Roland Fry & Warren, LLC

www.houston-cpas.com
Home
Site Map
Business Links
Curriculum Vitae
Services
Estate Planning
Tax Services
Financial Consulting
What is Estate Planning?
Estate planning is the process of developing and coordinating a strategy to transfer our clients’ property to their desired beneficiaries in a way that fulfills their goals and objectives.  It is a process that is more than a straightforward financial analysis.  Comprehensive estate planning identifies our clients' overall goals and develops and coordinates a strategy to fulfill those goals.  However, not every estate planning engagement involves a comprehensive plan.  The estate planners at Roland, Fry & Warren generally offer more than one level of service to accommodate our clients' diverse needs and desires.  Often, clients seek planning services for only one or two areas of estate planning.  For example, a client may engage us to review a will for tax-saving ideas or to determine the best way to structure retirement plan distributions.  However, whether piecemeal or comprehensive, all estate planning engagements follow the same basic process. 

Basic Estate Planning Process
  1. Planning the engagement
  2. Setting goals
  3. Gathering data
  4. Developing a strategy
  5. Communicating the strategy
  6. Implementing the strategy
  7. Monitoring the plan periodically

Communication is the key to effective estate planning.  Often, the planners at Roland, Fry & Warren acts as the “quarterback” of the team to coordinate the efforts and recommendations of the other team members.  Often our estate planning engagements are combined with many of the principles found in wealth protection planning.  Wealth protection planning at Roland, Fry & Warren, LLC, involves organizing our clients’ personal and business affairs in a manner that protects their wealth from creditors without compromising their estate, tax, and financial plans. 

Planning with Trusts

The best of all worlds from an estate planner’s perspective is to help a client retain lifetime control or enjoyment of property while transferring the property, or at least the future appreciation, out of the client’s estate for estate tax purposes.  We use trusts as a primary tool to accomplish this goal.  Simply put, trusts are nothing but a set of instructions.  They are versatile because of their unique legal status.  They provide a mechanism for separate and distinct components of legal and equitable ownership.


At literally a fraction of the cost of doing nothing, estate planning packages for Texas residents start at under a $1000, including attorney’s fees.  If you would like to discuss the estate planning or wealth protection planning services with one of the professionals at Roland, Fry & Warren, LLC, please feel free to call or email us at your convenience.