Thomas Fafinski | Minneapolis Business Lawyer

• Member | Minnesota State Bar Association

I have, on multiple and daily occasions, help individuals with wealth prevent distributions to their loved ones before it's too soon. There are definitely stages in the lives of our loved ones. Some of those stages roughly correlate to age. Unfortunately, in the estate planning industry, a bulk of a person's assets is normally distributed to them at the ages of 25, 30, and 35. However, distributing wealth at 25, 30 and 35 are not necessarily consistent with the objectives of clients. I continue to educate my clients and prospective clients that they can shun the estate planning industry standards. For example, when their loved ones reach 25 and they're on the cusp of exploring their bonfire of ambition, the kindling has taken hold and a fire is beginning to erupt. You have this bonfire of ambition that occurs around the age of twenty-five. People are out there in their career or profession and they're really making a name for themselves. They're really excited about what they're doing and they're finally willing to work really, really hard on their career. Maybe they worked hard on their studies before but now it's about their career. You wouldn't want to just dump a bunch of wealth on them smothering their ambition to be a hard worker. In most situations that twenty-five-year-old would say, "I don't need to work that hard. I've got all this money coming in." Why have the kindling flame of ambition nearly extinguished by dumping a bucket of wealth on it? You may actually and fundamentally change the person that your children or grandchildren could becomeare by giving them money that young. As the effects of the smothering wealth burn off, and the heir is approaching the age of 30 and ambition starts to take hold and the kindling has retaken and now some of the heavier logs begin to lick with flames, whoosh, another bucket of wealth is dumped on their ambition. By the time they reach 35, having their last chance at having ambition take hold, the final bucket of wealth extinguishes whatever ambition they likely possess. The wealth has, potentially, fundamentally changed the life of of your loved one, rather than enhance their life. I truly believe that your late 40s and 50s are spent harvesting from seeds that were planted during the age of ambition. It is useful to review each of these stages prior to discussing the distributions phase. Without any planning, your children (or grandchildren if your child predeceases you) will ordinarily receive the funds at the age of majority, or 18. In my opinion, doing nothing can fundamentally change the lives of your loved ones. At 18 years of age and a few years older, most young adults with wealth have a higher susceptibility to addictive, destructive and wasteful behavior. They also are more likely to spend money on non-assets. These are just my opinions. Purchasing vehicles that are expensive and a depreciating asset, engaged in unsustainable travel and entertainment opportunity is far more likely in this age group than in other groups. Staggering distributions so that a lump sum is received at 25, another lump sum at 30 and the remainder at 35 is based upon the assumption they have likely attained maturity and won't waste the money. While likely not as dangerous as giving a teenager a pot of gold, the next stage, the period of time between age 25 to age 35, is not necessarily an ideal period of time to receive large sums of wealth - yet the estate planning industry distributes the entirety of the estate at these age intervals. I refer to this period of time, from ages of roughly 25 to 35, "the age of ambition." During the age of ambition, heirs are generally "finding" themselves from a professional standpoint. They complete their college education and may seek advanced education opportunities. In this stage, people begin a career and start to advance in that career. Many young adults who have this bonfire of ambition, have the flames stoking and roaring during this period of time. Keeping somebody hungry during the age of ambition is far more likely to lead to their attaining their full potential than it would be to smother that bonfire with wealth.

Try to do a great job and exceed the expectations of your client. Sometimes exceeding expectation takes the form of additional work product, going above and beyond, offering a guarantee or generating a return on their investment and measuring it for them. After that, it's just one client at a time, one referral source at a time. After 27 years of applying these principles, clients and referral sources want to send you work.

Experience as an attorney and personally with projects that you're working on i.e. why would you hire a real estate attorney who doesn't invest in real estate? Why would you hire an estate planning attorney who hasn't completed their plan yet? Why would you hire a business attorney who doesn't own a business? If possible, work with an attorney who doesn't need to practice law but chooses to practice.

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I'm very involved in peer to peer learning and facilitate 2 local CEO peer groups as well as 2 national estate and business planning law firm peer groups. I am a prolific investor in real estate. I enjoy golf, coaching youth sports, reading business novels and thrillers.

I serve on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement Upper Midwest; a board member and an officer of Community Involvement Program (a $40 million nonprofit geared towards helping people with disabilities seek work, shelter and life enrichment); chairperson of the Parish Council for St. Thomas Becket Catholic Church, member of Stewardship Commission and lead the Christian Business Leader Peer Group Program; I volunteered through youth associations for 7 years as head coach or assistant coach for baseball, basketball, and sometimes football (3 State Championship Teams and multiple 2nd place finishes).