The Estate Planning Interview

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Rebecca Robins: Hello. I am Rebecca Robins, and I am the host of the Santa Clarita Valley Local Leaders Show. I am a local leader here in Santa Clarita, and the business owner of Robins Financial. I provide tax and financial services. To learn more about me, my business, and my services, please visit Robinsfinancial.com. That's Robins, R-O-B-I-N-S, financial.com.

But without any further delay, I would like to introduce my guest today. I am so excited to have with me Robert Mansour, who is an attorney of the Law Offices of Robert Mansour. He specializes in estate planning, probate, tax administration, and personal injury law. How are you today, Rob?

Robert Mansour:  Good, Rebecca. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.

Rebecca Robins: Thank you for being my guest today. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you do in Santa Clarita Valley?

Robert Mansour:  Sure, I'd be happy to. Thank you. Let's see here. The best way to start is with a little bit of history. I've been a lawyer since 1993. For a good portion of my career, I was a defense lawyer, a litigation attorney, working for the insurance companies, defending personal injury cases. As such, I was a trial lawyer. I was in front of juries a lot, taking depositions, arbitrations. Basically fighting with people all the time in adversarial kind of settings.

After, oh gosh, maybe 10 years of that, I got really tired of the fighting, and decided to look to a different area of law that was a little bit more constructive. One area that had always appealed to me was the area of estate planning. Sitting down with a family and working on legal documents such as wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, things like that, and helping the family come up with a plan that suited them. It was so nice to sit across the table from actual clients, a husband wife, or whomever I'm sitting across the table with, and working with them to create a plan that they felt comfortable with, and that they felt reflected their values. I got away from the adversarial trial lawyer work that I had done.

For the last several years I've had my own practice, after leaving the big firm that I was with. It has been a very interesting transition. Most of my practice now is devoted to estate planning. I have about 25% of my practice deals with personal injury cases, such as car accidents, slip and fall accidents, things of that nature. That just kind of happened because of my background, having worked for the insurance companies as a defense lawyer, I found it kind of natural to put on the other hat, if you will, and represent victims of those accidents, since I have a very good understanding of how the other side approaches those kinds of cases.

Those are really the two areas of law that I do specialize in. I shouldn't say specialize. That's something that the bar doesn't like us to use unless, it's kind of a term. All right, I should say those are the areas of practice that I work on. I will say also that I help people with post-death matters such as probate. Or for example, somebody's the trustee of their family's trust, and they don't know what to do, and they need some guidance. I help people with also those post-death matters as well.

Rebecca Robins:   Well, that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing with us, Rob. Now I'd like to actually focus on probably what you were referring to earlier, was that estate planning. Can you explain to us what is meant by estate planning?

Robert Mansour:  Of course. I think the first thing that we should do is talk about this word estate. That, I think, turns a lot of people off, and they figure, "Estate planning is not for me." Because the first thing they think of when they think of the word estate, is they think of somebody living in a big mansion, somebody who is very, very wealthy, who plays polo on the weekends, and speaks with a fake British accent. That is not, the word estate, I think, tends to mislead a lot of people.

The way I tell people is to think of the word estate as simply being equivalent to the term stuff. Everybody has stuff. You might have $50 to your name. You might have $50 million to your name. That is your stuff. It could include real estate. It could include checking accounts, savings accounts, any kinds of bank accounts, investment accounts of any sort, jewelry, clothing, all of the things that you own. Stocks, bonds, all of those things, are part of your "stuff."

That's all estate planning is. It is planning what to do with your stuff, and there's two components, essentially. Number one, planning who is going to be in charge of your stuff, if you will, if something happens to you. Never mind the issue of death. Most people think of estate planning, and they think about dying. It's really about a lot more than that. It's about empowering people to act on your behalf in case something ever happens to you, whether it is a car accident, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, a coma, something happens where you're no longer able to handle your affairs, you want to make sure that you give people the legal tools that they need to be able to assist you.

Then, of course, the other component is after you pass away, you get to control where your stuff goes, and to whom it goes, and in what manner. By preparing these legal documents in advance, by creating this estate plan with your stuff, you get to control a lot more of what happens, rather than just leaving things to chance.

Let me just also address one more thing here, Rebecca. People always say, "Isn't this what wealthy people do? Don't wealthy people do estate planning? Why should I?" I say, look, yes, wealthy people do estate planning. Wealthy people know how to stay wealthy. That's one of the things that they do very well. We, as average folks, if there are any average folks listening to this, I consider myself average folks, we need to learn from the wealthy people. We need to do what they do. They are using the very same legal tools that are available to everyone. But most people don't think it's for them.

Then what happens in this country, I read an interesting article, most of the wealth in this country, especially in the middle class, is lost between one and two generations. It's gone. That is because the average people don't know how to transfer wealth from one generation to another. They don't know how to preserve it. They don't know how to ensure against problems and things of that nature. Wealthy people know how to do that, and we need to learn from them and do what they do, and preserve the wealth in our family and make sure that it gets to the right people.

Rebecca Robins:   So Rob, what you're telling us is, no matter if our stuff is worth, in our mind $50 or $50 million, we should consider sitting down with someone and doing an estate plan. Is that correct?

Robert Mansour:   That's exactly correct. One of the things that people tell me is they say, "Look, I don't have enough money to do estate planning. I don't have enough to protect." I tell them, the truth of the matter is, wealthy people like, let's say, the example that I often use is about Bill Gates. If Bill Gates lost a million dollars from his estate, he'd probably be okay. But if an average person loses a good portion of their estate to legal fees, or attorneys, or the court system, or hospital bills, or whatever the case may be, that will hurt that person, much more than it would hurt a very wealthy person. So you're absolutely right.

Rebecca Robins:  One of the things, too, that's important in estate planning is, if you have children. Will you address that for us? Why is estate planning important if you have minor children?

Robert Mansour:  Well, minor children can't really own anything. I mean, they can, for example, if my wife and I were to pass away without any planning whatsoever, our home would eventually go to our children, yes. I have two kids. It would eventually go to them. But children cannot own real estate. They are minors. They have to be 18 years of age or older in California. One of the problems is that they can't own real estate.

They can't own, for example, here's another problem I'll tell you. This is a very common problem, life insurance policies. Let's say somebody has a life insurance policy and they put their children as a beneficiary of that life insurance policy. The insurance company's not going to write a check to a 10-year-old kid. They're not going to write a check to an 11-year-old kid. They're not going to do that. What are they going to do? They're going to tell the kid to wait until they're 18 years of age, and then the child will get everything at that time.

So for example, I have a million dollar life insurance on my life. If I were to pass away, and my wife were to pass away in a common accident with me, my children, at the age of 18, would each get $500,000, a check made out to them free and clear. That's not exactly the best way to transfer wealth. Because I know, given my own history, and my youth, I don't think they will handle the money very well at that age.

There's just so many other reasons. For example, a child will have to go to court and have a guardian appointed to them. That can be a very lengthy and expensive process as well. I'm not a big fan of, I mean I am a big fan of estate planning, especially when it comes to protecting kids, and making sure that they are taken care of.

Also, this has nothing to do with money. You get to name the guardians for your children. In an estate plan, in any good estate plan, people with minor children should take the time to name guardians for their kids. That way, you get to choose who takes care of your kids, and not the state of California or some judge. Because the truth of the matter is, anybody can get in line to be the guardian of your kids, and sometimes that can lead to family problems, in-fighting. It is much better for you to choose who's going to take care of your children in advance, and you can be as specific as you want in your documents as to where you want your children to grow up, if you want them to live together, if you want your children to be raised in a particular faith, any kind of information regarding education of your children. All of that can be included in your legal documents. So absolutely, taking care of kids is one of the biggest reasons for doing an estate plan.

Rebecca Robins: Rob, with that, we're going to have to take a break. But we'll be right back with Robert Mansour, Attorney, and we'll be talking more about estate planning. Stay tuned.

Hello, this is Rebecca Robins, and I am your host of the Santa Clarita Valley Local Leaders Show. I am back with Robert Mansour, Attorney, of the Law Offices of Robert Mansour. Robert, we are talking about the importance of estate planning today. I wanted to ask you, what happens if someone does absolutely nothing?

Robert Mansour:  Well, if somebody does absolutely nothing, first of all, I should say that that is probably the most popular estate plan, basically doing nothing and just kind of hoping things work out, crossing your fingers and hoping things work out for the better. Also, it is a free plan, so you don't have to pay any money to do nothing, which is another reason why people like it. But I'm being facetious because it is something that really we should spend a couple of minutes talking about.

First thing, let me give you a couple of examples of how doing nothing may not work out. I had a client who came to me, and he had just gotten a divorce. One of the reasons that he got a divorce was because his wife was spending far too much money. He would make a dollar. She would spend two dollars. He comes to me and he says, "Look, Rob. We had financial problems. We got a divorce. What if I do nothing?" That's what he tells me.

I said, "If you do nothing, the state of California already has dictated what's going to happen with your spouse." If he remains unmarried, everything is going to go to his daughter.  He said, "Well, that's terrific. That's exactly what I want." He said, "I have real estate, and I have a life insurance policy for $500,000." I said, "Great. All of that is going to go to your daughter." Then he goes, "Super. I guess I'll do nothing." I said, "Hold on a minute. How old is your daughter?" He says, "Well, she's eight years old."

I said, "Eight years old?" I said, "Tim, no insurance company is going to write a check to an eight year old." I said, "Your house will not go to an eight year old." I said, "It's going to go to your child's guardian." I said, "Who's your child's guardian?" Guess what? It's his ex-wife. So if he did nothing, all of his work and money and estate is going to go, basically, to the control of his ex-wife.
Another example that I have that I often use to illustrate doing nothing. A very wealthy client called me and she says, "Look, what if my husband and I do nothing?"  I said, "If you do nothing, then once again the state of California will tell where your assets go. It'll go to your kids."
She says, "Well, we don't have any kids."
I said, "Well, then it'll go to your parents."
She says, "Oh, our parents have passed away."
I said, "Well, the next in line would be your siblings."
She kind of pauses and she says, "Well, I have this one brother."
I said, "Well, then everything would go to him."
She said, "We're coming to see you right away, Mr. Mansour." Because she did not want everything to be going to her brother. Because they don't have a good relationship. She didn't want everything that she and her husband had worked for to end up going to her brother.

Sometimes by doing nothing, everything could end up in the wrong hands. I think that that's probably the best thing to say about that, that state law will dictate where your assets go. Also, if you do nothing, you could end up in court, going through the probate process. The probate process is simply the court supervising the transfer of your assets. That's very costly. It costs about 5% of the gross assets. So just on a $700,000 home, you could be looking at about $35,000 in fees just for the court to help and assist in transferring an asset from you to whomever it needs to go to, when if you plan ahead, you can avoid the court system entirely, especially if you use something like a living trust, or another kind of vehicle.

Rebecca Robins:  Rob, would you recommend, if someone's thinking about doing nothing, at least invest an hour of their time with an attorney who can specifically tell them, if they do nothing, this is your situation. It's going to go to your child. It's going to go to your brother. It's going to go to your ex. Would you recommend someone at least sit down with an attorney for an hour and find out their individual situation?

Robert Mansour:  One of the things that I provide for my clients, Rebecca, is a free consultation. If they have no documents, we sit down and we map out, "What's going to happen if you guys do nothing?" We basically take a look at that scenario. We ask ourselves if we're comfortable with that. Nine times out of 10, or even more so, they are not comfortable with that, and we end up creating a plan. If you don't create a plan, it's just going to happen the way California law dictates. So yes, it's a good idea to sit down with a professional and walk through it and see how the plan might help avoid the disaster of doing nothing.

Rebecca Robins:  Okay, and with that note, we're going to take a break, and we will be right back with Robert Mansour, Attorney of the Law Offices of robert Mansour. Stay tuned.

Hello, this is Rebecca Robins, your host of the Santa Clarita Valley Local Leaders Show. I am back with Robert Mansour, Attorney, of the Law Offices of Robert Mansour. We are talking about estate planning. Rob, I wanted to ask you, what are your thoughts about joint ownership of assets?

Robert Mansour:  Joint ownership of assets is a very popular approach that a lot of people use, especially married couples use joint ownership by default. They basically own their bank accounts together. They own their real estate together. They own investment accounts together. It's basically, husband's name on the account and wife's name on the account, or the real estate. However, I really caution people, because joint ownership, in my opinion, is one of the leading causes of people losing their wealth in this country, money going to the wrong people. It ends up with people that you never imagined would have your wealth. Here is basically some of the common dangers of joint ownership.

Number one, it is dangerous because the last person alive gets to control the entire asset. I call it Last Man Standing, although it's Last Woman Standing as well. So last man standing gets full control over the asset. If my wife and I own real estate together, if I pass away, my wife has full control over what happens with that real estate. If I own real estate with my brother, for example, if I pass away, he has full control over where that asset goes. I lose control. Once I pass away, I have no say where that asset goes.

For example, sometimes I get clients and they inherit a house from their mom and dad. So there's two siblings that end up owning this house. Then one of those siblings dies, and the remaining sibling gets the whole house. The sibling who passed away, their family gets nothing. That is one of the biggest reasons for what we call unintentional disinheritance, the money ending up with the wrong people.

Also, some people see joint ownership as a way of avoiding probate. They figure they'll just put somebody on title with them, and when they die the person will get the property. That's true. But at some point, there's going to be one person left. You're simply postponing probate. That's all you're doing. You're just putting it off for a while. Because if I pass away, and my wife remains on the house, at some point, she's going to pass away. Then that house will, indeed, be going through the court process.

The other thing that people should really know is that whenever you put somebody on title with you, you are adding a bulls eye to your asset. A common thing that I see is an elderly person who's perhaps in their 70's or 80's. They entertain the idea of putting one of their children on title with them. They'll say, "I know, I'm going to put my son Bobby on title with me."

I say, "Hold on a minute. Are you sure that's a good idea?" Because if Bobby gets into any trouble whatsoever, let's say Bobby is driving down the street and he hits a little boy with his car. That little boy's family gets a lawyer. Anything with Bobby's name on it is fair game, including Mom's home, or Mom's accounts, or anything with Bobby's name on it. By putting people on title with you, you are adding bulls eyes to it.

The other thing that is very, very important is the issue of remarriage in this country. People are getting married two, three, four times in some cases. This is a very dangerous thing, because here's how it works. My wife and I have two kids. I've got my son and my daughter. Let's say my wife and I are on title together, and then my wife passes away. If my wife passes away, maybe a few years later it's possible I might meet somebody new and get remarried. If I put my new wife on title with me, on all of my assets, just like most people do, one day what if I die? Guess who owns everything that my original wife and I worked so hard for? My new wife owns everything. She could conceivably take all the assets and do whatever she wants with them. My children, my son and my daughter, get zero. Again, another example of unintentional disinheritance through joint ownership.

There's a whole other bunch of reasons that joint ownership is not a great idea. There are tax reasons that are too complicated to get involved in with here. I would recommend people talk with you about those things. But I think that covers some of the main dangers of joint ownership, Rebecca.

Rebecca Robins:  Okay. Lots of times, when people do have joint ownership of assets, they are looking to a document that's called a living trust. Can you explain to us more what a living trust is?

Robert Mansour: Well, a living trust is nothing more than a contract. It's nothing mysterious. People get kind of mystified by this term living trust. It is a legal document that you can create, either by yourself or with your spouse, or with anybody else, really. The legal contract says the following.

Number one, it tells everybody who you are. It tells everybody what you own. It tells everybody, if anything happens to me, I've chosen the following people to take care of my stuff in case anything happens to me. Finally, after I pass away, this is where I want my stuff to go, and to the following people, and in the following manner.

By reducing that to an example, my wife and I don't own anything. Robert and Laurie Mansour don't own anything. What owns everything? The Mansour Family Trust, this document, this agreement that my wife and I made together. Our house is owned by our trust. All of our bank accounts are owned by our trust. Our investment accounts are owned by the Mansour Family Trust. Not by me or by my wife. The reason that's significant is that if I pass away, the Mansour Family Trust continues to own the assets, continues to govern those assets. If my wife passes away, same difference. The Mansour Family Trust continues to own and govern the assets, and the distribution of those assets.

There are three major benefits to having a trust, Rebecca. The first one, anything in the name of your trust, whether it's real estate, bank accounts, or investments, whatever you put in, is avoiding the court system. That's number one. Number two benefit, anything in the name of the trust can be controlled by your trustees, people that you've chosen in advance to control your assets. The number three benefit is that anything in the name of your trust will be governed by it. So whatever rules you have in your trust will govern the distribution of your assets.

For example, my children are not going to receive their inheritance right away. They're going to receive their inheritance over the years. They're going to receive one-third at 25, one-third at the age of 30, and the balance at the age of 35. Because I don't want them to squander their inheritance by receiving it at such a young age.  A living trust is a very important tool under this larger umbrella of estate planning. Does that help?

Rebecca Robins: It does, absolutely. You know, Rob, in segment one we were talking about the possibility of having incapacity. Who's going to help me take care of my stuff even while I'm still alive. Because we all know the probability of incapacity is sometimes greater than the probability of death.

Robert Mansour: Yes.

Rebecca Robins: It sounds like this living trust helps take care of that while you're still alive and for some reason you're not able to take care of your stuff. This living trust then will kick in. Is that correct?

Robert Mansour:   Absolutely. One of the serious issues that we need to understand is that one of the things a good trust should outline is the mechanism of succession. How do I know when the next trustee gets to come in? How are we going to define that? There are so many nuances in a good living trust. There are many different kinds of trusts, by the way, not just one kind. A lot of people think it's some kind of a drug that you take an everything is fine. Just like there are many different kinds of automobiles, there are many different kinds of living trusts. You're absolutely right. Anything in the trust can be governed by the successor trustees, people that you've chosen in advance to manage your assets for you.

Rebecca Robins: Very, very good. In segment one, you also mentioned something called a healthcare directive. I was wondering, could you go over other documents that would be part of a typical estate plan?

Robert Mansour: Oh, absolutely. A living trust is part of a larger estate plan. That's something people should know, because they often think it's just a trust. Other important documents are wills for the clients. A will that serves as a back up to the trust. In case something has to go through the court system, the will will direct all of the assets back to the trust in order for them to be governed by the trust.

Another very important document you just mentioned is something in California we called the Advanced Healthcare Directive, where you select people to care for you and to make healthcare decisions for you in case you cannot. You can be as specific as you want to be in that document. There's a lot of nuances that go into that. But again, there's too many to get into on this call.

Another important document, I would say, the big four are the living trust, the healthcare directive, the will that I just talked about, and finally, in my opinion perhaps the most important, is the durable power of attorney, where you select someone in advance to act on your behalf in virtually every other circumstance. This person can talk to the credit card companies, can talk to your former employer, can talk to your lawyer, can talk to your CPA, can talk to the IRS. It goes on and on and on. A very good, durable power of attorney is part of a solid estate plan.

There are many other documents, for example, nominating guardians for your kids, business agreements, community property agreements, especially among married couples, whether there are any separate property issues that we need to address. All of those go into the larger umbrella, if you will, known as estate planning.

Rebecca Robins:   Rob, I wanted to ask you the question. Lots of times people come to an attorney, and they set up a living trust. But you were talking earlier about titling your home in the name of the trust, titling your bank account in the name of the trust. What happens if somebody just comes to you and sets up a living trust and their assets aren't put in the trust?

Robert Mansour: What you're hinting at here, and not even hinting at it, you're telling us, essentially, this is probably the biggest reason that living trusts fail, Rebecca, is that people fail to take the time, once they create their trust, to change title to their assets. They come to me and they say, "But the trust says this, and the trust says that."

I say, "It doesn't matter." Because title trumps at the end of the day. If you own everything jointly with somebody, it doesn't matter what your living trust or your will says. It's irrelevant. Because the title to the asset trumps. If I own everything jointly with my brother, for example, if I pass away, my brother gets everything. I don't care how many living trusts I have. I don't care how many wills. You must take the time to transfer your assets into the trust, and assets that you acquire in the future should be put into the name of the trust as well, in order for them to be governed by it. Very good point.

Rebecca Robins: Then the other thing. Let's say somebody comes to an estate attorney like you, Rob, and they sit down and they do the living trust, and they do the advanced healthcare directive, and they do the will, and they do the durable power of attorney. What happens if nobody is aware of it? Nobody knows where the documents are.

Robert Mansour:  This does sometimes happen, too, which is why it's critical that people tell the people on their team that they're on the team. If you're going to pick trustees and agents and people to be guardians of your kids, you've got to let them know. What I tell my clients is, tell the people on your team where your binder is, where all your documents are. Let them know where they are. It doesn't help you just to keep it all a secret, or to put it under your bed somewhere and nobody can find it. I also keep copies of my clients' documents as well.

But, by the same token, I don't always know when my clients pass away or if they get sick. They really need to let their family members know where their documents are. They don't have to give them the documents to read. They can keep that private. But at the very least, tell everybody who needs to know, where the documents can be found.

Rebecca Robins:  Rob, would you think it would be a good idea to put all these documents in a safe deposit box?

Robert Mansour:  I'm against that, Rebecca. I think that usually leads to inability to access the documents. Some people do that, and then all of a sudden the family's trying to get into the box, but they can't, and you're stuck. I have my estate plan sitting in a binder on my bookcase in my home. Everybody who needs to know knows where it is. I also keep a copy of it on a disk in my desk at the office. The people who need to know are aware of that as well. That's really, I think, the best thing to do. I don't want to make it hard for people to find my documents if they need to find them.

Rebecca Robins:  Absolutely. Because lots of times, these particular documents we're talking about are going to need to kick in on a moment's notice.

Robert Mansour:  Right.

Rebecca Robins:  They really need to be accessible.

Robert Mansour: One thing, a trick that I tell some folks with their healthcare directive, I say, "You might want to make a copy of your healthcare directive. Give it to the person that you've chosen, who's known as your agent, by the way. Give it to that person and have them keep it in their glove compartment in their car." Because if they need to drive to the hospital or to act on your behalf, it would be really nice if they had a copy of your healthcare directive readily accessible to them in their glove compartment. That's one way to do it.

Another way to do it is to put your healthcare directive on your refrigerator. Because a lot of healthcare professionals, paramedics, etc., are trained to look on the fridge, because a lot of people do keep their documents there.

Rebecca Robins:  Okay.

Robert Mansour:  I know it sounds silly.

Rebecca Robins:  Yeah, but like I'm saying, you never know. Oftentimes things happen on the spur of a moment, and you want to be able to grab these important documents, so that your wishes can be carried out.

Robert Mansour:   Exactly.

Rebecca Robins: On that note, we're going to take a break, but we'll be right back with Mansour, Attorney.

Hello, this is Rebecca Robins, and I am your host of the Santa Clarita Valley Local Leaders Show. I am back with Rob Mansour, Attorney, of the Law Offices of Robert Mansour. Rob, we've been talking about the importance of estate planning. Now, if there's someone listening out there that is interested in getting an estate plan, what is the steps that they need to take?

Robert Mansour:  That's a great question. If they're working with me or any competent attorney, they should expect the following steps. Number one, they should call the lawyer. The hardest point is making that phone call. It really is. Because once you've made the phone call and the appointment, in my estimation, everything is downhill from there, because you've taken the most difficult step. So place a call. Make an appointment with the attorney's office. It usually is going to be about three or four weeks down the line. Because the lawyer is probably either going to send you, or connect you with some kind of a questionnaire.

I have all my clients fill out a questionnaire that's available on my website, or we can mail it to them, or both. This questionnaire is going to walk you through all of the things that we talked about. Who do you want as your trustee? Who do you want to make healthcare decisions for you? Who do you want your guardians or your children to be, etc., etc.? Once you fill out that questionnaire, you really should send it back to the lawyer's office, along with copies of any assets that you have. Because the lawyer's going to want to analyze not only your questionnaire, but also estate tax issues, and any other important issues with respect to title. Then the lawyer will be well equipped to provide you with a productive initial meeting.

During that initial meeting, mine usually last about an hour and a half, where we sit down together. We come up with a plan. We address the client's concerns, and everybody feels good at the end of the meeting, because we have a good direction of where we're going to go. After that, about three weeks later, the clients will receive drafts of their documents in the mail. I also include a summary of those documents for the clients, and I highlight particular passages in the documents that I want them to pay attention to, especially specific attention to.

Then if everything is working fine, the clients come in to sign the documents at the very end. At that point, at least in my office, we scan all the documents to the computer. We give the clients a disk of all of their documents, as well as the original hard copies for them in a nice binder that's organized for them. It's also full of instructions for not only them to read, but also their successor trustees to read as well. That's kind of an overview of the process.

Rebecca Robins:   Then Rob, how may people reach you?

Robert Mansour:  Well, they can always call the office. The phone number is local here in the Santa Clarita area. It's (661) 414-7100. Or there's also an 800 number, which is 800-799-7449. Of course they can also find me on the internet. I have two websites. The reason I do that is because I have two areas of practice, so I kind of divide them up into the two sites. The first website is my last name, mansourlaw.com, so Mansour spelled M-A-N-S-O-U-R, then the word law, L-A-W, .com. That website is dedicated to the estate planning part of the practice. Then I also have a different website for my personal injury practice, and that one is www.valencialawyer.com. Those are the two easiest ways to reach me.

Rebecca Robins:  Rob, you are located in Santa Clarita Valley. What is your address?

Robert Mansour:  Oh, yes. I'm off of Copper Hill. Copper Hill is near Newhall Ranch Road, in that area. My address is 28212 Kelly Johnson Parkway, Suite 110. That's in Valencia, California, 91355. There are also directions on my website, as well as the address as well.

Rebecca Robins:  Very good. Rob, we have about one minute. Would you like to do any type of additional wrap up for our listeners, as to why estate planning is so important?

Robert Mansour:  I really just want people to just take five minutes or 10 minutes, and take a look at their situation, and ask themselves, am I okay with this? Should I really? I think the best thing to say is that they really should talk to a lawyer. Ask the lawyer. I mean, sometimes clients come to me and I say, "Look, you don't need to do this. You don't need to do X, Y, or Z. You only need to do part of it." But even a good healthcare directive is better than nothing. There are some free resources that I can tell clients about if they call my office, that I can direct them to as well. They're not great, but it's better than nothing. Just be proactive. I guess that's the best thing I can tell folks.

Rebecca Robins:  That is great advice. If you'd like to get in contact with Rob, all you have to do is go to www.mansourlaw.com, M-A-N-S-O-U-R Law L-A-W .com. Also, is phone number is (661) 414-7100. He will help you plan for your stuff, and for your family, and for your children. Rob, I want to thank you so much for being my guest today.

Robert Mansour:    It's been a privilege, Rebecca. Thank you very much.

Rebecca Robins:  Thank you. May you all have a great day.