Law, Legacy and You: Estate Planning with Chioma Deere, Esq.

Can a trust help your family avoid probate, even if you don’t have millions? In this Ask a Pro fireside edition, CHIP founder Dana Wilson talks with Chioma Deere, Esq., an estate planning and probate attorney and owner of The Deere Law Firm in West Palm Beach, Florida. Chioma started as a litigator and is a certified e-discovery specialist, so she brings a tech-savvy approach to protecting families and their legacies.

Key takeaways

• Estate planning covers you while you’re alive, not just after you pass.
• Ask yourself: who will be my voice and advocate for me?
• Assets owned by a funded trust can usually avoid probate.
• Business owners need a plan for the business and beneficiaries on business accounts.
• Your digital assets need a plan and strong security, too.

Why Chioma chose estate planning

Chioma opened her practice after a family member got sick. No one was named as their power of attorney or health care surrogate, and the only person who could advocate for them was a spouse they had separated from. She saw how often this happens and wanted to help families, especially in the Black community, protect themselves and their wealth.

Estate planning, she explains, means putting legal documents in place so the people you choose can act for you. A doctor’s office will want to know who your health care surrogate is. A bank will want a power of attorney before someone helps with your account. After you pass, those documents give your fiduciaries authority to handle your estate.

Why she helps clients avoid probate

Probate is the court process for handling a person’s estate. Chioma helps clients avoid it whenever possible because it can cost families time, energy and money. The main reason an estate goes to probate is to move assets out of the name of the person who died.

That’s where a revocable trust helps. If your trust owns an asset or is named as its beneficiary, the asset is already in the trust’s name, so your family usually doesn’t need a court to transfer it. While you’re alive, you keep full control. A trust isn’t right for everyone, Chioma says, but it isn’t just for the wealthy. Many clients tell her they don’t have much, then realize their careers, businesses and properties add up to something significant.

Start with what matters to you

Chioma doesn’t open with illness or death. She starts with what’s important to you and the story you want carried on. Then she asks a key question: who will be your voice and advocate for you, in life and in death? The answer isn’t always clear, and it may change over time. If your will is 20 years old, the people named in it may no longer be the right choices.

Estate planning for business owners

• Write a “will” for your business. An operating agreement or partnership agreement should say what happens if you pass away or can’t work.
• Name beneficiaries on business accounts. Many owners skip this step.
• Keep records in one place. Whoever steps in should know where everything is.

Don’t forget your digital assets

Digital assets include cloud files, social media accounts, photos, cryptocurrency and online financial accounts. Often the only way to reach them is through technology. As part of estate planning, Chioma asks clients what they have, how they access it, whether passwords are updated and whether multi-factor authentication is turned on. Her own firm runs mostly paperless and uses secure platforms to meet and share documents with clients.

She also works alongside clients’ financial advisors and CPAs so the whole estate is covered. Learn more on our page about building a financial team, and keep going with Protecting Your Legacy.

Want more conversations like this? Watch more Cultural Coins episodes.

This article is for education only and isn’t legal advice. Estate planning and probate laws vary by state, so talk with a qualified attorney about your situation before making decisions.

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