In this episode of the podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shane Jasmine Young, a successful estate planning attorney based in Las Vegas. Shane shared her journey of starting her own law firm with her husband and the pivotal moments that led her to specialize in estate planning. She emphasized the importance of comprehensive estate planning to avoid probate, protect assets, and ensure smooth transitions for families. Shane also discussed the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, highlighting the crucial role of support from loved ones in pursuing one’s passion.
The episode delved into the intricacies of estate planning, including wills, trusts, and the significance of having a clear plan in place to avoid conflicts and ensure the smooth transfer of assets. Shane’s personal anecdotes and professional insights provided valuable guidance for listeners on the importance of proactive planning and seeking the right expertise to navigate the complexities of estate planning.
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Full Transcript
DIEGO TRUJILLO:
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Diego Trujillo. Welcome to another episode of the HEALS podcast. I am very excited to have a very special guest today. And also, I’d like to consider a friend. We’ve been watching each other from afar for a while. We met not long ago at a women’s conference, and I learned a little bit about what she did. And I’m excited to have you here with us is Shane Jasmine Young. How are you doing today?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So good. Thank you for having me.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I always need to really double check myself to make sure I don’t mispronounce the name. No, you got it. You know, it happens occasionally. So thank you very much for coming in. I know we had reached out a while ago. I had been sharing with you how we kind of dug into hospice and we were talking about hospice and final arrangements. I was like, you know, we unpacked it briefly. And in this podcast, I’d kind of like to unpack a little more on the final arrangements, right? on the wills, the trusts, the states. But before we dig into that, I’d like to kind of find out a little bit about how you’ve been doing. How’s the law firm going?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah, it’s been going great. So as you know from us being friends, my husband and I grew up here. He’s born and raised. We’re high school sweethearts, actually. And we went away to college but came back here to Las Vegas because this is where our home is. Our families are here. And we started our law practice in about 2017. So yeah, seven years now. And our focus is estate planning primarily.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And was that always the goal? So when you guys grew up here in Las Vegas as a little girl, I’m kind of curious, what side of town?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: I grew up in Henderson.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So I went to Green Valley High School. I went to Chaparral. So it’s always like the kids on the way. He went to Eldorado. Fair enough. I like you a little more now. Both of you.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: That’s great. So we grew up here. He’s born and raised. I grew up here. Well, I moved here when I was nine. And I didn’t always know that we were going to start our own practice. And he’s not an attorney, by the way, but he runs the business. He’s the CEO, COO, handles all the marketing, you know, that type of thing. But when I went to law school, he had started talking about having our own firm and, you know, what the plans would be.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And in mind for you, you always wanted to be an attorney.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: I did. So when I was growing up, my dad was an entrepreneur, and he started his own airline, and he used to work for another company, decided to start his own business, and it ended up going south because he was taken advantage of, essentially. And some investors, including an attorney, took advantage of him and took control of the business. So this happened when I was very young, and they ran it into bankruptcy. So my family had a lot of financial hardship. There was a lot of up and down, you know, growing up, a lot of uncertainty. And my dad instilled in me, my parents instilled in me, you know, the importance of being able to be educated and make proper decisions and rely on the right people. So he had said, you know, you got to go to law school, so this doesn’t happen to you.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Because even then, it’s tough. I mean, people don’t have an understanding a lot of times on, you know, these shotgun clauses, the way you can push different partners out. I mean, it really can be rough. So it’s something that you experienced and witnessed at a young age. Right. So what pushed you towards, was it in law school that you said, you know, I want to do estate planning?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: You know, it didn’t come until later. So after I graduated from law school, I was an attorney at in big law. So I worked for a really big law firm. They actually didn’t do estate planning. But my first pro bono case where I was volunteering as an attorney was a probate matter. And I saw firsthand how this family had relied on an estate plan, you know, the father that passed away. had a plan, he had a trust, but it wasn’t done correctly. And the family ended up fighting, you know, with his ex-wife and it had to go through probate and, you know, taxes and all these things. So as a first-year attorney, that’s what really piqued my interest. And then ever since then, I had done pro bono cases. And then I got more experience doing estate planning through the years and also working as the general counsel for a financial services company.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: See, and I think a lot of people, you know, sometimes we don’t see how south it can go. And I’ll be very honest, and I’ll get kind of cultural on this, because we’re Hispanic, and I’ve talked about this on the podcast before, and it very much matters, the cultural impact of it. It’s very interesting when approaching it, especially, for example, when you talk about hospice, end-of-life care, and you bring that up to, you know, my Hispanic parents, oh, no, no, no, we don’t want to talk about that. There’s a conversation we need to have, like this is very important. So this is what we were discussing when Karen Rubel was on from Nathan Adelson Hospice. And, you know, we’re talking about these cultural approaches. And when it comes to final estate planning, it was very interesting for me and eye-opening working in hospice. I have some absolutely horrible stories that could have been solved by a conversation. Some of that could have been solved by an attorney. I remember, I’ll never forget one time I walked in, we were trying to discharge this patient. The case manager, well, let me find out if the person has, you know, any income so that they can pay monthly. They had probably between three to six months to live. And I remember, you know, they checked in, the kids were on board, but the wife, which was not the children’s mother, had control and said, well, I don’t know if he’d want to spend his money on that. Yeah, and we just looked at each other in shock like what what else would someone want to spend their money on than a place to live, right? It’s just and I didn’t I hadn’t developed that malice yet It wasn’t till the social worker was like, hmm. I wonder what she would want to spend it on right? And I was like, oh my god. Yeah, she totally seized control. He had not made any arrangements any plans I’ve seen this there was a patient one time with his wife and like glioblastoma, so she had tumors growing in her brain, and she lost the ability to be able to communicate. And I’ll never forget, they were the sweetest couple, I’ll never forget going through the paperwork to sign the hospice paperwork and getting to the DNR, saying this is a DNR, this says that, you know, should your body, should her body stop, that, you know, that we’re not going to do any kind of life-saving measures or anything like that. And it was a conversation I had had a hundred times. I mean, really repeated over and over. So for me, it was kind of rogue going over the explanation. And I could see as I was explaining the weight of this decision come on this man and he tears up and he goes, how can I make that choice though? I feel like I’m the one killing her. And I just, right. And I explained, I was like, look, sir, it’s not you. It’s the disease process. And unfortunately where you’re at. I realized, I remember I went home and said, mom, dad, you guys need to have a conversation at the very least of what do I do at this point? I just felt so bad for this man. And I’m sure this is things that you see play out on a constant basis.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: We do. And, you know, you have seen the worst of it in real time, right? Where these people are trying to make these decisions last minute, you know, in your presence, having never thought about them, having never had conversations. And we see it also, you know, unfortunately on the, you know, the law firm side where we will often get calls from frantic family members saying, you know, my parent or my grandparent, you know, they’re sick, they’ve got, you know, this condition, they’re in hospice, and they don’t know what to do. And so that’s definitely where we don’t want to be planning, you know, last minute.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I always, and I would always say it, it’s like shopping for car insurance after your car has gone off the cliff. Right. Like, you know, that’s not the time to shop. It’s when you’re calmly at home and you can really look over all of your options. I would always tell people this.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yes, exactly. And that’s the thing that we try to get out there in the community. You know, thank you for this podcast, by the way, because having these conversations now and getting people thinking about these things is so important. Because when it’s too late, there’s limited options that we have available. If you don’t have capacity to be able to make decisions, we’re definitely much more limited or there’s another course that involves court that people don’t realize they would have to go through. Yeah, it gets a lot more complicated. Or a conflict within the family as you shared. Here’s one person on one side saying, nope, this is what they would have wanted.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They wouldn’t have wanted this to spend money on that. Yeah, and everyone’s clearly seeing what the end goal here is. Yeah, no, I can’t imagine the frustration dealing through those situations on top of the fact that you’re losing a loved one. I mean, you’re already going through an extremely difficult time. It’s hard enough. And having to plan funeral services and having to pick all of these things out. I remember repeating a million times, and my sister was always very good with my father on, hey, you know, get all of the documents in one place. And even then, there were still some floating around.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right, and that’s why it’s important, you know, that, you know, we tell clients and the community, plan while you can, you know, plan while you have the ability to make these decisions while you’re alive and well, you have the capacity, you can have the conversations, put the proper planning in place now so that there’s not a conflict, there’s no question as to what would she have wanted or what would he have wanted or What are we supposed to do now? Or, you know, of course, ending up in court or worse.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, even worse. Yeah, where now people are fighting over it and now there’s siblings involved. I would always explain this to people. I mean, people always have this assumption where, you know, when a loved one is going to pass, that everyone comes together. And I’d love for it to be that way. But 90 percent of the time, there’s a lot of emotions. There’s anger. There’s bargaining. There’s, you know, people are going through the stages of grief and everyone handles it completely different.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And that’s often where you see the worst of people come out. I mean, in my own family, I’ve seen it where someone passes away and they may or may not have had any planning in place. And, you know, it’s the grandchildren, it’s the children that are fighting over things. And it’s just not a situation that you want to be in.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, there’s ways, especially when you can avoid it, right? Yes. I mean, this is like going mountain climbing and then like, you know, looking for rope after you’re halfway up on the mountain or slipping off, right? This is something you could have planned for and something you could have looked into. And for me, it really spoke to, uh, you know, this, this weekend, I had an epiphany. I was out hiking in a rainforest up in the Northwest. And, uh, and it was really interesting to me. I never explored that kind of forest. I’ve been in jungle. I lived in Central America, but I’ve never been through a forest like that and watching the way these, these giant trees would fall. And as soon as they’d fall, you’d see all these other trees spring life from them, right? So the term is nurse log. And I thought, am I going to be one of those trees when I fall? Like eventually I’m going to be gone. Am I just going to take up space and rot away? Or are things going to grow from what I’ve left, right? And I think like family planning, especially when it comes to estate planning and things like that, I mean, do you, Do you want to let the state figure it out on your behalf? How efficient are they at doing these things, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And what a picture you paint, you know, through that, you know, that analogy, that metaphor, right? Where, you know, I don’t think people want to think, number one, they don’t want to think about those things oftentimes. And we see it, you know, culturally, as you mentioned, you know, different cultures, different communities. have a harder time by dealing with the death or dealing with planning for those types of situations.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Or the thought of death, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. Or they think that by talking about it or by planning that they’re going to bring it on. There’s all these misconceptions, all these myths. And so I can tell everyone that’s listening. You know, by planning, we have never seen, you know, that cause be the cause.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Do you have the data? Do you have the data? Okay, we need hard numbers. How many of your clients have spoken with you and passed within a year? Right. It just doesn’t happen that way. I think it’s part of a sanitized society that we live in. And I’ll never forget one time, I was reading this book by an Anglican philosopher. And it was really brilliant. He was like, you know, I always push families to do an open casket. And he goes, I know it sounds very crazy, right, that I would insist on this, but we live in a world where we never see death. It’s just not something that we’re exposed to. And you could tell by the way people drive. I mean, people really don’t realize how, like, you are at the edge at all times. You can fall off a little two-step ladder in your home and that’s it, right? And we act like death is just this concept. It’s so far away from us. It’s so distant because we live in a world that’s so sanitized. He goes, you know, every time we would do a funeral service, I would always insist. He goes, no, right. There’s certain exceptions. He goes, but I’d always push the family because there’s a part of being human and standing over that loved one and facing our mortality. And it really leads to us as an audience living different lives as a result of that.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It’s so true. It’s so true. And I think that’s just another common misconception that you brought up is people think, you know, I’m not old enough. You know, I’m not close enough to death to require an estate plan or another. Another one is, you know, I’m not wealthy enough. People think that you have to have you know, millions of dollars to be able to plan for, you know, that time. And an estate plan really should be a plan that anyone puts in place that’s over 18 that, you know, deals with that.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So unpack that a little bit. Let’s kind of dig in now that you kind of touched that subject, right? So when you’re talking about estate plans, you’re talking about wills, you’re talking about trust, can you break it down for the audience just so we have some clarity? I know we all know everything already. But for everybody else.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Just so we have some clarity. So the common thing when people hear estate plan is you think of, you know, a will or a trust. Sometimes I hear life insurance, right? So those can all be components of an estate plan, but your estate plan really should be a comprehensive plan. that addresses all types of contingencies. So some of these examples that you know you’ve brought up. If you’re in an accident, if you are incapacitated, if you’re in the hospital, who can step in immediately to be able to talk to your doctors if you can’t speak on your own behalf? Who can make those decisions as far as medical care, end-of-life decisions, without any conflict, without family members fighting or disagreeing as to what you would have wanted? who can step in and actually make those decisions for you legally, you know, be authorized to do so, who can go and handle your financial affairs.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Which is, yeah, the medical power of attorney and the financial power of attorney. So you could even separate your estate among the people that are to kind of have responsibilities.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly, because there’s different roles, right? There’s, you know, the medical side and then there’s the financial side. So financial powers of attorney are important if you’re incapacitated. So if you haven’t passed away and you need someone to go to the bank for you, Because you can’t handle your financial affairs, you can’t pay your bills, pay your mortgage. You want someone that you trust as a fiduciary, as a financial agent, to be able to go and handle those affairs for you while you’re still alive. So that’s a financial power of attorney. Now, after you’ve passed away, now it goes into, do we have a will? Do we have an executor? Do we have a trust? Do we have a successor trustee? Those are different roles there.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So and you do this analysis with every client that comes in?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yes, so what we do is we invite everyone, including the audience, to schedule a complimentary family wealth planning session. So this planning session normally is $750, but when you come through, you know, someone like Diego, you know, this podcast.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Thank you very much. I mentioned Las Vegas Heels. Yes, please. And this is a one-on-one meeting? It is.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So they’ll have the opportunity to schedule a one-on-one meeting or, you know, if it’s a couple, you know, with an attorney, a private meeting. And we go through and we talk about where things are. You know, what are your concerns? What are your family dynamics?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: What are the typical questions do you ask? I guess people, I’m kind of curious, right? Walk us through a little bit. What are the questions? Where are you trying to get immediately to kind of start putting this picture together?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Sure. So before clients come in for a family wealth planning session, we ask that they watch a webinar. So there’s a 60 minute webinar on our website. It’s younglawlive.com. And it’s, the webinar goes into more, a little more detail, but still it’s kind of like estate planning 101. What is a will? What is a trust? What are these important decisions that we want to make? How do people often make mistakes that end up with their plans failing? How do we avoid those mistakes? So, and it gives a good sense of, you know, who we are as a firm, because we do approach things differently than the traditional estate planning firm or, you know, estate planning lawyer, where we want to make sure that all of the bases are covered and it’s comprehensive. So, when they come in for the session, before they come in for the session, They complete a family profile that gets them thinking really about what is important to me. So it’s almost like a questionnaire. Are you concerned about X, Y, Z? Is it probate? Is it protecting your young children? Is it your pets? Is it your spouse? Do you want to avoid taxes? Are you a business owner? All these different dynamics go into how we guide clients through the planning process. It also helps the benefit of the family profile and kind of going through this process is it allows them to become financially and legally organized. They’re gathering this information, they’re thinking about these things, so that… Which otherwise would just, the family has to go rifle through everything and kind of put these pieces together. Yeah, and you’re always missing something when that happens. Okay. So it allows us to start the process of gathering the information and making their plan as comprehensive as they want it. So when they come in for the session, we talk through, you know, those items in the family profile. I’ll ask about the family dynamics. You know, are they married? Are they single? Do they have young children? Do they have adult children? Do they have adoptive children? Any pets that they’re concerned about? You get very thorough. Yeah, so all of those family details. And then we also talk a little bit about the assets. So, do you have a home? Do you have bank accounts? Do you have investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, you know, vehicles, personal property, like all the things in your home? Let’s take a brief inventory of these things because a lot of people don’t realize that if you have a home, if you have some of these assets, it’s a trigger for probate if you don’t have a proper plan in place.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay. And probate being?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Probate is the court process that we have to go through when a loved one dies, and they don’t have a proper estate plan. So they either have no plan, or maybe they just have a will, or they have a defective trust, a trust that wasn’t set up properly. So if you only have a will, for example, and let’s talk about the difference between a will and a trust. So a will really only deals with the disposition of your assets. It basically just says who gets what. And when you only have a will, it has to be filed with the probate court. So the probate judge is the one that’s deciding how quickly these parts of your estate are finalized. Creditors are the first ones that are able to make claims, and they are the first ones that get paid. including, you know, the government, the IRS. So taxes come out of your estate and your family has to wait during this process until it’s finalized and a judge basically issues an order saying… They kind of clear everything, basically.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: The role of the probate is to make sure all the creditors are paid, basically. Exactly, right. So they make sure everyone gets paid and then say, okay, you can have this stuff.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly. And it’s voluntary. That’s what a lot of people don’t realize. So if you don’t have a proper plan, you only have a will, then you’re opting your family in to probate into this process. And it’s a public process. A lot of people don’t realize it’s public. So anyone can go and see what’s in the estate, who the family members are, who the heirs are that are supposed to be receiving these assets. That’s how a lot of predators will prey.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I was just going to ask you, you said that with a certain look in your eye, as if like, yeah, this is where they’re finding. What is happening there? What are people seeing? You mentioned predators and bad actors.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. So are you familiar with Tony Hsieh, the former Zappos CEO? So he was based in Las Vegas. He was 46 years old when he passed away a couple of years ago now. And his estate has had to go through probate because he didn’t have anything in place, not even a will. So now his brother and his father were appointed as executors. One of them has since stepped down. But he had all of these properties where creditors were able to make claims, including his ex-girlfriend that said, you know, I have this contract that says I’m owed $15,000 a day for, you know, this and that, or I think actually it was $30,000. So all of these people have come out of the woodwork making claims on the estate because they’re able to see what assets he had, including real estate.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So people just make up claims and just start showing up and saying, hey, I’m owed this.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yes. And some of his properties were actually fraudulently transferred because these bad actors were able to get access to information on his assets, Tony Hsieh’s assets. So they went and they filed these fraudulent deeds. It only came out after the fact where there were some other people involved in his estate on his side that were able to see that these things had happened. And otherwise, these assets would have been transferred to these third parties, and no one would have known.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So this is one of your more money, more problems situation going down without some kind of arrangements or final arrangements made.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. But even for people that don’t have extensive assets. These could all be headaches, even if you don’t have a lot. If you only have a house, which most people do. Even without a house, if you’ve got bank accounts, investment accounts, anything else that’s important. Nevada has a really low threshold. So any estates that are valued at over $25,000, There has to be a filing, a probate-related filing. Now, a lesser amount of assets is not going to take as long as something that’s a little more complicated or more assets, more value to it. But yeah, there’s a filing. So that’s what happens if you only have a will. So a will just deals with the disposition, just says who gets what. But ultimately, it’s a judge that decides how that happens and when it happens. Now, if you have a trust, it’s a much more comprehensive set of documents beyond just a will. So yes, it’s going to include… Does it include a will? It does. So when we do planning, we always include what’s called a pour-over will with a trust because if there is an asset that doesn’t get properly titled or retitled if it’s not in the name of the trust. And I can talk about that, what that means. Then we use the pour-over will to basically submit that to the court and say, hey, judge, we don’t need to do a full probate here. We actually have a trust. We have these other assets. This asset was just left out. Can we pour it into the estate?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Oh, it just kind of covers whatever might not have been named. Exactly.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah, it’s just a safeguard. So yes, we still do a will, but really when you have a trust, that’s the centerpiece of your plan. And I’m talking about a revocable living trust. So the main purpose of a revocable living trust is that we’re able to avoid probate, we’re able to avoid taxes, we can keep everything private and handled immediately by the people that you want and trust. to handle things versus having to go through a public extended process, expensive process. That’s another thing a lot of people don’t realize, how expensive probate can be.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Which is important. If you’re wanting to hide your assets, just keep it private. If you don’t want everyone to find out, this would be the vehicle to be able to do that.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly. Because everything can be handled privately with our guidance. We’re there to guide. But everything can be handled within the family, within the people that are legally authorized to step in. Everything is laid out, so there’s no question. There’s no conflict. Family members don’t have to go to court.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And typically, yeah, I was going to ask, so who would challenge those kinds of things?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah, so if you have a properly set up plan, then one of the things that we include are provisions like a no contest provision. So if there is a potential beneficiary that tries to, or anyone that tries to make a claim or contest what’s set forth in the trust, then they basically are prohibited from taking anything. So it basically disincentivizes someone to cause trouble. And another thing that we offer to clients is our firm can serve as what’s called the trust protector, and that’s different than the trustee. So when you have a trust, you have a trustee, and that’s the person that manages the assets, makes sure that the assets go to the beneficiary or beneficiaries that you’ve chosen. The trust protector is really there to protect your intention as the person that set up the trust. So, especially after you’ve passed away, if there’s an issue between the trustee and the beneficiary, right, that the trust protector can step in and serve as a mediator, as a referee. We’re able to resolve the issue without them having to go to court. So, that’s the default if there’s a problem.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And how often do you find yourself in those positions?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So as a trust protector, we’re able to resolve any issue, and we can right the ship. So that makes it a lot easier. Do you find that happening frequently? It doesn’t happen very frequently. So it’s nice because, you know, it’s just that added peace of mind.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Oh, correct. Yeah. But when it does, I’m sure it’s another headache, right? Right. Because then you just avoided everything for the government to get involved, and someone just came and basically started rattling the cage, and now the government’s involved.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And when you have a well-crafted plan that is comprehensive and it really covers all of the bases, then it minimizes the opportunity for there to be any type of challenge.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, because it would seem the more clear a plan you lay out, the less ambiguity. We’re going to know exactly what this person was going for, right? And then you’re there as the protector to make, no, no, no, that wasn’t the intention. You know, you can read it right here, here, and here, and these other seven passages where it said this, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly. And because we drafted the documents, we know exactly.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You spoke with the person, yeah, right? Yeah, exactly. You even know all the jokes they made in the back room.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: I take a lot of notes. That’s one thing that clients often, you know, see me doing. You know, when I’m meeting with them, I’m taking a lot of notes because, of course, I may not remember, you know, the exact conversations, right, 10 years later. But, you know, having notes jogs my memory and I can refer back to them as we are helping support the family moving forward.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And this process that you mentioned, right? So you mentioned, you send them to the website, they go on, it was younglawlive.com? Yes. And then they take a webinar to get ready. Is this something, a process that your organization kind of established? Yes. This wasn’t taught in law school, this was you saying, okay, what is the young difference? Yeah.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So we really try to make things as easy as possible because as we know, you know, with our own personal experiences and experience in business, It can be overwhelming for people that don’t understand the process. And we want to make sure that we’re supporting people that are wanting to make planning a priority. And we start by education, by providing resources, by being out in the community, you know, and speaking. By doing these things to be able to get all the information out. And so the website that you mentioned, it has our on-demand webinar. So we do a weekly webcast. It’s a live webcast we do every Thursday at 6 p.m. So if you want to be able to engage and you ask questions, you’re able to do so through a chat box.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: How hard is it, getting a little zoomed out, how hard is it to keep people tracked on that? And I ask this kind of curious because I’ll see it sometimes like a hospice company will have an Instagram and they’ll say, well, we’ll follow our Instagram. I don’t know if I want a hospice popping up all the time on my social media, right? All these negative things. How is the receptivity from the community? How are they responding to?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: You know, we get such great feedback because my personal Instagram and the Young Law Group Instagram, for example, you mentioned, you know, social media. There’s a lot of crossover. There’s a lot of overlap because I’ll post a lot of things related to planning on my personal page because we’re talking about these things. It’s our families.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: At this point, it’s who you are. So I don’t know how you and I connected. But at one point, we’re connected. And I was like, huh, who’s this person? I always notice families. I pay a lot of attention on social media because people get, in my opinion, get an opportunity to show the world what they think is important. Is that material wealth? Is it this? Is it that? And some people just play right into the shallowness of it. For me, I started in 2008 back in college. I had a lot of friends that went all over the world. So I’m able to track, hey, this is what Gary Botswana is doing. You know, this person went off to work at an orphanage in Ghana. And so, you know, I’m able to kind of stay up with our friends. Right. And for me, it’s always like I always share me, my boys, you know, trips. It’s kind of the thing that I’m into. And so I always observe what people post. And it was always you and your family. Yeah. I was like, man, what a beautiful family. They’re always so close knit together. Gigantic smiles everywhere. So it was. Yeah. And then the young law group was all over. You kind of have become like one. You are the young law family.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And it’s funny because, so my husband and I, I mentioned, you know, we’re the owners of the business and then we’ve got five daughters. So our daughters, our youngest one, yes, our youngest just turned 13. So we’re like all like through the baby phase right now. But our youngest is Samar, she’s 13. And then Cameron is 14, Kaylin is 16. And then my twins, who I actually had just before starting law school, are now 23 and they just finished their first year of law school. So, they are continuing to be lawyers. They work with our firm. So, a lot of clients, after they meet with me, it might be one of our daughters or, of course, another team member that’s following up, you know, to gather information. So, it’s always nice to have that.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: That’s incredible. So, speaking, going back to that reference of the tree, right? When the tree falls, what are you going to leave behind?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And that’s part of our plan, right? You know, it’s part of my business succession plan, which is essentially, you know, an estate plan for the business, right?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, what if something happens?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And there’s so many contingencies that we as business owners need to plan for, but you know, what do I want moving forward with respect to my business? And it is for it to continue. It is for my family to continue to serve this community and continue to educate and provide resources because estate planning touches everyone. And that’s one of the beauties of being an estate planning attorney. You know, when I was doing business before only business, it was only a certain pocket of the population, right, that really, you know, was interested in that. But estate planning touches everyone. So I’m constantly able to integrate that with our normal life.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And what was your aha moment? Was that case you were talking, that pro bono case, where you’re just like, wow, what a mess. Yes. I could help here.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It was definitely multiple things that happened along the way. But that was that first time where I saw, oh my gosh, this poor family paid all this money. to avoid this issue. And now the children, who were adults, thankfully, but the children were going through, they were fighting with this ex-wife who we all know, the dad that passed away, we knew that he didn’t want her to inherit these things, but because he never updated his plan, it just caused all these problems. And then since then, I continue to do pro bono work, I continue to expand my practice to be able to serve clients on the estate planning side. And then, of course, when I started my firm, it was a no-brainer. Like, this is what we’re going to do. And it’s been such a blessing.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Was your husband on board fully for the whole process? Oh, yeah. I’m sure you’re coming home and telling him these stories of like, oh, my god, you cannot believe this.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yes. And he, just because we are so family-oriented, he was just like, OK, well, when you’re ready to start the firm, because I was the one that dragged my feet on that.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: All right, all right.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So he knew from the beginning, you know, we’re going to start a firm. We’re going to do this. We’re going to be able to, you know, like create more for others versus, you know, working in a confined setting. And so as I was telling him these things, you know, he was just like, OK, this is, you know, like, yes, this is this is part of our purpose, you know, being able to help other families who don’t necessarily have the information or access even.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, you kind of fall into your role. It’s very odd to kind of say to people, and I say this because even when I think of where I was at 30 years old, and I’m 39 now, when I think of where I’m at, and I talk to some kids that are like, man, I’m already 31. I was like, man, I didn’t even know. Like, you know, I liked working in hospice. I think at like 31, 32, I got into hospice. I was like, you know, I really enjoyed it. No, I may have been around 30. Time flies. Yeah. No, I started getting into hospice. I felt a passion for it. But I had no idea where the road would end. Right. Right. Doors would open. I opened a Facebook group which somehow blew up. Right. And, you know, there’s things that we did to really bring it together and things that we push for. But it’s very interesting the way that the calling in life sometimes presents itself and you have the option to kind of respond. And I find it so fascinating that it wasn’t just you, that your husband was always there present. Was he always as sensitive? Yeah. To the direction of things or was he on his own business trip and then he said, all right, what do you want to do?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. No, he was always very tuned in and you’ve met him before. Yeah, I have. So you can see he’s very much aware.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You can see it through the pictures, I’m telling you. Yeah. There’s definitely a unity there. So I was just curious on that now that you brought it up because you said you were dragging your feet on it.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah, I was because I was scared. I was scared to start my own business. A hundred percent. What if I fail and we had a family. I was so used to the stability of having this really nice paycheck of working with these big firms.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Which came every two weeks. Exactly.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: I could depend on it. Our bills were being paid. And so it was scary to think about letting that go and starting something new. You know, when I started the firm, when we started the firm, we had zero clients because I was coming from not a law firm, but being the general counsel for a financial services company. So I didn’t have a book of business. It was really starting from scratch.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So what was that start like? I’m kind of curious. Was there like a day one you both showed up on a Monday and were like, well, here we are?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Well, so when I, my last job that where I was an employee was for a financial services company called Provident Trust Group. So when they hired me, they actually hired me and my sister who’s also an attorney to be their legal team. And your dad really put it into you guys. It worked for two out of three at least. So we started there and the owners were very transparent. They said, look, we’re looking for the two of you to help us. get all of our legal affairs in order so that we can sell the business. So, you know, we were there to really do cleanup and also compliance and make sure that everything was being done properly with the business so that they could hand, you know, hand it off properly in this potential sale moving forward. So we didn’t know the time frames necessarily, but I was thinking it was going to be January of 2020, or sorry, 2018. was the time frame that we were looking at. But it ended up happening sooner in the summer of 2017. And I came to work one day and they said, OK, well, the buyer confirmed this and that. They want to basically take over.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They shook your hand and said, thank you? Yes, thank you very much. Yeah. Oh, so this was the push out of the nest. That was what I needed. This was the push out of the nest, that crisis moment. Yes, yeah. Now, let me ask you this, and I want you to be very honest with me, because I experienced that. Did you immediately start thinking, where am I going to go get a job? Or were you immediately like, all right, well. The sign is clear. I got to be an entrepreneur.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It’s so funny, because Charles and I, my husband Charles, had talked about what the next step would be. And so we knew that it was going to be starting our own firm. We just thought it was going to be a few months down the road.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: On your timeline.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yes. And so we already had a few things in the works. But really, it was just kind of the idea and the mission and the purpose, but nothing really hard set. Like I hadn’t set it up, set up the business.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, there weren’t dates you didn’t have.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Okay. Yeah, we had a website and that was about it.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So it just turned into a scramble for you guys.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It did. And I did think, you know, to be honest with you, I, you know, I went on LinkedIn. I was like, should I, you know, get another job at least in the interim because, you know, to continue to be able to start this business.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Stability and security, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. And I guess, you know, I really don’t remember how long that contemplation lasted, I think, I want to say it was like 30 minutes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: It was pretty quick. Yeah, you panic for a second and then you think, wait, why am I trying to get back in the cage? Right, no, exactly.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Like I need to utilize this opportunity. This is an opportunity. And I came home that day and I remember I walked in the house. My mom was there with my daughters and she came out. And she saw me unpacking my things. We had a big SUV, so I was unpacking all the boxes and multiple boxes. And so she was like, Shane, what happened? And I said, oh, well, today was my last day at the business. And she’s like, What? What happened? And I explained.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: She didn’t really know the background. You know the moms with the soothing tone right away. What do you mean? And what are you going to do?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: I don’t know. And so I said, you know, well, you know, she’s like, but you’re not upset. And I said, no, because this needed to happen. You know, the timing was, you know, it was a little scary. But look, you know, this is what needed to happen for me to really be full fledged invested in the next step. This is how it needs to be.” And I knew, you know, my husband was so excited.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Was he ready, set, go? He was ready.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: The minute you told, finally, yes, let’s do this. He was so ready. So he was like, we could have done this 10 years ago. I’m like, well, you know, but we needed to go through, I needed to go through the process, you know. And so once, you know, we were still aligned with what we wanted to do, we immediately dove into creating the business. You know, getting our message out there. You know, we also do other things like business and personal injury. So we’ve done that from the beginning. And the company that I had left, Provident Trust Group, these new owners that came in basically hired me on a retainer basis to be their business counsel, their outside counsel. That was my first business client, and that was nice. Then they actually tried to rehire me to come back as a full-time employee with a new business. I was like, no, no, no, that’s okay. I’m going to continue.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I’m already out. I already got the wind, I’m flying.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. Yeah. So it all worked out the way that it’s supposed to. I’m so grateful for all of the experience, good and bad.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, these steps are always very interesting. There’s a book I always recommend to people called The Road to Character by Charles Brooks. And in the first chapter, he talks about the way, right, we live in a society that’s very, like, you need to find the truth within yourself and, you know, you need to dig deep. And he was like, you know, And he disagreed in the discussion. And he brought up Viktor Frankl, the writer of The Man’s Search for Me. And he goes, you know, you talk to this man that just lost his wife, his parents, his children, all his wealth, to dig inside of himself and find his truth. Like, what are you talking about, right? It wasn’t inside of him. He responded to a calling that occurred outside of him. And we all have that choice to respond or not to respond, right? And I think it’s that panicky moment that you’re describing where you’re just like, You know immediately on the drive home like, you know, you kind of needed to go that way But am I ready and no and right all the reasons why maybe no and of course mom’s tone never helps, right? What do you mean what are you gonna do I don’t know but you have bill I know right we’ll figure it out they really play it up No, it’s good to have you know in your in your instance you had someone very important that was like hey, finally, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Let’s go Yeah, and thank thank goodness because it can be it can be scary I see a lot of entrepreneurs a lot of business owners that have these dreams, but they’re not supported Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be a spouse, you know, it can be anyone that can write to support you But oftentimes it’s you know, it’s lonely
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, and people don’t understand the full scope of it, right? One, you have enough work just doing the estates. I mean, the actual, you know, the actual attorney work, let alone building a business and branding and how are we going to do this? And what are we going to go here? And how do we, you know, there’s a lot of strategy around it that, you know, hats off to those people that do, but typically they find people that are able to kind of build those things out.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And that’s what I advise all the business clients that I work with. Find them in high school.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yes.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Well, that too. But, but yeah, it’s, you know, you have a specific skill set or a gift and you can’t do everything. You know, you’re not an attorney, you’re not a tax advisor, you’re not a financial advisor, you know, you’re a doctor, you’re this, you’re that. So focus on what you need to focus on and hire the right people to handle those things. And you’ll be so much happier. You’ll have so much more time to focus on the things that build your business.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Right. Yeah. You know, there was an expression that I was kind of anti-everything. Because, you know, I was always like, my parents were always, you need to get straight A’s. And I remember at a conference one time, a guy, he was like, you know, I remember when, and I tell my kids the same thing, to be fair. Yes, we do. Because I went to school in Central America, and I was like, oh my God, guys, this is a cakewalk. Please, you need to get straight A’s. Yeah. But one of the things he said, if you only work on your weaknesses, the best you’ll ever be is mediocre. And that spoke to me so heavily, right? So what are my talents? And that was something that was never really taught to me in school. It was like, hey, and I always bring this up with like leadership, which for me was the bane of my existence until I was like 30, 35, where it kind of clicked onto, oh, how do I use this, right? Before then, leadership was always, you know, if I got in trouble, I’d get in trouble worse than everybody else because, Diego, you were the leader. I never asked to be the leader. Right? And so I never learned how to really utilize these tools, these skills, the giftings that I have and to kind of make an inventory and to start applying those things. And when it’s outside of that scope, to outsource it to somebody else.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So true. And I wish that more people would realize that because they think that they’ve got to do all the things. Yeah. And you don’t. You can really focus on what, you know, the best use of your time and energy is.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yes. You know, and it was bringing that up even when, you know, my partner that I started Vegas Healthcare with, that has kind of been there through thick and thin. And people will ask us, so we had met when we were marketing. She came to market one time. She worked at a home health. I worked in hospice. We said, hey, you want to go market together? We just got along. We started this Facebook group, you know, so people can kind of post. could post different ideas and it wasn’t, we had a lunch one time with like five other people and I was like, you know, it’d be cool. What if like different organizations just film their own commercials on their cell phone and we see what skilled nursing facility, you know, can do the coolest commercial or what? You know, I just started saying, how can we interact and engage as a community? I started throwing ideas and the other people were like kind of bouncing back and she just had her head down on a piece of paper, just writing every single idea that I had. I would throw it out, she’d write it down, she’d write it down, she’d write it down and then at the very end she goes, okay, so how are we gonna get started on this? And I was just right. All of a sudden, I had an implementer that was just like, here are all these great ideas. Let’s do something with them. How can we start executing these ideas? And there were times where she’d say, oh, well, let’s run this contest or let’s do this. And I would tell her, I think that’s a terrible idea. I don’t think that’ll work. I think that’ll annoy people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I couldn’t have been more wrong. If I had tried to keep the control of the steering wheel the whole time, the growth, I mean, 3,000, 4,000 people would join at a time. Because of ideas she would have and for me, it’s always important to surround yourself, right? The people that are with you and in your case, I mean with your daughters, with your husband, who else is gonna watch your back better? Right, exactly. Exactly.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And thankfully we have surrounded ourselves with others that have our back. You know, we work with the Regulus Media Group. So that’s, you know, the business that handles all of our marketing that you see, all of the media. So those are things. It’s a good plug for them.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yes. Yeah. All of your content’s incredible.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It’s so good, right? And I get credit. Oftentimes people are like, oh, it’s so good. You’re doing all these things. And it’s not me. You know, I have a team that does all those things and so well supported, not just on the marketing side, but on the operational side. You know, we just have such a great. you know, dynamic with working with them. And it has resulted in me having to give up a lot of control, you know, when it just started with just me, you know, I was making all of the decisions, of course, you know, with my husband, but I was that main, you know, that focal point. It ended, you know, it started and ended with me. And so as our business has grown, I’ve had to learn to rely on other people, you know, that I can trust, of course, and let go of those things that I was normally,
DIEGO TRUJILLO: But you see how much better, if you would have been in charge of the branding and the image, right? How much further they were able to take it because you were able to let go of that control. Exactly. You found a trusting partner. And so circling back to the estates and things like that, what are the aha moments for you? What are the moments that make you feel like, wow, this is exactly, I’m exactly where I want to be?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Every time I have a client come in where sometimes it’s with a couple, for example, we’ll often see that, you know, one partner is like full, fully vested, you know, they’re ready to plan. Sometimes there’s, you know, another, you know, the partner or the spouse that’s like, you know, I don’t think that we need this, or I don’t want to have this conversation, you know, whatever the objections or concerns might be. And then at the end of the session, where both of them, you just see this sense of relief, like, oh, I’m so glad that we were able to take the time that we, you know, got over that hump that we made the decision, you know, to put a plan in place and it’s like a weight gets lifted off of them.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, I was just listening to a podcast with a divorce attorney and it was, you know, at first I kind of kind of I always told, because somebody recommended it to me, and they were like, well, let me know what you think. And at first, I’m thinking, like, of course, right? If you ask an attorney, everything is always the worst in the world, because they’re seeing the worst in the world, right? Going back to Nietzsche and, you know, if you stare into the abyss, the abyss also stares. That’s what you’re exposed to, and you’re seeing the worst examples of, like, slip and falls, just anything, right? You’re always seeing the worst. That’s why it’s in court. And so sure enough, I kind of go into listening to this attorney. The podcast was fascinating. And he starts talking about, you know, it was something I would tell, I would do pre-merit of counseling. I went to school, my degree is in theology. So when I’d meet with couples and that was one thing that I’d say, hey, okay, you guys are going to start a business. There’s like a 56% chance you’re going to fail on this business. And right in their eyes would open up. I was like, So it might be best to do your due diligence and really find out about each other right now And a lot of times we have these relationships we’re in and this is something the divorce attorney was talking about He goes people need to clarify these things These are just discussions they need to have and the host would push back and say yeah, you know We don’t really like having these he’s like you don’t like having them, right? Yeah, you think you’re going to enjoy the conversation down the road? There’s so many things in our life that we just keep pushing back and pushing back. But when we do have that clarity, I mean, if you think about what you’re doing, yes, you’re doing estate planning, but you’re helping two people with different opinions, different ideas, different ways. even though they’ve been married for 30 years and helping them to align in a specific way, which I never would have thought until you said that right now, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And it’s true. That’s why, you know, like on my signature block in my email, for example, it says attorney and counselor at law. And that the counselor at law is a very common term that attorneys utilize, but really we are counselors. I am a counselor. I’m dealing with these very confidential, very private matters, you know, personal matters with these families. We’re talking about, you know, their money. We’re talking about Their children, their family members, their wishes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: The ex-wives. Right. All the mixtures.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: The legacy. All of these things that are so important. I think that that’s another reason why I love what I do because I get to have these really meaningful conversations with clients and I get to guide them through some of the things that have held them back.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They’re in a jungle. They’re literally lost in a jungle, and you’re just kind of showing them a path. Okay, here’s a way out.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And I’m not there to tell them, like, this is what you need. Here, sign here. I’m here to guide them. I’m here to educate them, empower them to make the best decisions that fit, you know, for their families.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Right, and their circumstances. So it was the same thing. Anyone that’s… that does sales well and when I sell sales because I used to work in hospice and you think about selling hospice and you know I remember when I stepped in and I’d go in like have these conversations and I you know this is what we do and blah blah blah and I remember I had a mentor and she told me hey you need to shut up and I was like what are you talking about she goes you need to not talk for like the first 30 minutes Let them talk. And I was just like, huh? And she would say, yeah. And so, because I was very eager to get in there and, you know, look, I learned all of this material and it wasn’t about that. It’s just, just be quiet. What do you guys want? Where are you at now? And where are you trying to get? And then use all the tools that you have to help them get there.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And it’s so important. And that’s why, you know, going back to the family wealth planning session or the life and legacy planning session that we offer, that’s where I, you know, I’ll ask the question and then they’ll share the information with me, you know, because I want to understand what’s important to you. Sometimes it isn’t about the money. Sometimes it’s about these other decisions that are so critical, you know, they don’t really care about this or that. And so it’s, it’s unique to every, every client, every family has their own things that are specific.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You’re always surprised to find out. And I’ll bring this up because I wanted to discuss this with you and get your kind of input on this. One time I was listening to a podcast with Mark Garagos. And Mark Garagos is talking. He’s represented many famous clients. And somebody asked him, if there’s one thing in the law that you could change What would it be and he said that there is no inheritance? Yeah, and the and the the host who was kind of conservative was like, what do you mean? What is the state gonna take it and blah blah blah and he goes no he goes and and Mark Geragos was very clear He was like I would say about 50% of people that come to my office in LA I just come in and say hey, I have a trust when I turn 30, but I’m only 23. How can I access it? He goes, and the amount of times I have to look at someone and say, hey, this is like locked. It’s ironclad. There’s no way you’re going to tap in. He goes, they will go home and sit on their hands for six or seven years until they can access. He goes, I’ve never seen a fire put out inside of a human being, like knowing that there’s a trust and they just can’t access it yet.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And that’s where I think old school meets the new school. So when we talk about traditional estate planning, there are still estate planning attorneys that set things up that way. And in certain cases, it might be necessary, but that’s where having newer provisions, new changes in the law that are being incorporated, including things like the trust protector. Because if there’s a trust protector in that scenario, then we could potentially make some adjustments to achieve the intention or the intent of the person that set it up.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay, so that’s where it would fit in. Not in a challenging way, but a more nuanced approach. So I’m kind of curious when, do you see this? Oh, yeah.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Is it? Well, with like the trust fund baby type of situation?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, where they’re trying to tap into trust a little bit earlier. What are your thoughts on that? I’m kind of curious.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. Well, we don’t see it as often.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: But we’re not in LA, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And so it’s more so we’re focused more on the planning side of what does it look like moving forward with these clients that they’ve got children, whether they’re young or they’re well into their adulthood. What are the things that are important to the people that are setting up these trusts so that when they are no longer here, their children aren’t tied to something that doesn’t make sense for the family? So we are able to set up similar types of trusts. We call them lifetime asset protection trusts. But we can create parameters that can be very liberal or very restrictive or conservative.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And how often are you seeing clients? Is this something so when Mark Ergo said that right? It really caught my attention and I was like, yeah, and so Hoping my kids never listen to this episode of the podcast, right? So I’ve always told my boys you guys are not getting a single thing You guys will fight for everything you have on this earth just like I have right and so uh, and you know I one time I told that to my sister’s like hey, that’s kind of cruel to you and I was like No, I mean I plan on leaving them something. I just don’t want them to count on it Right.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: And that’s where having, you know, working with, you know, a lawyer or a law firm that understands really what your goals are and what, you know, the values that you’re instilling.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Because they’re interpreting kind of what you want. Yeah.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: All right. And that’s where, you know, we focus on the family values also. So, you know, if you came in and we talked about those things and, you know, you were a client that said, look, I do want to leave something. I want to leave a legacy, you know, for my children. But I don’t want them to have this sense of entitlement which stifles their growth or paralyzes them from being able to make decisions or work or create their own businesses, things like that. So we take all of those considerations in and we draft the provisions around it where there’s language.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Can you give me examples of one? Yeah. Because my sister threw one out. She’s like, yeah, well, what if you throw them $25,000 when they get married? Or what if, are there other things? Well, I’m kind of curious.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. So it’s really whatever you want. So whatever those provisions are, and you know, your sister, you know, gave a good example. If, you know, you want to be able to contribute to a wedding that they might have, and you’ve allocated a specific amount. Sometimes we have clients that will say, all right, well, I don’t want them to be able to access themselves. I don’t want them to withdraw money until they reach a certain stage in life. So it could be an age, you know, oh, when they’re 30, like the example that you shared. Or it could be after they’ve graduated from college or after they’ve achieved this, you know, because the parents want to encourage.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They’re looking for an evolution, not necessarily a number, right?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. And then we can draft in provisions that grant the trustee the flexibility to see, okay, well, is this now adult child, you know, are they making the proper decisions? If they’re not, say they’re, you know, they’ve got a drug problem or an alcohol problem, okay, well, then we can block them from being able to access the money until a certain point. Yeah, there’s so much flexibility that we can create with these types of trusts.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Now, do you oversee that? Do you hire a law firm to be the the trustee?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So the trustee is typically someone that the family appoints. So if, you know, husband and wife come in and they are creating their plan, they’ll agree on typically, you know, who would step in after both of them have passed away. So usually it’s a family member or a friend that they trust in that capacity. But if there isn’t someone or if they would prefer a third party, like a neutral, unbiased party to handle that part of it, It’s, you know, there are other firms or trust companies that typically serve and provide trustee services. So my firm doesn’t do the trustee services part of it, but what we can do is the trust protector. So that’s, you know, a little bit different than the trustee.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You give them the tools so that the trustee can execute properly and you set them up for success and not battles.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly. And the trustee can come to us and say, hey, you know, I’m not really sure what to do in this situation or I’m having an issue with a beneficiary. What, you know, what do I need to do? And we’ll look to the trust and we’ll say, OK, these are the provisions. This is how the trust works. This was the intent behind it. And if we need to make adjustments to, you know, be flexible and with what’s, you know, what we’re being faced with and we’re able to do that.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And how often do you think families should re-look at their trust in their estate planning?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Oh, I love this question. So at least every three years.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I’m sure. I’m sure. No.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Yeah. So every three years, we do a complementary review for all clients that we work with.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Oh, OK. I wasn’t expecting that. Yeah.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So we do that every three years because we want to make sure that their planning stays up to date. Things change. The laws change. And that’s also the typical point of where certain documents, like financial powers of attorney or even medical powers of attorney, can kind of go stale. and become outdated or even expire on the financial side. So at least every three years, we also offer a VIP program where there’s a bunch of complimentary services that we offer to people that are part of it.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So people can upgrade up front and be able to, you know, make sure it’s secure for the rest of their life, not just… And we do an annual review as part of that.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: So there’s a bunch of benefits with the VIP program. But an annual review is really what we recommend. You know, just like when you have a financial advisor, you know, you typically meet with your financial, your tax advisor every year.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They’ll send you the business sheet at home. What are the expenses, et cetera. You kind of review it. Nothing’s changed. OK, cool. Or yeah, something major changed or whatever.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Exactly. So that’s just another touch point that we offer. And we reach out to the clients and say, hey, Happy anniversary. It’s been a year.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Has anything changed? Perfect. Perfect. So to wrap it up today, you had mentioned something that you were offering to the listeners today. Yes. To those people that have made it through the podcast and now have a better understanding.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right. So we are offering a complimentary family wealth planning session or life and legacy planning session, normally $750, but because they are listeners and supporters of the podcast, we will waive that fee. They’ll just complete a family profile ahead of time. And we do recommend watching the webinar, you know, that webinar, younglawlive.com, you can click the on demand button, watch it anytime. So that is an offer. And then anyone that is actually booking their session, if they book their session, you know, within, let’s say, 30 days, then we’ll offer $500 off their actual estate plan.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay. And are you able to kind of give a range so people have an idea? Is this a $15,000 expense? Is it a $3,000 expense? What should it cost typically?
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It depends on the type of plan that they pick. So we’ve got different levels of plans, but our comprehensive plans start at $2,500. Okay. It could be more or less depending on, you know, if they’re going to scale back or if they’re going to be doing something a little more comprehensive.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: It’s very hard to develop a one size kind of fits all on this, right? Exactly. And you don’t want to do that.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: You don’t want to work with someone that has like a one size.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: But I was targeted on Instagram for a $99. I’m kidding. Don’t do it. I find it cheaper. No. Yes. Yeah, be careful. Yeah, I’m sure it can end up costing a lot more if you if you go that route. It does. So I really appreciate you taking the time today. I know this podcast has ran a little longer, but it’s definitely something, especially after we explored the five wishes, right? We were talking with Nathan Adelson and they have a very simple list of questions. It’s more towards end of life care that that answers, again, five simple questions. that help people somewhat with advanced directives. However, nowhere to the level of what you’re doing. And for me, it’s important for people to know this and to understand this. Again, circling back to what I said at the beginning of the podcast, sometimes we live in a very sterilized world where there is no death and no one ever dies and we’re shocked to find out that it happens to somebody. Um, even though it’s happening to people all around on a daily basis. And so it’s very important to kind of take a step back from our life and really examine what we’ve built. And again, I think that it really rang true in my mind when I, when I was walking through the forest and just looking at these trees that had fallen over and, and right again, these nurse logs. in these massive 200 feet trees that had started as little saplings on them. And I was like, wow, what a message, right? Who am I gonna be when I die? Am I gonna leave a mess for everybody and just here’s nothing but headaches for everyone? Or am I gonna leave, you know, I don’t wanna be a chore when I go. They’re already gonna be very heartbroken over my leave, no.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: It’s hard enough though, it’s true, it’s hard enough.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: There’s enough to worry about and enough emotion to go through it. It’d be a lot easier if you just had a set instructions of what they wanted.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Right, it just makes it easier.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And so I appreciate you coming on. I really do. Sharing and everything else you share with your family, with your husband, all of it. You guys have a very beautiful family. Thank you. And so it’s amazing to see you guys grow and do well and make the impact you are here in the city. I think anyone could just be an attorney, right? And I think you’ve chosen and responded to a calling to more to that.
SHANE JASMINE YOUNG: Well, I appreciate the kind words, and thank you for the opportunity to share this important information.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Of course. Well, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for getting on to another episode of The Heels Pod, where we kind of interview the different services and companies within our community to find out who we are and grow together. Thank you very much for listening. Have a great day.
