# Financial Strategies: She explains the value of estate planning and clarifies the differences and roles of wills, trusts, and powers of attorney

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 16 Apr 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/0f9cf9c8-13a7-4de4-9a9b-b40f014c972b/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Attorney Whitney Knox Lee Explains practical estate‑planning strategies—wills, trusts, powers of attorney—and how entrepreneurs, families, and especially parents of disabled children can protect assets, avoid costly probate, and maintain eligibility for critical benefits. The conversation also touches on integrating insurance with estate planning, small‑business contingency planning, and Lee’s personal mission and background in civil rights work. Purpose of the Interview • Educate listeners on estate planning as a wealth‑preservation strategy (not just documents)—to reduce court costs, taxes, and confusion for families. • Clarify the differences and roles of wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, including when each is appropriate and how they work together.\] • Highlight special considerations for entrepreneurs and families with disabled children or aging relatives, including insurance, operating agreements, and special‑needs planning. • Share Lee’s values and practice approach, including culturally responsive service and sustainable advocacy rooted in prior civil‑rights work. Key Takeaways 1) Wills vs. Trusts vs. Powers of Attorney • A will is not the plan—it’s just one piece and still goes through probate, which can be slow and expensive; think of a will as a “letter to the judge.\] • Revocable living trusts can help families bypass probate, reduce delays, and retain more control over how assets are managed after death. • Powers of attorney (financial and health) are essential for incapacity scenarios; even 18‑year‑olds heading to college should have them so parents can access information if needed. 2) Why Insurance Belongs in the Plan • Life insurance can protect the family’s ability to keep the home by paying off a remaining mortgage or covering living expenses—turning an asset into a sustainable legacy rather than a burden. • For entrepreneurs, key‑person insurance can replace income when the owner can’t work, keeping the business afloat. 3) Minimizing Probate Costs and Taxes • Probate involves court filings and legal fees; in some states fees scale with estate size (example discussed: percentage‑based fees in other jurisdictions), which can significantly erode wealth passed to heirs. Proper planning reduces those leakages. 4) Special‑Needs and Elder Planning • Parents of children on need‑based benefits (e.g., Medicaid) must avoid transfers that jeopardize eligibility; the right trust structures preserve benefits while providing support. • Elder law planning anticipates long‑term care costs (nursing home, assisted living, in‑home care) so families don’t have to deplete assets later. 5) Business Continuity for Owners • Establish operating agreements and buy‑sell agreements that spell out who runs the business if the principal is incapacitated; pair with business powers of attorney. 6) Values, Audience, and Access • Lee intentionally centers Black and Brown women and their families, grounding services in community uplift and transparent referrals to trusted financial pros (no paid referral arrangements). • Contact approach: 15‑minute intake, then a four‑meeting process (legacy planning → design → review → signing). Notable Quotes (for pull‑quotes & captions) • “Think of a will as a letter to the judge… a will still has to go through probate court. • “A trust allows families to bypass probate…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:04] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:07] Speaker 2: stories and start planning your own.
[0:09] Speaker 1: Now.
[0:10] Speaker 2: You don't want to miss an episode, so please take
[0:12] Speaker 2: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
[0:14] Speaker 2: Making Conversations Masterclass.
[0:16] Speaker 1: It's free.
[0:17] Speaker 2: You can follow me on iHeartRadio, app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
[0:21] Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
[0:24] Speaker 2: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
[0:28] Speaker 2: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
[0:30] Speaker 2: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
[0:34] Speaker 2: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
[0:38] Speaker 2: get this podcast started. My guest focus is on providing
[0:42] Speaker 2: will trusts, wills and trusts, and other estate planning documents
[0:46] Speaker 2: to black and brown women and their families to education
[0:49] Speaker 2: and state planning services. She strategizes with her clients to
[0:53] Speaker 2: help them keep control of their legacy long after they
[0:56] Speaker 2: are gone. She's a decade of experience spanning landlord tenant law,
[1:00] Speaker 2: family law, wills and estates, disability law, which is also
[1:04] Speaker 2: very important in your civil rights. Please work with the
[1:07] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversation Master Class, Whitney Docs League.
[1:10] Speaker 3: Thank you.
[1:11] Speaker 1: Let's say attorney Whitney Locks Leap.
[1:14] Speaker 3: You know I'm trying.
[1:15] Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, so we know what we're talking about that.
[1:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, can I say attorney Lea. Let everybody know what
[1:23] Speaker 2: we're dealing with a person who is law. You're not
[1:26] Speaker 2: just talking about estate planning. You are a licensed legal
[1:30] Speaker 2: professional in this area and they should go to you.
[1:33] Speaker 1: Correct.
[1:34] Speaker 3: Yes, that's absolutely right.
[1:35] Speaker 4: And when you talk about success like live your success story.
[1:39] Speaker 4: That's why I'm like, yeah, call me attorney Lee.
[1:41] Speaker 2: You practice law or in the form of a state planning,
[1:46] Speaker 2: wills and trust.
[1:47] Speaker 1: What exactly is that?
[1:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, So it's multiple different practice areas that are sometimes
[1:54] Speaker 4: grouped together. So when we're talking about estate planning, we're
[1:57] Speaker 4: talking about a strategy of legacy building that involves a
[2:01] Speaker 4: variety of different of different professionals and a variety of
[2:06] Speaker 4: different areas. So me specifically as an attorney, I am
[2:11] Speaker 4: doing the will documents, I am doing the trust documents,
[2:14] Speaker 4: I am doing the powers of attorney documents. I am
[2:17] Speaker 4: advising people on how the law is going to impact
[2:21] Speaker 4: the estate that they have. So the stuff that they have,
[2:25] Speaker 4: whether that stuff will be taxed when they pass away,
[2:28] Speaker 4: and how they can give that stuff to whoever they
[2:31] Speaker 4: want without as little interference as possible. Okay, Now, there
[2:37] Speaker 4: are other professionals that I work closely with, so insurance agents,
[2:41] Speaker 4: because life insurance is a huge part of a state
[2:43] Speaker 4: planning retirement folks.
[2:46] Speaker 1: Let's pause right there.
[2:47] Speaker 2: Why is life insurance a huge part of a state planning?
[2:51] Speaker 4: It can be a huge tool when we're talking about
[2:54] Speaker 4: not only building your legacy, but protecting the legacy. Okay,
[2:57] Speaker 4: so let's take the example of a home. A family
[3:00] Speaker 4: owns a home. That home is four hundred thousand dollars.
[3:03] Speaker 4: They have a mortgage on that home. The owner and
[3:06] Speaker 4: the person with the mortgage passes away. Their intention when
[3:10] Speaker 4: they purchased this home was to shelter their family, provide
[3:13] Speaker 4: a home, but also to be able to pass on
[3:15] Speaker 4: equity of that home through a sale. So they maybe
[3:21] Speaker 4: create an estate plan where they are transferring their property
[3:24] Speaker 4: to their children. However, their children maybe are not in
[3:27] Speaker 4: a position to pay off a mortgage because the mortgage
[3:30] Speaker 4: doesn't disappear when you do. Okay, the mortgage is going
[3:32] Speaker 4: to continue. So life insurance can be a tool that
[3:35] Speaker 4: people use to push money into the family for the
[3:41] Speaker 4: purpose of the family now being able to pay off
[3:44] Speaker 4: some of the debts. So now maybe they can pay
[3:46] Speaker 4: off the mortgage and own the home free and clear,
[3:50] Speaker 4: or maybe they're using that money to do other to
[3:54] Speaker 4: take other opportunities that they wouldn't have been able to
[3:56] Speaker 4: live a comfortable life exactly. And so life insurance is
[4:00] Speaker 4: really critical. But more so, like if we're going to
[4:04] Speaker 4: step back a little bit and just kind of get
[4:06] Speaker 4: back to basics, what's important is that as we are
[4:10] Speaker 4: creating a legacy, it's not just about leaving the stuff,
[4:12] Speaker 4: but it's about communicating with loved ones about what to
[4:16] Speaker 4: do with the stuff, how to manage the stuff, how
[4:19] Speaker 4: to pay off the mortgage, and making sure that when
[4:21] Speaker 4: we're making these decisions, we are leaving our assets with
[4:25] Speaker 4: people who can be responsible for them.
[4:27] Speaker 1: Cool.
[4:28] Speaker 2: I'm talking to attorney Whitney Knoxley, and she stated is
[4:31] Speaker 2: state planning is a wealth preservation and empowered with strategy
[4:36] Speaker 2: that lets entrepreneurs, business owners, and everyday people because there
[4:40] Speaker 2: are more everyday people out there than entrepreneurs and small
[4:43] Speaker 2: business owners keep more of what they make pass it
[4:47] Speaker 2: on with dignity and avoid losing it to court calls,
[4:50] Speaker 2: taxes and confusion. Let's go back to that, losing it
[4:54] Speaker 2: to court calls, taxes and confusion.
[4:57] Speaker 1: Why is that?
[4:58] Speaker 4: Yes, So let's talk about the problem sense of probate.
[5:01] Speaker 4: And I know for those of you divine nine, probate
[5:04] Speaker 4: means something totally different. Okay, So exactly, okay, So as
[5:09] Speaker 4: in a state planning and probate attorney, what I'm talking
[5:12] Speaker 4: about is this formal process of proving a will. Okay,
[5:16] Speaker 4: So in Georgia, when somebody and in every state actually
[5:19] Speaker 4: when somebody passes away, if they have assets, they have
[5:23] Speaker 4: to go through a probate process in which a judge says, okay,
[5:27] Speaker 4: this person has passed away. Just a random judge, a
[5:30] Speaker 4: random judge. Okay, here in Georgia, it's in a probate court.
[5:34] Speaker 4: But they say this person has passed away. These are
[5:37] Speaker 4: their errors. This is who we're going to give this
[5:39] Speaker 4: stuff to based on what the law has already said.
[5:42] Speaker 4: Now we can take some control of that through creating
[5:46] Speaker 4: a will. Think of a will as a letter to
[5:49] Speaker 4: the judge, though, because a will still has to go
[5:51] Speaker 4: through probate court, and when that happens, you're spending money
[5:55] Speaker 4: on legal fees. If you need an attorney to represent
[5:58] Speaker 4: you, you are spending money on just the court fees. Here
[6:01] Speaker 4: in Georgia to file this type of petition, you can
[6:05] Speaker 4: easily spend eight hundred, nine hundred dollars just getting the
[6:08] Speaker 4: case in court. In other states, there are fees to
[6:11] Speaker 4: be in probate court that are dependent on the amount
[6:14] Speaker 4: of your asset of the estate. So you might have
[6:18] Speaker 4: a two percent fee in I don't know California to
[6:22] Speaker 4: just be in probate court, and that's two percent over
[6:26] Speaker 4: the two million dollar estate that you have.
[6:28] Speaker 3: So you're paying what is that twenty.
[6:31] Speaker 4: Thousand dollars just to be in court. Okay, So, but
[6:37] Speaker 4: also taxes when we pass away. Some states have what's
[6:41] Speaker 4: called in a state tax or a death tax. This
[6:45] Speaker 4: death tax is a tax just because you died, just.
[6:47] Speaker 3: Because you died.
[6:48] Speaker 1: So let me go back to do a little math.
[6:49] Speaker 2: Now that two of the billion is twenty, right, I
[6:52] Speaker 2: think so, yeah, because I'm math made forty thousand.
[6:57] Speaker 1: Okay, oh.
[7:01] Speaker 4: Math, thank you? Look because I don't do math, all right.
[7:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, because two of that because I when I do
[7:09] Speaker 2: to show money making Conversations Master Class. It's important that
[7:13] Speaker 2: we work hard all our lives and then you never.
[7:15] Speaker 1: Know when that day is going to come.
[7:17] Speaker 2: And you know, accidents are what they are, accidents, but
[7:21] Speaker 2: when you but are you prepared for that accident? That's
[7:24] Speaker 2: what this conversation is about. So there's a degree of
[7:27] Speaker 2: honesty we got to have with our sales. Correct attorney leads.
[7:30] Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely, because there it's we know that we will
[7:34] Speaker 4: pass away. We don't know when right. So people often ask, well,
[7:40] Speaker 4: when should I start estate planning? You can start when
[7:42] Speaker 4: you're eighteen. If you have a child and that child
[7:46] Speaker 4: is earning income, that child can start planning younger than that,
[7:49] Speaker 4: and maybe that involves planning with the parent. But we
[7:53] Speaker 4: can start making decisions like who is going to care
[7:55] Speaker 4: for me if I can't care for myself? Who is
[7:58] Speaker 4: going to access my accounts if I can't care for myself?
[8:02] Speaker 4: Those are decisions that are made in power of attorney documents,
[8:05] Speaker 4: and eighteen year olds can and should have those. If
[8:08] Speaker 4: you are sending an eighteen year old off to college
[8:11] Speaker 4: thinking that you're going to be able to call their
[8:12] Speaker 4: doctor and ask what's going on with this child? You
[8:17] Speaker 4: got another thing coming because they're gonna have to their adults.
[8:20] Speaker 4: Now they have to allow you that access.
[8:23] Speaker 1: Let me answ you this attorney. The first of all,
[8:25] Speaker 1: how do we get in touch with you?
[8:26] Speaker 3: Yes?
[8:27] Speaker 4: So email me Whitney at willsfothepeople GA dot com.
[8:32] Speaker 1: Wills four, which is the number four.
[8:34] Speaker 4: Nope, I'm spelling everything out except for Ga Whitney at
[8:37] Speaker 4: wills for the people GA Ga.
[8:39] Speaker 1: Okay, it's wills for the basically Georgia.
[8:41] Speaker 3: Yep, okay, Will's for the people GA dot com.
[8:43] Speaker 2: So you mentioned probate and then you mentioned the state planning,
[8:48] Speaker 2: and then the magic word came out will Yes, okay,
[8:52] Speaker 2: because that's the drama that I always hear about when
[8:55] Speaker 2: it comes to celebrities who don't have a will. We
[9:00] Speaker 2: never get to estate planning, but that will conversation comes up,
[9:04] Speaker 2: and then they'll also probate and probate and no will
[9:09] Speaker 2: always leads to disaster.
[9:11] Speaker 1: Am I right or wrong?
[9:13] Speaker 3: Most of the time?
[9:14] Speaker 4: There are reasons why somebody might want their family to
[9:17] Speaker 4: go through a probate process. Maybe their family has a
[9:21] Speaker 4: lot going on and they need oversight from a judge
[9:25] Speaker 4: to figure out what should happen with the estate. What
[9:28] Speaker 4: I want to stress though, is that a will is
[9:30] Speaker 4: part of an estate plan, but it is not the
[9:32] Speaker 4: estate plan.
[9:33] Speaker 3: It is one piece.
[9:35] Speaker 4: A will dictates what happens to your stuff when you're gone, Okay,
[9:39] Speaker 4: but it does not help you with what happens if
[9:43] Speaker 4: I get into a car accident and now I'm sipping
[9:46] Speaker 4: out of a straw for the rest of my life
[9:47] Speaker 4: and can't make decisions for myself. It does not help
[9:50] Speaker 4: you if you have assets and you can't deal with
[9:53] Speaker 4: those assets because of a medical or mental health issue. Okay,
[9:57] Speaker 4: those are powers of attorneys. But also a will is
[10:01] Speaker 4: very limited in how you are able to protect the
[10:06] Speaker 4: assets after you're gone. A trust often, you know, when
[10:12] Speaker 4: we think about trust, we're really talking about revocable living trusts,
[10:15] Speaker 4: but there's irrevocable trusts as well, And the trust is
[10:18] Speaker 4: that legal agreement where you are able to really have
[10:23] Speaker 4: a lot of control over your assets even after you're gone.
[10:27] Speaker 4: And a trust allows families to bypass probate altogether, so
[10:31] Speaker 4: they are not having to go to court, they are
[10:33] Speaker 4: not having to pay legal fees, they are not having
[10:35] Speaker 4: to leave up to random people who want to challenge
[10:40] Speaker 4: this will to delay the process.
[10:44] Speaker 3: A trust is a good option for many people too.
[10:47] Speaker 2: Well, I ask you a couple of courts be more
[10:48] Speaker 2: specific about it. Okay, what a specific state planning too?
[10:55] Speaker 2: Should entrepreneurs know about that protect their income streams?
[10:59] Speaker 3: Yes?
[11:00] Speaker 4: So powers of attorney documents specifically a financial power of attorney,
[11:05] Speaker 4: and if you want, you can do a power of
[11:07] Speaker 4: attorney for your business. These documents make it so that again,
[11:11] Speaker 4: if you can't manage your business, somebody else can't. If
[11:16] Speaker 4: you don't have these documents and you don't have it
[11:19] Speaker 4: set up in your business operating agreement or in your
[11:22] Speaker 4: buy sell agreement, what is going to happen? Then your
[11:24] Speaker 4: business may not be able to continue to run, to
[11:27] Speaker 4: bring in income during times where maybe you're temporarily incapacitated,
[11:31] Speaker 4: not able to care for yourself. Having an operating agreement
[11:35] Speaker 4: as part of your business, and in that operating agreement
[11:39] Speaker 4: spelling out what happens if the principle or the CEO
[11:43] Speaker 4: or the whoever can't be in that role anymore. And
[11:48] Speaker 4: then third, so those are two the powers of attorney.
[11:51] Speaker 4: The operating agreement or perhaps a buy sell agreement, which
[11:55] Speaker 4: I like to think of as the will for the business.
[11:59] Speaker 4: Insurance specifically key Man Insurance or key Person insurance.
[12:03] Speaker 1: I've heard of that, yep.
[12:04] Speaker 4: So if you are an entrepreneur business owner where the
[12:07] Speaker 4: income from your business depends on you being able to work,
[12:11] Speaker 4: like you are providing a service that only you can provide,
[12:15] Speaker 4: and if you don't provide the service, you don't get money.
[12:17] Speaker 4: Key Man insurance can come in and compensate you for
[12:21] Speaker 4: some or all of your income while you are not
[12:24] Speaker 4: able to work. So those are three ways that you
[12:27] Speaker 4: can protect income streams if they need protected.
[12:32] Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere.
[12:33] Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations masterclassn
[12:37] Speaker 2: I need for you to do me a favor right
[12:39] Speaker 2: now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's
[12:43] Speaker 2: free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
[12:47] Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
[12:51] Speaker 2: me that favor, follow or subscribe money Making Conversations. Welcome
[13:00] Speaker 2: back to Money Making Conversation, mastic lands with me, Rashawn McDonald. Okay,
[13:05] Speaker 2: because I can keep you an insurance when I'm talking
[13:07] Speaker 2: to a lawyer here and I'm talking about legal but
[13:10] Speaker 2: you say that state planning and insurance coach hand in.
[13:12] Speaker 4: Hand Look, this is why I say it's a strategy. Okay,
[13:15] Speaker 4: estate planning is a big strategy.
[13:17] Speaker 1: So for the reason I bring it up.
[13:19] Speaker 2: When we come to your attorney lead, are you a team?
[13:22] Speaker 2: Do you have people that you recommend or you just
[13:25] Speaker 2: tell people this is what you should include so it
[13:27] Speaker 2: doesn't feel like you're handing them off to somebody that
[13:30] Speaker 2: bounds them to the relationship that only you bring to
[13:33] Speaker 2: the table. How do you counsel people who come to
[13:36] Speaker 2: you for their advice? I'm offering on this show that
[13:40] Speaker 2: your firm provides.
[13:42] Speaker 3: Right, So I stay in my lane.
[13:44] Speaker 1: Okay.
[13:44] Speaker 4: I am an attorney. I am not an insurance salesperson.
[13:48] Speaker 4: What I do is work closely with people that are
[13:52] Speaker 4: in the financial industry and a variety of respects, and
[13:54] Speaker 4: I make referrals. Those referrals are not compensated referrals. Those
[13:59] Speaker 4: referrals are simply this is somebody that I know. Maybe
[14:02] Speaker 4: it's somebody that I trust. I've referred people.
[14:05] Speaker 3: To my own insurance agents.
[14:08] Speaker 4: I have a broad group of professionals that I like
[14:14] Speaker 4: and that I trust, and I want to send you know,
[14:17] Speaker 4: business to when I see that clients are in need
[14:19] Speaker 4: of a certain service in.
[14:21] Speaker 2: The client, we live in the political climate that we
[14:23] Speaker 2: live in today, and then right in the middle of
[14:25] Speaker 2: my intro, we say documents to black and brown women
[14:31] Speaker 2: and their families. We have an atmosphere that tries to
[14:36] Speaker 2: intimidate people who are providing service specific for people who
[14:41] Speaker 2: are are people of color.
[14:43] Speaker 1: How do you feel about that.
[14:47] Speaker 4: It's a part of the larger, you know, coordinated attack
[14:51] Speaker 4: to keep people of color less than in this society.
[14:56] Speaker 4: And I'm not standing for it. So because it's my business,
[15:00] Speaker 4: you know, like I get to talk about blackness and
[15:03] Speaker 4: black people and people of color and how I want.
[15:06] Speaker 3: Us to succeed.
[15:08] Speaker 4: And I think, look, I prior to opening my business,
[15:13] Speaker 4: I was a nonprofit employee. I only worked at nonprofit
[15:17] Speaker 4: law firms as an attorney and as a social worker,
[15:20] Speaker 4: and so I know how difficult it has been for
[15:24] Speaker 4: these firms to be in this political environment where we
[15:27] Speaker 4: have to water down or kind of shift or sidestep
[15:32] Speaker 4: or use code language for how we want to help
[15:35] Speaker 4: specific people. But I'm definitely here to say that I
[15:38] Speaker 4: love working with black women. You know, my family is
[15:41] Speaker 4: a family of matriarchs that have provided for generations and generations,
[15:48] Speaker 4: and I think it's so important that we provide for
[15:50] Speaker 4: black women, whether or not they are mothers, because black
[15:55] Speaker 4: women are the backbone of our society, you.
[15:58] Speaker 2: Know, attorneyly, you know, I smile because I feel that
[16:02] Speaker 2: you certain people can't live in every generation. Okay, they can't,
[16:07] Speaker 2: But I see no problem with you in the twenties, thirties, forties.
[16:10] Speaker 2: I see no problem with you at the front line
[16:13] Speaker 2: of change. Why is that in your personality or in
[16:17] Speaker 2: your DNA or where did they come from? Uh?
[16:21] Speaker 4: Look, that's a great question that nobody's asked me. I
[16:24] Speaker 4: think about this because I feel like my mouth would
[16:26] Speaker 4: have got me in trouble.
[16:27] Speaker 3: My mouth would have got me in trouble.
[16:29] Speaker 4: And I'm grateful that I am in a time where
[16:32] Speaker 4: I can be relatively safe, where I have some privilege.
[16:38] Speaker 4: I have some privilege, I have education, I have money,
[16:42] Speaker 4: and I have people around me. My family is one
[16:47] Speaker 4: of vocal people, and it's one of people who love
[16:50] Speaker 4: to have fun, who love to enjoy. And I think
[16:55] Speaker 4: it's hard fought, you know, it's earned. And I just
[17:00] Speaker 4: have a feeling that my ancestors were those people on
[17:04] Speaker 4: the front lines. And I love to live my life
[17:06] Speaker 4: in a way so that my ancestors could be proud
[17:09] Speaker 4: of their sacrifice and thinking about in order for me
[17:14] Speaker 4: to be here, to be able to talk to you
[17:16] Speaker 4: about wills, so many of my relatives had to survive
[17:20] Speaker 4: when everything about their experience was telling them they should
[17:24] Speaker 4: not survive, and that I don't even know what to
[17:28] Speaker 4: do with that, right, Like, I'm just gonna keep showing
[17:31] Speaker 4: up because it's powerful.
[17:32] Speaker 3: It's amazing.
[17:34] Speaker 2: The reason I said that because sometimes I have to
[17:38] Speaker 2: compliment people on their emotional positivity and their fearlessness. I
[17:46] Speaker 2: detect a high degree of fearlessness. With that being said,
[17:50] Speaker 2: does it get you in trouble?
[17:51] Speaker 3: Yes?
[17:52] Speaker 4: Look, let me tell you, I'm probably not a great employee, okay,
[17:56] Speaker 4: because I'm that person I ask questions and not because
[18:01] Speaker 4: i want to be facetious, not because I'm trying to
[18:03] Speaker 4: annoy somebody or just challenge for the sake of challenging,
[18:06] Speaker 4: but because my mind is always working and thinking and
[18:09] Speaker 4: trying to understand. I don't do things just because that's
[18:14] Speaker 4: how it's always been done, and if there's a good
[18:16] Speaker 4: reason for it, I would love to know that reason.
[18:19] Speaker 4: My therapist, because I'm in therapy, y'all know, I need therapy.
[18:22] Speaker 4: My therapist says, I need to I'm somebody that needs
[18:25] Speaker 4: to know. I have to process. I have to have
[18:27] Speaker 4: information in order for me to move forward. And so
[18:31] Speaker 4: that is how I go about my life is learning
[18:34] Speaker 4: information processing so that I can, you know, keep doing
[18:38] Speaker 4: what I'm doing.
[18:39] Speaker 1: So what are the steps?
[18:40] Speaker 2: Then, Eternity, you know someone that hears you on the show,
[18:45] Speaker 2: going to make a conversation Massic laughs, what's the contact information?
[18:49] Speaker 4: So you can email me Whitney at WILLSFOTHEPEOPLEGA dot com.
[18:53] Speaker 1: Okay, they email you. What are the steps?
[18:56] Speaker 4: After that and they can also they can find me
[18:58] Speaker 4: out the website which is also Wills for the peoplega
[19:00] Speaker 4: dot com.
[19:01] Speaker 3: So here's the first step.
[19:02] Speaker 4: You make a fifteen minute appointment so that you speak
[19:05] Speaker 4: with myself or one of my team members just so
[19:08] Speaker 4: that we can figure out, Okay, what do you think
[19:10] Speaker 4: you need and is that something that we can help
[19:13] Speaker 4: you with. Right at that point, we'll explain to you
[19:15] Speaker 4: what our process is. We have a four step four
[19:18] Speaker 4: meeting process. We've got the legacy planning meeting where we
[19:22] Speaker 4: are going to talk about what are your goals, what
[19:24] Speaker 4: are your needs? What is your family situation? What are
[19:27] Speaker 4: the assets based on everything that you've told me about
[19:30] Speaker 4: those things through an intake process. Here are your options
[19:34] Speaker 4: for estate planning. This is how this option a will
[19:38] Speaker 4: would help you. This is how a trust would help you. Okay,
[19:41] Speaker 4: And we have a conversation next when you decide that
[19:44] Speaker 4: you want to work with me, we do a design
[19:46] Speaker 4: meeting that's two hours of my time, where we are
[19:49] Speaker 4: talking about now, what is your plan going to say?
[19:52] Speaker 3: What are all of.
[19:53] Speaker 4: These pieces you have X, Y Z assets? What we
[19:56] Speaker 4: go through your list of assets? What is happening with
[19:59] Speaker 4: each asset? What is the plan?
[20:02] Speaker 3: Then?
[20:03] Speaker 4: Sorry, we have a review meeting where we review your
[20:05] Speaker 4: estate plan once it's drafted. And then the final meeting
[20:08] Speaker 4: is the signing ceremony where we sign and we.
[20:11] Speaker 1: Celebrate, celebrate.
[20:12] Speaker 2: Now, the interesting part of all these things is that
[20:15] Speaker 2: I don't want people to be limited on the skill
[20:18] Speaker 2: set that you bring to the table. We're talking about wills.
[20:21] Speaker 1: Do you do wills?
[20:22] Speaker 4: I do wills, I do trusts, I do powers of
[20:24] Speaker 4: I do comprehensive estate planning.
[20:26] Speaker 1: Okay, cool?
[20:27] Speaker 4: And I represent people in probate court when a loved
[20:30] Speaker 4: one has passed away.
[20:31] Speaker 1: Okay, cool?
[20:31] Speaker 2: Now I mentioned disability and I also mentioned civil rights.
[20:35] Speaker 2: Let's talk about disability at your law firm, and then
[20:38] Speaker 2: let's talk about civil rights.
[20:39] Speaker 4: Okay, So disability law is a highly complex area of
[20:45] Speaker 4: law that really interacts with multiple types of law.
[20:50] Speaker 3: We'll say so.
[20:52] Speaker 4: In my practice as an estate planning attorney, how this
[20:54] Speaker 4: comes up most often is when we're talking about aging
[20:57] Speaker 4: populations or chill who are disabled whose parents want to
[21:02] Speaker 4: leave them assets but can'ts or are afraid that they
[21:07] Speaker 4: if they do that, they're going to make that child
[21:09] Speaker 4: ineligible for whatever benefits they're receiving. Okay, So take autism.
[21:15] Speaker 4: Here in Georgia, children with autism receive a number of
[21:20] Speaker 4: benefits because they may need therapy literally all day long,
[21:23] Speaker 4: every day of the week. Okay, that is an exorbitant
[21:26] Speaker 4: amount of money. I know because my family has paid that.
[21:29] Speaker 4: So in with some disabilities, if you it's going to
[21:37] Speaker 4: be based on whether or not you have resources. It's
[21:41] Speaker 4: going to determine whether or not you now have access
[21:43] Speaker 4: to programs that will pay for this person to be
[21:47] Speaker 4: able to get the therapies that they need.
[21:49] Speaker 3: Okay.
[21:50] Speaker 4: So if a parent leaves a large asset to somebody
[21:54] Speaker 4: who is on what's called the need based program Medicaid
[22:00] Speaker 4: is an example, and the income or the assets are
[22:04] Speaker 4: too high, then that person will be dropped from that program.
[22:09] Speaker 4: So maybe they're receiving two thousand, three hundred thousand dollars
[22:13] Speaker 4: worth of benefits from that program every year, and a
[22:17] Speaker 4: parent leaves them a one hundred thousand dollars in assets,
[22:20] Speaker 4: and now they have to let go of these other assets.
[22:24] Speaker 4: So it comes up in the context of planning for
[22:26] Speaker 4: disabled children, but it also comes up in the context
[22:29] Speaker 4: of what are we going to do as we age
[22:33] Speaker 4: care to pay for long term care? Who is going
[22:36] Speaker 4: to take care of me as I age? Am I
[22:39] Speaker 4: going to need a nursing home? Am I going to
[22:41] Speaker 4: need assisted living or a caregiver? And what money is
[22:46] Speaker 4: there going to be to pay for it? Because it
[22:48] Speaker 4: is not free, No, it is not. And whether or
[22:51] Speaker 4: not you have money in your bank account for it,
[22:54] Speaker 4: there will be a price to pay. And so part
[22:56] Speaker 4: of a state planning this is really an elder law
[23:00] Speaker 4: is the specialty. In part of this, we are thinking
[23:04] Speaker 4: about how do we plan today for long term care
[23:08] Speaker 4: so that we don't have to deplete our entire.
[23:11] Speaker 3: Assets, all of our assets to pay for this long
[23:14] Speaker 3: term care.
[23:15] Speaker 1: Civil rights.
[23:16] Speaker 4: Yes, so civil rights is something that you know. I
[23:22] Speaker 4: worked for several years as a civil rights attorney, working
[23:25] Speaker 4: in and out of Georgia and Alabama prisons with people
[23:28] Speaker 4: who are incarcerated. That work is needed and it's exhausting.
[23:34] Speaker 4: It is exhausting. So I view my role emotion the
[23:39] Speaker 4: emotion because, particularly in that line of work, what I
[23:43] Speaker 4: was doing, the success is incremental and small. Right, So
[23:51] Speaker 4: it's a success today that somebody got three meals, but
[23:55] Speaker 4: I'm still going home as the attorney concerned about their
[23:59] Speaker 4: safety because maybe their jail door doesn't lock, the cell
[24:03] Speaker 4: door doesn't lock, so I'm concerned that they might not
[24:06] Speaker 4: be alive tomorrow. But yeah, I was able to get
[24:09] Speaker 4: them three meals today, or yeah, I was able to
[24:11] Speaker 4: get them medical care today. So for me, it was
[24:15] Speaker 4: really important that I found a way to still work
[24:20] Speaker 4: with the people that I love and care about, but
[24:23] Speaker 4: in a way that was going to be sustainable, because
[24:25] Speaker 4: let me tell you, I grew up thinking I was
[24:27] Speaker 4: going to be Ben Crump. Right. I don't want to
[24:31] Speaker 4: live the Ben Crump lifestyle.
[24:33] Speaker 3: I have a.
[24:34] Speaker 4: Family, I got young children. I want to be at home.
[24:36] Speaker 4: I don't want to travel all them, you know, and
[24:39] Speaker 4: so one thing as I've kind of developed into this
[24:43] Speaker 4: founder and business owner, is really learning what is the
[24:47] Speaker 4: lifestyle that I want to live right now and how
[24:49] Speaker 4: do I make my career exactly? How do I make
[24:52] Speaker 4: my career fit with that?
[24:55] Speaker 2: Wow, I'm talking to the amazing I'm putting amazing in
[24:59] Speaker 2: front of a turn amazing attorney Whitney Doxlee. And the
[25:02] Speaker 2: reason I say that because of the fact that, you know,
[25:05] Speaker 2: if somebody's listening to it and hopefully can hear the
[25:07] Speaker 2: energy and the honest passion and care that you have
[25:11] Speaker 2: in your voice. Because that means something to me. Because
[25:15] Speaker 2: I interview a lot of people, and I know it's
[25:17] Speaker 2: a business, but it also could be a balance, you
[25:20] Speaker 2: know about you know, I do these interviews because I
[25:23] Speaker 2: care about the individual who sits across me. And hopefully
[25:26] Speaker 2: somebody hears this interview and they and they change their lives.
[25:29] Speaker 1: And I tell my staff all the time, we.
[25:31] Speaker 2: Come to work every day to change or impact somebody's
[25:34] Speaker 2: life and a part of the manner so we have
[25:36] Speaker 2: to have our act together. We just can't trivialize what
[25:40] Speaker 2: we do. You know, we send out a message, it
[25:42] Speaker 2: has to be accurate, cannot be typos. We added something.
[25:45] Speaker 2: We just can't cut a word off. You know, somebody
[25:47] Speaker 2: sits down here, we can't mispell their names.
[25:50] Speaker 1: As a guest.
[25:51] Speaker 2: Everything has the responsibility not only to the guests, but
[25:55] Speaker 2: the people who've chosen to listen.
[25:56] Speaker 1: Or watch what we do. With that being said, well,
[25:59] Speaker 1: it's your ultimate goal, attorney.
[26:03] Speaker 3: For my business, for my family, for myself.
[26:06] Speaker 1: Well you you, it's all. It's the same.
[26:08] Speaker 2: You've already told me you could have been big Crop,
[26:11] Speaker 2: but you say, I'm like, I'm not hitting the road.
[26:12] Speaker 1: Jack. Yeah, I got some kids, Okay. And and you
[26:16] Speaker 1: know something, big Crop he called me big brother.
[26:18] Speaker 2: So when you said, and we talk about that a lot,
[26:21] Speaker 2: you know, because he is daughter's beautiful dollar, he has
[26:24] Speaker 2: the leave her to do what he has to do
[26:28] Speaker 2: because he's established his brand and his reputation.
[26:32] Speaker 1: Like he said, he's the he's the black people's lawyer. Okay.
[26:35] Speaker 1: And so with that being said, what's your goal.
[26:38] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, I
[26:41] Speaker 4: want to rest well, okay. And so for me, that
[26:44] Speaker 4: means staying steadfast in my in my commitments to the
[26:50] Speaker 4: people that I love in my life, to my husband,
[26:53] Speaker 4: to my children being there for them. But that means
[26:56] Speaker 4: also as I need to earn income.
[26:59] Speaker 3: Because this is a bit of society.
[27:02] Speaker 4: I think I have a responsibility to myself and to
[27:04] Speaker 4: my ancestors to do the thing that makes me happy,
[27:07] Speaker 4: to do the thing that I'm passionate about, and to
[27:09] Speaker 4: do it well. And so sometimes that means I need
[27:13] Speaker 4: to pivot a little bit so that what I'm doing
[27:16] Speaker 4: will fit the lifestyle that I want.
[27:18] Speaker 3: And that's fine. I need to be open to that opportunity.
[27:22] Speaker 2: You are special, okay when I say that, because you know,
[27:27] Speaker 2: I almost wanted you to be my friend and wena friend,
[27:30] Speaker 2: you know, because of the fact that you care, you know,
[27:33] Speaker 2: and that's why that's why I said, I don't care
[27:36] Speaker 2: what era you would have been born in. You're gonna
[27:38] Speaker 2: be at the front of the line and you would
[27:40] Speaker 2: have something to say. And that's a very powerful statement
[27:43] Speaker 2: and a testament that you are a very, very honest
[27:46] Speaker 2: and real person.
[27:47] Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate that.
[27:49] Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Mastic class.
[27:51] Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
[27:52] Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode.
[27:54] Speaker 2: Now I need for you to do me a favor
[27:57] Speaker 2: right now to follow, or subscribe to Money Make Conversation.
[28:01] Speaker 2: It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
[28:05] Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do
[28:09] Speaker 2: me that favor. Follow a, subscribe Money Making Conversations. Keep winning.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.