When you get right down to it, estate planning is all about preserving family values and traditions and promoting family harmony. So ask yourself these questions:

• If you were gone, would your family know how much you cared for them?
• Would they know about what was important in your life?
• Would they feel a continued connection with you?
• Would they understand how and why you designed your estate plan?

An Ethical Will can help you craft a value statement to let your loved ones know your morals and values — morals and values you hope they will embrace into the future. It is where you can have the opportunity to say many things that you might not otherwise say.

Ethical Will Workbook

The first step in creating an Ethical Will helps you determine what values and traditions are important to you — values and traditions you want to pass on to your family. That's where our unique Ethical Will Workbook can help. In it, you'll be asked to identify the top five virtues you value, your favorite places, people, music, charities and more. These are the building blocks needed to create an ethical will. The workbook also provides several examples of ethical wills to help you get started on creating your own message for your loved ones.

Get started right now by downloading this Ethical Will Workbook!

Supporting Your Ethical Will

While most people, and lawyers for that matter, focus on estate planning “documents”, Here at the Poulos Law Firm we believe that your values and the preservation of family harmony should coordinate and be expressed in your plan. Of course, the next step is create a last will and testament, a trust, power of attorney — whatever legal documents you need to support of your morals, values and traditions (your Ethical Will). Poulos Law Firm will help you every step of the way with guidance and legal advice and documents to continue your legacy into the future.

How Poulos Law Firm Can Help

At Poulos Law Firm, it is very important for us to establish your goals and traditions first, before we proceed in creating an estate plan that will promote harmony in your family for generations to come. Once the Ethical Will and goals have been established, we then provide the following:

• Counseling on how to set up an estate plan (and talk to your heirs) to minimize family disharmony
• Counseling on the selection of a person(s) to serve as financial fiduciary (selecting an executor, trustee or agent with your financial power of attorney).
• Counseling on the selection of a person(s) to serve as a health care fiduciary (medical power of attorney)
• Creation of documents like wills, revocable or irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, living wills and more.
• Addressing the issue of gifting and loans