wills: Ethical wills have been used to share family values for over three thousand years. An ethical will is a document created by a senior family member that instructs future generations and younger family members on matters of faith and morals.
Legacy Letters: A legacy letter is drafted to an individual person. It’s an opportunity for you to share advice, insights, wisdom, and knowledge in a very personal and meaningful way.
Trustee Letters of Explanation: This type of letter allows you to explain background information to your selected trustee. Often, this information concerns the addictions, financial circumstances, or marriage of a beneficiary. Shehu Legal strongly recommends these letters be provided to a trustee if you have a discretionary trust in place. Such a letter allows a trustee to access crucial information when deciding whether a distribution is warranted.
Health Care Representative Letter of Explanation: Similar to a letter to a trustee, your letter to your health care representative explains your goals and intentions regarding medical care. These letters are an enormous source of comfort and encouragement to the individuals making a life or death decision on your behalf. They also offer an opportunity to clarify matters of faith. For example:
- Roman Catholics might request Last Rites—Extreme Unction, Viaticum, and an Apostolic Pardon
- Jehovah’s Witnesses might refuse a blood transfusion
- Orthodox Jews might clarify organ donation only in the case of irreversible cardiac rhythm cessation
Family Mission Statements, Crests, and Mottos: Some families may have crests and mottos than span generations. Other families may wish to create them. We have had young children work with parents and grandparents to create crests and flags using crayons. At the other end of the spectrum, we have utilized the College of Arms in the United Kingdom. Either way, Shehu Legal can assist with the creation and preservation of mission statements, crests, and mottos.
Funeral Plans and Obituaries: Family conflict often arises during funeral planning. Shehu Legal encourages its clients to plan and, if possible, pre-pay for their funeral services. We will even assist clients with drafting a complete obituary. Again, matters of faith must be considered in advance:
- Halakah (Jewish Law) forbids cremation and embalming
- Orthodox and Conservative Jews bury remains within 24 hours of death
- Sharia (Islamic Law) forbids cremation and requires a body to be washed and buried as soon as possible
- Many Traditional Catholics and Sedevacantists do not practice cremation
- Roman Catholic Canon Law requires cremains to be buried (not scattered)
Picture Books, Videos, and Audio Recordings: All clients of Shehu Legal are encouraged to prepare video and audio recordings for their heirs. These forms of multimedia can assist family members and heirs with the grieving process. Perhaps more importantly, they can serve as tools for passing down stories to future generations. Through a guided-interview “videography” presentation, you can share the nuances of your life story. Shehu Legal can arrange for clients to prepare picture albums and videos of professional quality.
Personal Property Letters: Items of sentimental value are frequently subjects of Probate disputes and causes of family conflict. The preparation of personal property letters allows you to leave items to specified family members and friends. These letters identify the item, explain the item’s significance to you, and outline your reasons for giving the item to a specific person.
The Shehu Better World Legacy Plan™
A Shehu Better World Legacy Plan™ allows you to give charities or causes of your choice. These flexible plans can be structured to encourage giving by subsequent generations, obtain a tax advantage, or endow a family foundation. Typically, a Shehu Better World Legacy Plan™ includes one of the following tools:
Donor Advised Funds
These family charities are established in conjunction with a community or charitable foundation. You will execute an agreement with the foundation, outline the goals of your charitable giving, and name initial advisors who will make distribution recommendations to the charity.
Private Family Foundations
A private family foundation is slightly more costly and complex to maintain that a donor advised fund. However, a private family foundation affords you complete control over charitable contributions and distributions. Rigid compliance with Internal Revenue Code regulations is required to maintain tax-exempt status.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
A charitable remainder trust is an excellent vehicle for clients concerned about capital gains taxes on the sale of assets. Throughout your life, you can receive an annuity payment from assets like real estate, businesses, and securities. Upon your death or the death of the named annuity recipients, the remaining trust property will pass to a charity of your choice. Oftentimes, your tax savings will fund the purchase of a life insurance policy that provides an inheritance to your beneficiaries that is equal to the inheritance they would have received from the asset itself.