Walt Zaremba
Zaremba Center
Estate Planning & Elder Law
123 Bulifants Boulevard
Williamsburg, VA 23188
(757) 259-0707
laurel@zarembalaw.com

 

 

Our Commitment to Clients

It’s What We Do

The phrase "Estate Plans That Work" is not a tag line. We have dedicated our professional lives to making sure we accomplish this ambition. It’s unfortunate, but we know from our more than 25 years of collective experience that very few estate plans work as designed. Sometimes, this is because assets were not properly titled or transferred which is why we perform this task for our clients. Just as often, plans don’t work because they were not properly reviewed and maintained. You’ve heard the Yiddish proverb, “Man Plans God Laughs.” That’s why we offer a maintenance program to our clients with more complex planning and offer every client a complimentary triennial review. The fact is that we have made a significant commitment of our time, effort and resources to build and maintain our firm’s processes so that when the times comes, the plans we created with you really do work. Clients who engage us understand from the minute they walk through our doors that working with us is a mutual commitment; a carefully managed process that collectively gets us to our goals. The result is simple: your dreams, our knowledge: creating estate plans that work.

Your Dreams are Our Mission – Here’s the Process

Client engage us knowing that their situation is unique, after all, no two families are alike. What we know is that initially, for almost all of our clients, is about the dollars and sense: here’s what we’ve worked for- how do we save on taxes, plan for our future and our children’s futures? Through our process, what we are able to show our clients is that their most important objective should include a means of protecting the families’ wealth from divorce or creditor claims while insuring that it is ultimately used to nurture their family’s values for the next generation. While clients know that protecting and preserving family relationships is just as important as growing their wealth, many never realized that a properly drafted estate plan can be the methodology used to make that dream a reality. Occasionally, we are asked to help solve a painful family problem that has festered for years in hopes of saving further heartache. More often, we are called upon to design plans that provide protection from frivolous lawsuits or provide a tax efficient transition of wealth from the present to succeeding generations of family members. Everyone has likely heard of or perhaps witnessed first hand someone who received an inheritance before they were mature enough to handle it properly. Most families now recognize that the inappropriate disposition of wealth to family members who are unprepared to receive it. It carries far more potential for harm than for good. We are very familiar with the array of structures that can be creatively assembled to protect family members from their own worst instincts while, at the same time, provide positive incentives for personal and professional growth and community involvement. We have specific strategies that help our clients accomplish these non-tax non-financial objectives. For successful entrepreneurs, the final step in business may be implementing an exit strategy that allows a transition from a focus on business to a focus on family and personal growth. We have the ability to assist in implementing this transition in a way that is congruent with our client’s personal goals and, at the same time, incorporate innovative tax-efficient strategies in the process. We can assist in all these transition using our innovative and distinctive approaches to family wealth counseling, personal tax planning, charitable planning, and wealth preservation planning.

It’s Who We Are

We’ve been working to protect our clients for over 25 years, and we plan to be here for a least the next 25 years. If you are our client, that’s a privilege we treat very seriously because we know that change in your life will continue to occur. You will change. Your family will change. The laws will change. Your assets will change. Equally important is the fact that we will change and continue to grow. Every key member of our firm spends a least the equivalent of one month each year in continuing education programs, as either a teacher or a student. We learn so many new things every year that we are able to incorporate a proactive program to insure that our new learning benefits our existing clients as well as our future clients. We consciously determined that our practice would dedicate itself to performing a key specific area of the law so that we can perform exceptionally well. All of our professional relationships and continuing education are focused on polishing and improving our ability to accomplish our clients’ objectives. This approach has proven to be professionally satisfying for us and beneficial to our clients. When you choose to have a relationship with us, you should expect that relationship to last a lifetime.

Our Fees

Most of our engagements are made on a fixed fee basis that is determined after we know the scope, complexity and risk of the work. Some of our fees are based on the time spent, and fees for retitling assets and preparing beneficiary change forms are charged on a per-asset basis after your initially funding has been provided. We are very clear up front with our fees in order to prevent any possibility of misunderstanding. We expect every client to be completely satisfied with the quality of the service we provide and the fees we charge.

When You Are Ready

When you are ready to schedule a consultation, please call or complete the Request a Complimentary Consultation form and we will give you a call to schedule. Also, go ahead and download our Estate Planning Questionaire now to get started.