Susan L. Sandys

I practice holistic estate planning. Yes, I prepare the paperwork you need if you become incapacitated, pass away or need guardianship for a disabled child. But that is only part of the services I provide. Exploring how your documents will impact your loved ones is as important as drafting the documents themselves. Estate planning is not done in a vacuum. It is part of your overall life and death view.

The personalities, value systems, dynamics, and other issues that make each family unique are very relevant to estate planning. Being able to map out a plan that will realistically take into account who the players are and how they react to life and crises, may well avoid the battles on the back end that can destroy relationships.

Estate planning is the way we continue to take care of our families when we are not able to do so. We take care of our families every day of our lives. The idea that we may face a time when we cannot interact with our loved ones or express our love for them is enough to make most of us want to cry. But the beauty of estate planning documents is that they give us the tools to do what we no longer can do on our own.