Westchester Estate Planning Attorneys
We are Personal Family Lawyers™, Willem and Margaretha Gravett. Together, we have been practicing law for almost two decades. We were associated with both large, prestigious New York City law firms and small boutique firms catering to high net worth clients.
Drawing on our experience in those firms, we knew there was a better way to serve our clients. We wanted to work in a firm where the client is truly at the core. So, we founded our own law firm and became Personal Family Lawyers™. We took what we had learned, created our own best practices, and left behind what simply doesn’t work. As a result, we’re very different from other law firms in four main ways:
1. Your Estate Planning is About You, Not Us
It doesn’t matter how many clients we’ve served, or where we got our law degrees. It doesn’t matter how much we know about tax planning strategies. In the long run, we’re not the ones who have to live with your estate plan … you are.
Some lawyers feel the need to impress their clients with how smart they are, or pressure their clients into one-size-fits-all plans. We feel our job is to listen to you – really listen to you – and use our expertise to help you make the right decisions for your family. We know that you are not doing estate planning for you. You’re doing it for the people you love the most.
2. We Do Everything on a Fixed Fee Basis
We want to hear from our clients and we want to answer their questions. We don’t want you to ever hesitate to call or e-mail us for fear of the bill that you would receive. You want certainty in your life. And you don’t like unexpected bills from lawyers. So, we threw out the time clocks. Nothing we do is billed on an hourly basis.
We work on a fixed fee, agreed-upon in advance, so that there are never any surprises. We speak openly about our fees up front, and when you work with us, you choose your own fee. That’s right, you participate in choosing your own fee as we design your plan.
Our clients are a lot happier with this arrangement, and so are we.
3. We Make it Easy for You
We know how busy working families can be, and that the needs of your children, your family, and your business obligations all compete for your limited time and attention. The reality is that if something like estate planning can be put off, it will be, sometimes indefinitely.
But the fact is that no one knows when he or she will die. While it’s unlikely that something will happen to you prematurely, it’s possible. And if you don’t have a plan, or don’t have a plan that works for your family’s needs, the effect of a premature death could be absolutely disastrous.
For these reasons, we do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for you. Typically, we complete a plan in 2 to 3 meetings over the course of 4 to 8 weeks. We offer complete trust funding services, and a plan review every three years so you can have total peace of mind that your plan will work when your family needs it.
4. We Help Our Clients Transfer their WHOLE Family Wealth
Your financial wealth is only about one quarter of your overall “family wealth.” Your family wealth also consists of your intellectual, spiritual, and human wealth – intangible assets that far too often are lost when someone passes.
At Gravett & Gravett we want to help our clients not only to transfer their financial wealth to their heirs, but also their whole family wealth. To accomplish this, we have developed the tools to enable us to transfer your whole family wealth – your financial, intellectual, spiritual, and human assets – to your loved ones. We are thrilled to offer this additional service to our clients – 100% free of charge.
Contact us to arrange your Family Wealth Planning Session at our offices in White Plains or Mount Kisco. We provide superior legal representation and complete commitment to our clients in Westchester and Putnam Counties.
