What's unique about Pennsylvania? And why do you think that matters regarding estate planning?

One of the really unique things in Pennsylvania that most other states don't have to worry about is inheritance taxes. Inheritance taxes are imposed on every resident. When a Pennsylvania resident passes away, their estate is subject to a statewide inheritance tax. It all depends on the relationship to the person you're leaving everything to. So spouse and charity is exempt from inheritance tax but if you leave everything to a child or a grandchild, they'll pay 4.5% of the day-to-day value of all your assets. Leave everything to a brother or sister, they'll pay 12%. Everything to someone unrelated, they'll pay 15%.

Pennsylvania is one of six states that imposes a statewide inheritance tax on all of its residents. We're also one of the few of the six that actually imposes a tax on children as well. A lot of the other states don't have to worry about the inheritance tax issue. That's what makes estate planning and estate settlement a little more tricky in Pennsylvania than other states.

What do you like best about your community and the clients in your area?

I grew up five minutes from our Philadelphia area office. So, I'm basically like six degrees of separation from everybody. I usually know someone they know or we have something in common. A lot of the clients remind me of my own family members, my own grandparents. Everyone's familiar.

Pennsylvania people are kind of a unique breed, but I'm very fluent in the Pennsylvania language. I get along well with people from this area because I grew up in the area.

So I guess my favorite part is working with people who remind me of my own grandparents, my own parents, my own family members, and trying to do right by them, act in their best interest, the way I would help my own family out. I try to help everyone out like they're part of my family.

What do clients in your community ask the most questions about? And what do you think people in Philadelphia care most about around estate planning?

A big one in Pennsylvania is Medicaid protection. If you're going to go to a long term care facility, they can be pretty expensive. Many people pay out of pocket, but once they run out of money, they need to apply for Medicaid to cover that long term care stay at the nursing home. So a big concern with a lot of my clients is protecting their assets from Medicaid, especially with houses, they don't want liens being put on them.

A lot of people want to plan ahead for nursing homes to have peace of mind that even if they blow through all the rest of their assets, at least something will go to their children, or other family members.

A lot of people also have multiple properties in Philadelphia so avoiding probate is a big concern for them as well. Additionally, they want to protect their beneficiaries so that whatever they leave their kids doesn't get tied up in a lawsuit or a divorce.

Why is Oath right for your clients?

I deal with a lot of people who have an attorney prepare their estate plan and then that attorney retires a couple years later and they don’t know who to talk to. At Oath, we’re big enough that no matter how many years pass there will always be something to take care of those clients.

We're one of the few firms that implements technology in a way that no other estate planning firm I have worked with does. I know a lot of firms will write plans up by hand or they'll have a generic template that they use, but not us. Our technology sets us apart from other firms.

We also have offices in a lot of states. So, no matter what state a client moves to, the likelihood is they'll have an attorney in that state to speak with them, to meet with them, and to help them out. Most estate planning firms don't go state to state. They're usually a mom and pop run shop. A guy with one foot in, one foot out, getting ready to retire. There aren’t many firms that do what Oath does.

What story do you tell most at your workshops?

I grew up right in the area where I'm practicing. So I'm a local guy. I tell people where I went to high school, where I went to middle school, all that. I grew up in Pennsylvania, but once I finished high school, I figured, I got four years now to go to college wherever I want, live wherever I want.

My grandfather was basically my best friend in the world. He was my role model, my North Star. So, I followed him to Fort Myers, Florida, where he was opening a restaurant in his retirement. I went down to Florida to attend Florida Gulf Coast University for my undergraduate studies. Then I graduated there with a degree in communication and went up to New York, sold stocks for a while, did some private wealth management stuff.

I didn't really find my passion in the financial planning sector, so I figured I’d go back to law school, open some more doors for myself. My now wife was still at college at Florida Gulf Coast University. I figured I’d go to the nearest law school from there. So I went to a place in Naples, Florida called Ave Maria School of Law. The whole time my grandparents are down there in their retirement.

I had gone to law school thinking I was going to be a public defender or a criminal defense attorney, like Johnny Cochran or something. However, I worked for the public defender throughout law school and it wasn't all I thought it was. It wasn't quite as glamorous as it is on TV. Again, I didn't find my passion in the criminal defense sector.

Once I passed the bar exam, I decided to try something new so I took a job with a really small firm up in Pennsylvania doing estate planning. It was a very small office, but I was starting to write up estate plans for my clients. I would write up wills for them, trusts, power of attorneys, and I was getting really good at it, a lot of good experience. Then when people I worked with passed, I would help their families through the settlement process.

About two years into this, both of my grandfathers passed away pretty simultaneously, a year or two apart, and my family didn't know what to do. I'm the only lawyer in the family, so they called me. My grandfather on my dad's side, he was a surgeon his whole life. He had a trust, very solid estate plan in place. That trust actually continues on to this day to provide for the wife he left behind, and the kids he left behind. So it was a simple settlement. I was able to get them through that process.

Then on the other side of things, my grandfather on my mom's side of the family had a simple will. He was a restaurateur his whole life. When he passed away, two of my uncles ended up spending two years in probate court, arguing over who should get what, who should be in control of what, how things should go down. We're a big Italian family on my mom's side, so there's a lot of big personality, big egos at play there. So unfortunately, my uncles spent two years in probate court, and all the assets were frozen until that probate could be sorted out.

So it was these two experiences that really opened my eyes to the importance of a solid, holistic estate plan, just to make things a little bit easier when someone passes away. It's never easy, but anything you could do to take some hoops out of the way for your family to jump through when you're gone goes a long way. After helping my mom's family get through it, I figured if I could help my big, crazy family through this process, I'm pretty sure I could help any family in the world with this.

That's when I decided to dedicate my practice to estate planning and joined Oath.

What do you estimate the longest possible probate is in Pennsylvania?

I've heard of them lasting up to five years. It all depends on who's contesting, how complex it is, what assets you have, whether you even have an estate plan or not. There are a lot of moving pieces but if your family is going to contest, it can be held up for years and all the assets are frozen during that time period.

How much do you think the most expensive probate might cost in Pennsylvania?

I'm sure they've cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm sure there's been situations where the families argue the estate completely dry because no one's agreeing to anything, everyone's just going back and forth. All the money's going to the lawyers or the courts.

I've seen that AARP estimates 5 to 7%, but I've never seen an attorney in Pennsylvania charge that much. Usually in my experience, what attorneys charge for probate is the 3% of the estate. Then you also have the court fees. Some attorneys will charge hourly so I'm sure they can range anywhere from a thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What do clients ask most at your workshops and how do you answer it?

One big one is “how do you avoid inheritance taxes in Pennsylvania?” Unfortunately, there's really no way to completely avoid inheritance taxes if you're a resident of Pennsylvania. The only ways you can avoid them would be to move to a state that doesn't have inheritance taxes, spend all your money while you're alive, or use life insurance. Life insurance proceeds aren't subject to inheritance tax. However, most people in Pennsylvania do have to worry about inheritance taxes. There's no real way to cut that out of the equation.

A lot of people want to avoid probate as well. Going through a probate on your own, oftentimes is not the most pleasant experience. So avoiding probate and making it a little easier for their families is another big concern for a lot of my clients.

What's the most impactful story you've heard from one of your clients?

I had a client in my previous firm who was a Motown musician. He was part of a famous band and made a lot of money. He had a wife and kids, and made a simple will stating that everything would go to his wife and that everything was jointly titled. After his first wife passed away, he remarried a younger woman. When he passed away, the second wife inherited everything, leaving his four or five kids with nothing. This caused a major problem within the family.

The situation was chaotic as the children showed up at their father's new wife's house. All we could do was look at the will, which stated that everything would go to his wife. It seemed like there were measures he could have taken to ensure his kids were provided for, but since his estate plan was simple and may not have been updated in years, everything went to his new wife, causing distress among his family.

What are your three favorite communities that you visit on your workshop schedule?

I enjoy hosting workshops in Bensalem. Every time I do a workshop there, we get a great turnout. They’re really down to earth people, they speak my language, and I relate well to them. They're the type of people that you want to work with.

I also enjoy King of Prussia. That's a great area. They have one of the top 10 biggest malls in America, the King of Prussia Mall. We always get a great turnout there, a great demographic of different people. It's always really fun to go to that venue as well.

I live in a town called Westchester. So anytime I can do a workshop in the town of Westchester or around Westchester, I like doing that because I'm helping people that are in my community. We all know the same landmarks. We all know similar people. So that's another great one to go visit whenever I can.