Just What We Needed – Twice!
My wife and I were initially referred to Mr. Setzer for a very specific type of trust, as he is one of the few NC experts that could handle our narrow need. We were very impressed with his knowledge in that area and were quite thankful for his patience for that arcane trust setup. So we were happy with the outcome.
We are a nearing-retirement Baby-Boom couple already quite conversant in financial matters (CPA/MBA types) so we have rather high expectations for anyone who provides advice relating to money, inheritances, and taxes. We already had many of the normal legal/family/health/estate documents, but feared they were out of date or ran counter to our current wishes. Additionally, we had experienced the loss of a family member who had young children but no will and another family member who was declining from dementia. We had seen the legal and financial difficulties these situations created and were determined to avoid them.
Because of that first assignment, we contacted Mr. Setzer again a month after completing that initial service. This time, we asked for his advice and recommendations for our then-current financial situation.
Mr. Setzer listened carefully to our specific concerns and probed for other required information. The result was that he provided us an integrated package of documents that handles our needs as older parents of grown children, covering everything from healthcare Powers of Attorney to several trusts that reflect our peculiar requests and goals. What we want to compliment Mr. Setzer on is that combination of listening carefully, taking the time and effort to provide exactly what we requested, and making sure the result as a whole was complete and integrated. And, as with the first assignment, we very much appreciated the time and patience he provided to resolve our numerous questions.
By comparison, we know of many people who have gone for cookie-cutter legal documents with minimal Q&A help, and that may work for some people. But in our case, we had specific concerns, fears, and goals that could not be handled with copy and paste forms. Our feeling is that if you are going to have legal documents to control your retirement, declining health, and ultimate demise, then you should have ones that do exactly what you want them to rather than a generic one-size-fits-all outcome. And that comfort-of-fit, along with flexibility and completeness, is what Mr. Setzer provided us.
Having gone through this process with him, we now have a great sense of relief looking forward. The contingencies of failing mental or physical health, disability, retirement, and death are all securely addressed. Future family problems, changing tax laws, and other things that could derail an ordinary plan have been incorporated. We don’t have to worry about burdening our children with decisions they may not want to deal with or may not be prepared for.
We highly recommend Mr. Setzer and his office staff for the reasons above. He is our go-to attorney even though we live 40 miles away!
Extra Prepared
My wife and I crossed state lines, had a new baby, and wanted to update our will. Becuase we moved, we needed a new attorney. We found Zachary Setzer through a search and we are more than impressed. He took the time to explain that one need not have millions and millions for a trust to be preferable to a will. Our first meeting was about 2 hours and he went over some much information, our heads almost were spinning. But, fret not, on our second appointment, he took time to go over those items that we needed more on.
At the end of the process, we have a 4 inch thick binder, with all papers and documents for our trust clearly labeled. We know exactly what we need to do and while not done yet (we just finished last week), there is a feeling of safety for our young children. After all, the point of a will or trust is to take care of children in the event of their parents’ untimely demise. Morbid subject for sure, but as parents, we’re also grown-ups who need to be prepared. Zachary made this process easy. He’s done it enough so that he knows what informtion he needs up front, and communicates clearly what his expecations are. Bottom line, our family’s estate planning is something we can rest easy about because Zachary put it together with us. I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone looking for help with estate plannning.
A True Professional
Zachary is a true professional, extremely knowledgeable in his field, is very genuine and easy to work with. He was able to describe the “big picture” of my estate plan and then walk me through the details of each area, answered all of my questions, and offered different options or scenarios that demonstrated his depth of knowledge and experience in these matters. I have recommended Zachary to friends of mine and the feedback from them has been the same as my experience. I will continue to recommend him to others.
Endorsing My Attorney
My family has used Zachary Setzer’s services for two different matters, Estate Planning and formation of two Trusts. With each of these Mr. Setzer was very thorough and explained anything that was confusing. He prepared Health Care Power of Attorney, Power of Attorney, Wills and Trusts for me and my husband.
When the documents were ready we brought our three sons aged 19 to 24 with us for signing. As Mr. Setzer went through the documents he explained them to our sons. The boys all understand what my husband’s and my end-of-life desires/choices are and they are comfortable with that knowledge.
Revocable Trusts
Zachary gave a very impressive presentation on Revocable Trusts last Fall at the Tyvola Senior Center- so much so that we made an appointment with him soon afterward to discuss the subject with him. We were most pleased with his knowledge, professionalism and easy manner which put my husband and I at ease right away. We would highly recommend making an appointment with Zachary to discuss your legal needs – we feel blessed that we did!
