Your legacy is more than wealth. It's everything you've built and everyone you love.
Heritage Planning Group helps families and business owners in Anytown protect their assets, minimize taxes, and ensure everything they've built transfers exactly as they intend.
Trusted Partners
TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS
Planning Packages
Every family's situation is different. We offer three levels of engagement so you get exactly the planning you need, nothing more, nothing less.
Essential Plan
Your Foundation
- Last will and testament
- Financial power of attorney
- Healthcare power of attorney
- Advance healthcare directive
- Beneficiary designation review
Ideal for young families, individuals, and anyone creating their first estate plan.
Trust-Based Plan
Probate Avoidance & Control
- Revocable living trust
- Pour-over will
- Trust funding guidance
- All Essential Plan documents
- Title and ownership review
- Incapacity planning provisions
For homeowners, families with minor children, and anyone who wants to avoid probate and maintain privacy.
Comprehensive Legacy Plan
Complete Wealth Protection
- All Trust-Based Plan documents
- Business succession planning
- Advanced tax minimization strategies
- Irrevocable trust structures
- Life insurance trust (ILIT) coordination
- Multi-generational planning
- Annual review and updates
For business owners, high-net-worth families, and those with complex estates requiring sophisticated strategies.
What Happens Without a Plan
These aren't worst-case scenarios. They're what happens every day to families who simply never got around to planning.
The family home goes to probate court
Without a trust, your home, the place your family has lived, celebrated holidays, and built memories, becomes a court case. Probate proceedings are public record, meaning anyone can see the value of the home, who inherits it, and whether there are disputes. The process typically takes 6 to 18 months during which no one can sell, refinance, or make major decisions about the property. Court and attorney fees often consume 3 to 7 percent of the estate's value, money that could have gone to your family.
Your children's guardian is chosen by a judge
If both parents pass away without naming a guardian, a judge, someone who has never met your children, doesn't know your values, and has no understanding of your family dynamics, will decide who raises them. Family members may contest the decision, leading to drawn-out court battles while your children wait in uncertainty. The person the court selects may not be the person you would have chosen. This is perhaps the most important reason to have an estate plan, and it requires nothing more than a properly drafted will.
Your business dies with you
A business without a succession plan is a business on borrowed time. When the owner dies unexpectedly, there's no one authorized to sign checks, access accounts, or make operational decisions. Employees lose their livelihoods. Clients are left without service. The business's value, often the family's largest asset, evaporates because there was no one empowered to keep it running or sell it at fair market value. A buy-sell agreement funded by life insurance can prevent all of this.
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WHY IT MATTERS
Estate Planning Protects the People You Love Most
Estate planning is about more than distributing assets. It ensures your children are raised by the people you choose, your medical wishes are honored, and your family avoids expensive court proceedings.
Whether you are a young family just getting started, a business owner protecting your life's work, or planning for retirement, a comprehensive estate plan gives you control and peace of mind.
HOW WE HELP
Comprehensive Planning for Every Stage of Life
Estate Planning
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives tailored to your family's unique needs. We help ensure your assets pass to the right people, at the right time, in the right way.
Asset Protection
Strategic planning to shield your wealth from creditors, lawsuits, and unforeseen circumstances. We help you structure your assets to maximize protection while maintaining access and control.
Business Succession
Buy-sell agreements, key person planning, and succession strategies that protect your business and your family. We help business owners plan for every contingency so the business thrives no matter what.
Life Insurance Strategies
Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), estate tax funding, and wealth transfer strategies. Life insurance can be the most efficient tool for creating and preserving multi-generational wealth.
Patricia Wells, Estate Planning Specialist
For over 15 years, Patricia has helped families and business owners in Anytown navigate the complexities of estate planning. Her approach is personal, thorough, and always centered on what matters most to her clients: protecting the people they love.
Patricia works in partnership with qualified estate planning attorneys to ensure every plan is legally sound, tax-efficient, and tailored to each family's unique circumstances. Her clients describe her as a trusted guide who makes a complicated process feel manageable and even empowering.
FROM START TO FINISH
Patricia's Planning Process
Most families complete their estate plan in four to six weeks. Here's exactly what to expect at each stage.
Week 1
Discovery Call
A 30-minute, no-obligation conversation where Patricia learns about your family, assets, concerns, and goals. She'll ask the questions most people don't think to ask, and help you clarify what matters most.
Weeks 2–3
Document Review & Analysis
Patricia reviews your existing documents, beneficiary designations, property titles, and insurance policies. She identifies gaps, conflicts, and opportunities, then prepares a detailed summary of findings.
Weeks 3–4
Strategy Presentation
You'll receive a clear, personalized strategy that outlines exactly what documents you need, what trust structures make sense, and how insurance fits into the plan. No jargon, just clear recommendations.
Weeks 4–6
Implementation with Attorney
Patricia coordinates with a qualified estate planning attorney to draft your documents. She ensures trust funding is completed, beneficiary designations are updated, and every piece of the plan works together.
Ongoing
Annual Review & Updates
Estate plans aren't set-and-forget. Patricia schedules annual check-ins to review your plan against life changes, legislative updates, and evolving goals, ensuring your plan stays current and effective.
What Our Clients Say
“Patricia helped us set up a trust that will protect our grandchildren's inheritance for generations. The peace of mind is priceless.”
Robert and Susan K.
Business Owners
“After losing my father without a proper plan, I knew I had to get this right for my own family. Patricia made it simple and thorough.”
Thomas B.
Anytown
“She found strategies that will preserve significantly more of our estate for our family. That money stays where it belongs.”
William H.
Anytown
Frequently Asked Questions
Everyone. If you have assets, children, or people who depend on you, you need an estate plan. It's not just for the wealthy. It's for anyone who wants to control what happens to their property and who cares for their loved ones.
Probate is the court-supervised process of distributing a deceased person's assets. It can be time-consuming, expensive, and public. A properly funded revocable living trust is the most common way to avoid probate and keep your affairs private.
A will goes through probate and only takes effect after death. A trust can avoid probate, take effect immediately, provide for incapacity planning, and offer more control over how and when assets are distributed to beneficiaries.
You should review your plan every 3-5 years or whenever you experience a major life event, such as marriage, divorce, birth of a child, significant change in assets, or a move to a new state.
Absolutely. Business owners need buy-sell agreements, succession plans, key person insurance, and strategies to minimize estate taxes on business assets. Without these, a family business can be forced to close or sell at a discount.
Costs vary based on complexity. Our initial consultation is complimentary, and we'll provide a clear fee structure before any work begins. The cost of planning is almost always far less than the cost of not planning.
The best time to plan was yesterday. The second best time is today.
Schedule a complimentary consultation with Patricia Wells and take the first step toward protecting your family's future.
Schedule My Consultation