The Legacy Process — A Generational Protection Plan
The Legacy Process for estate planning was created to help you begin the process of creating a legacy that will last throughout the generations. It also provides the ground work of defining what is “true wealth” to you and your family.
Like the bonsai, your legacy is a living, breathing organism. With regular attention and care, you can create the kind of legacy that you’ve hoped for using the Legacy Process — one that will last and have meaning and purpose.
Five Ongoing Processes Surround Your Legacy
The Legacy Process is actually five ongoing and related sub-processes that interact with each other to create a holistic system of support and growth.
The five sub-processes that comprise the Legacy Process are:
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The Advisor Support System:
— alignment/efficiency • mission & goals • advisor-family relationships • support technical plan • purposeful documents • maintenance
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Estate Plan Design:
— advisor integration • path to goals • values • concerns • circumstances • goals
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Personal Workshop:
— mission & values statements • legacy letter of intent • financial philosophy • money tree • legacy goals • financial goals
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Heir Priorities and Preparedness:
— understood perspectives • priorities & concerns • pillar III assets • personal mission & values • report overview
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The Family Council:
— thinking environment • articulate purpose • discuss priorities & goals • legacy education/alignment • future schedule
Legacy Process Is Different From Traditional Estate Planning
The Risks Addressed are Different | The Approach is Different | The Deliverables are Different | The Results Measured are Different |
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Family risks | With Family, the process builds:
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The process measures progress in a family’s ability to define its uniqueness through its history and stories and to use the past to accelerate the future of its members. |
Heir risks | With Heirs, the process:
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Deliverables that support trust and communication, heir preparedness and wealth mission. | The process measures progress from “Beginner” to “Expert.”
The process measures progress in relationships between and among people as well as intangibles such as financial matters, work, education and charity. |
Planning team risks | With your advisors, the process:
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Deliverables that support your advisors’ ability to collaborate more efficiently, to give you more wholistic advice, and to protect your tax planning. | The process measures the effectiveness of teams, the clarity and maintenance of your plan, and its ability to incorporate your voice and values. |
Personal legacy risks | The process helps you clarify and secure your legacy goals. | Deliverables that include your voice, your values, and expressions of your faith, hope and love; and that support the accomplishment of your goals. | The accomplishment of your goals. |
Hands-On Estate Planning Process

The Legacy Process “gets your hands dirty” and works beneath the surface to help you and your family be healthier for life’s inevitable challenges.
Relationship and capability cultivation: We help facilitate relationships between and among people and preparedness. We facilitate efforts by advisors and mentors to help your family.
Family brand articulation and strengthening: We help you identify and refine your family’s distinctive legacy “brand”. You create the story you want from the stories of your family brand, all while bringing your family’s best thinking to the table.
Family and personal legacy thinking skills: We help you and your family think at a different level about legacy matters.
Take Steps To Plan Your Legacy
Evaluate Status
Evaluate your family’s odds of achieving a successful asset transition. Complete the 1O-question Estate Transition Checklist to determine how prepared you and your family are to achieve your asset transition goals.
Complete the Estate Transition Checklist
Determine Priorities
Our Personal Estate Planning Priorities Survey, in combination with the Estate Transition Checklist, will help determine your vision and goals for your estate plan and how it is administered by your heirs.
Complete the Survey: Estate Planning Priorities