How We Work at DePrima Law

It can be easy to think of estate planning as a one-time task. Unfortunately, the reason it’s easy to think that way is because all too frequently that’s what happens. DePrima Law is different. We know that life changes, and with those changes, your estate plan must also adjust. We know that good estate planning–work that protects a person’s wishes and their legacy–is ongoing and calls for a real relationship between a person and their lawyer. We aim to build that relationship every day at DePrima Law so we can be your family’s lawyer for life.

Why Our Experience Matters

We’re proud of the 18+ years we’ve spent working with people on their estate plans. That timetable is more than just a number. It’s over 18 years’ worth of questions and answers with clients on a wide range of possible outcomes that their estate plan must address. It’s over 18 years of seeing different scenarios play out in people’s lives and understanding how to properly address them in estate planning.

Estate lawyers with this type of experience know what types of questions must be asked. Estate planning cannot be done well by pulling up a template and inputting a new person’s name. An estate planning attorney understands how different each client is. They also see and plan for the fact that each client’s life, as well as the lives of their family members, will unfold differently.

An Estate Planning Lawyer for Life

Over the course of their lifetimes, people start businesses and buy homes. The estate plan has to account for that. Income can fluctuate. Tax laws change. Heirlooms are acquired. People get inheritances from their own parents that they want to include in what’s passed down to future beneficiaries.

Furthermore, spouses with children never stop worrying about protecting their kids, even after the children have become adults. An adult child could develop a mental or physical disability, requiring ongoing care. Parents might worry about another adult child’s ability to handle a large inheritance gifted all at once. Estate planning offers ways to address these concerns, while still making sure the children’s inheritance is protected. But these concerns can only be addressed if the lawyer remains present in the life of the family.

Issues like power of attorney are important in the initial estate planning process because it establishes who will handle medical and financial decisions in the event a person becomes incapacitated. But what happens after the initial planning session? The people designated as power of attorney may pass away or move out of the area. Clients develop new relationships as life moves forward and their initial choice for power of attorney might not be the same person they would select today. When a family has their lawyer for life, the estate plan can be regularly reviewed and adjusted to reflect all relevant changes.

DePrima Law demonstrates our commitment to longstanding professional relationships right at the outset. Our estate planning process involves three steps. We want to make sure that the plan we’ve developed together really works in the life of the family. And we want to be sure that it keeps working in the years ahead.

Call DePrima Law’s Buffalo office today at (716) 638-2633 or contact us online to set up a consultation.