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How to Plan Your Estate While Keeping to Your Culture’s Traditions

California offers a variety of estate planning options for individuals and their families. This flexibility is crucial in California, which exhibits a very diverse society where many families raise their children in a foreign culture. But the various estate planning options available in California allow people from all walks of life to make effective and smart estate planning decisions tailored to their lives.

However, many families come from cultures whose traditions and values may differ greatly, even running afoul of certain norms, like a focus on building wealth for the next generation. As a result, some people hesitate when it comes to estate planning; they fear that differences in traditions and values could jeopardize their wishes for their estates.

Fortunately, the estate planning lawyers in California from OC Wills & Trust Attorneys have years of experience helping people structure their estates in ways that not only protect their wealth but also take into account their respective cultures and traditions. Our team knows that native culture and tradition are major considerations in estate plans, and they know how to get clients the estate plan they need while maintaining the traditions of their native culture.

If you have questions about how to honor your culture’s traditions during the estate planning process, an experienced attorney can give you the answers you need and explain your options for fulfilling your vision.

Understanding an Estate Plan

Creating a successful estate plan begins with understanding what an estate plan is and what it is intended to accomplish. Put simply, estate plans protect your assets and your family’s future through terms that you personally create. 

Once you’re familiar with how estate plans can protect your family’s future, you can begin communicating your desires to your estate planning attorney. And together, you can create a personalized plan that safeguards your assets while preserving important aspects of your culture.

Your Family’s Culture and Traditions

Your vision is the guiding force as you set out to make a plan for your estate. One of the first steps in creating an estate plan is to articulate the traditions of your culture and how they’ll shape your decisions.

Every estate planning situation is different, and each person who plans an estate finds themself in the context of powerful cultural traditions. Acknowledging these traditions can help you as you set up the plans for your estate.

Wealth and Values

Most people think about wealth passing from one party to another when they hear the words estate planning. However, estate planning often involves the transmission of values that have nothing to do with wealth. 

An individual who is planning their estate might desire provisions that preserve their culture’s tradition in a very specific way, even if that arrangement is less than optimal when you’re considering wealth and finances.

An estate planning attorney who is not sensitive to the values of other cultures may find a decision that does not maximize an estate’s wealth to be odd. However, these types of decisions in which values trump wealth can be the glue that holds the estate together over time.

Generally speaking, estate planning boils down to who you love and who you trust. With the right executor and estate plan in place, you have the confidence and peace of mind that your desires will be fulfilled just as you have previously planned.

Choosing the Right Professional

When it comes to your legacy, there is far too much at stake to skip out on using the services of a professional estate planning attorney with a successful track record.

For individuals with significant cultural and traditional considerations, it is essential to find an attorney who is capable of weaving these relevant considerations into the documents and structures of the estate plan. An adept attorney with cultural understanding and sensitivity can help create the right estate plan for your specific needs.

Turn to OC Wills & Trust Attorneys for effective estate planning services in Orange County. Our team is made up of a diverse team of professionals from various backgrounds and cultures, ready to serve you and your unique needs. Our experienced estate planning attorneys can help to pave the way for a lasting legacy.

Brian Chew, the managing partner of OC Wills & Trust Attorneys, has extensive experience in the areas of estate planning, asset protection planning, business succession planning, long-term care planning, and veterans’ benefits. By devoting his practice to estate planning matters, he has founded a firm that strives to provide exceptional service to their clients by working closely with individuals and their families to create comprehensive and customized estate plans. For the past twenty five years, Brian has served thousands of clients in the matters of estate planning, wills and trusts. If you have any questions about this article, you can reach Brian Chew here.