Trusts and Estates Law
No matter how big your investment portfolio, how notable your modern art collection, or how rare your collection of antique silver, when the time comes for you to leave this world, you can't take your assets with you. The estate lawyer's role is to help a client arrange his or her financial affairs so that, upon the client's death, the client's assets are distributed exactly as he or she wishes and the tax consequences of distributing that property are minimized.
What a person acquires during his or her lifetime-both real estate and personal property-makes up that person's estate. Someone's estate may include real property, such as homes, condominiums, farms, and summer cottages; vehicles, including cars, pickup trucks, fishing boats, yachts, and Lear jets; furniture, such as antique dressers, family pianos, Persian rugs, Crate and Barrel sofas, and futons passed down from a college roommate or older sibling; household items, such as Baccarat crystal, heirloom china, and pots and pans from Target; personal items, including jewelry-whether sapphires from Tiffany's or costume jewelry from Wal-Mart-and art work-whether kindergarten scribblings or Van Gogh originals; family documents, such as diaries, photo albums, or the family Bible; and money, including stocks, bonds, and personal savings accounts.
The law of estates and trusts governs the use of certain types of instruments, such as wills, living trusts, or charitable trusts, to provide for an orderly distribution of the assets and payment of any debts or liabilities of the estate. Developing an effective estate plan can be very challenging, as each client has a unique set of assets and unique family, business, and financial concerns. A client who owns a family business will want to ensure that there is a smooth transition in ownership of the business assets. A client who has a disabled child will want to plan for that child's future well-being. Grandparents may want to look out for the educational needs of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. An art collector may want to make sure that her collection is distributed to a particular museum or sold to benefit a particular charitable organization.
A client with even a modest estate may seek to use his or her will as an instrument for rewarding some family members-the "good" daughter-and punishing others-the "black sheep" son. Some clients may even express disapproval for family members by rewarding someone outside the family-the kind waitress or the helpful neighbor. And many clients, even those with the most modest estates, choose to provide some financial benefits to charitable organizations, educational institutions, or churches and synagogues, as well as to family members.
Lawyers who work in estate planning work closely with their clients, often over a period of many years, and tend to become close to their clients. They know a great deal about their clients' financial matters and family relationships. When a client considers how to dispose of his estate upon his death, he is making decisions that reflect and are intertwined with personal values. Often the estate planning attorney must become involved in decisions regarding the care of an elderly dependent of the client or the means that will be used to care for the client and a spouse through their later years. The estate lawyer often becomes a true family counselor, helping the client work through both financial and personal issues.
Reproduced from The Official Guide to Legal Specialties with permission. (c) 2000 Thomson Reuters/West. For additional information on this publication please visit 
http://west.thomson.com/products/law-students. Copyright granted via e-mail by Donna Gies, September 16, 2008.