You Built Something Worth Protecting. Now Let's Make Sure Your Family Can Keep It.
You're the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in this country and one of the least likely to have a formal estate plan. I'm here to change that.
Your Business Is an Asset. Your Estate Plan Determines Who Inherits It.
Women Entrepreneurs are building real wealth registered trademarks, business equity, client relationships, intellectual property. But a sole-proprietor or single-member LLC has no automatic succession mechanism. Without a will, a trust, or a business succession plan in place, everything you've built can be frozen in probate court while your family waits.
Estate planning for Women Entrepreneurs isn't a luxury or something to get to later. It's the third act in how I work with clients: Build your business. Protect your brand. Preserve your legacy.
This pillar page covers the estate planning services I offer and why each one matters specifically if you're a business owner.
The Documents That Protect Your Business and Your Family
Most people know they "should" have a will. Fewer understand what a complete estate plan actually looks like or why business owners need more than the basics.
Not every family needs the same level of planning, but everyone benefits from having clear legal documents in place. Will-based planning provides straightforward protections supported by personalized legal guidance.
Your healthcare wishes deserve to be clearly documented before a crisis occurs. Advance healthcare directives help your loved ones and medical providers understand your preferences when you cannot communicate them yourself.
From LLC formation to business contracts, I give you the legal foundation your business needs to operate with confidence and protect itself.
Full-service federal trademark registration with the USPTO. I handle the clearance search, application strategy, and filing — and if an office action comes back, I respond to it at no additional charge.
A will names who receives your assets, who raises your children, and who manages your estate when you're gone. For business owners, it also determines what happens to your business interests your trademarks, your contracts, your accounts. Without one, your state's intestacy laws decide, and those laws were not written with your business in mind.
A properly funded revocable living trust is one of the most powerful tools available to a business owner. Assets held in trust pass directly to your named beneficiaries without going through probate no courthouse, no public record, no months-long delay. Your family receives what you built, on your terms, without court involvement.
If you become incapacitated, someone needs legal authority to manage your finances and make healthcare decisions on your behalf. Without a durable financial power of attorney, your bank accounts and business operations can be frozen while family members petition a court for guardianship. A healthcare power of attorney ensures your medical wishes are honored by someone you trust.
An advance directive sometimes called a living will documents your wishes for end-of-life care. It removes an impossible burden from your loved ones and ensures your preferences are legally binding, even when you cannot speak for yourself.
What Happens to Your Business If You Don't Have a Plan?
This is the question most estate planning attorneys don't ask because most of them don't work with entrepreneurs.
A single-member LLC or sole proprietorship doesn't pass to your heirs automatically. Your registered trademarks are intellectual property assets that must be specifically addressed in your estate documents. Your client contracts, your revenue streams, your business bank accounts all of it can be tied up in probate, unavailable to your family and inaccessible to anyone trying to keep the business operating.
Business succession planning is how we solve this. Together, we'll document what happens to your business, its assets, and its operations if you become incapacitated or pass away. That means naming a successor, addressing your trademarks and IP, and ensuring your family isn't left making impossible decisions in the middle of grief.
Your trademark is an asset. Your estate plan is what determines who inherits it.
Why Women Entrepreneurs Business Owners Benefit Most from Planning Early
The median age at which Americans create their first estate plan is above 45. But the best time to establish foundational documents is when your business is growing when assets are accumulating, when the cost of planning is lowest, and when the risk of dying without a plan is highest.
Dying without a will intestate means your state decides who receives your assets. That process is slow, public, and expensive. A trust avoids all three.
Early planning also means your documents can grow with your business. A plan you create today can be updated as your business scales, your family changes, and your assets expand. Waiting doesn't make the process easier. It just raises the stakes.
Estate Planning Services I Offer
Wills
A last will and testament drafted specifically for your family structure and your business interests not a generic template.
Trusts
Revocable living trusts that keep your assets out of probate and your family out of court including trust provisions that address your business and intellectual property.
Questions About Estate Planning for Entrepreneurs
Why do Women Entrepreneurs need estate planning?
Women Entrepreneurs are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the US but are among the least likely to have a formal estate plan in place. Without one, the business assets, trademarks, and wealth you've built are subject to probate court, state intestacy laws, and delays that can leave your family without access to what you worked to create. Estate planning is how you make sure your legacy actually reaches the people you built it for.
What is business succession planning and do I need it?
Business succession planning documents what happens to your business if you become incapacitated or pass away. For a single-member LLC or sole proprietor, there is no automatic transfer mechanism your business interests, registered trademarks, and client contracts must be addressed specifically in your estate documents. If you own a business, succession planning is not optional. It's the piece most general estate plans miss entirely.
What's the difference between a will and a trust?
A will directs who receives your assets after you pass, but it must go through probate a court-supervised process that is public, slow, and costly. A revocable living trust holds your assets during your lifetime and transfers them directly to your named beneficiaries after your death, bypassing probate entirely. For business owners with growing assets, a trust typically offers significantly more protection and privacy than a will alone.
Does my estate plan cover my trademarks and intellectual property?
It can and it should. Registered trademarks are legal assets that must be specifically addressed in your estate documents. Without a clear directive, your trademark registrations and the goodwill attached to your brand may be difficult or impossible for your heirs to access or transfer. Because I practice both trademark law and estate planning, I can help you address your IP assets in a way that most general estate attorneys are not equipped to do.
Is it too early to create an estate plan if my business is still new?
The earlier you plan, the less it costs and the more your documents can grow with your business. You don't need to be wealthy, old, or sick to need an estate plan. You need one the moment you have assets, a business, or people who depend on you. For entrepreneurs, that moment is now.
Do you offer estate planning virtually?
Yes. I've operated as a virtual-first practice since 2018, and I serve clients nationwide. All consultations, document reviews, and signings are handled remotely, so geography is never a barrier to getting your plan in place.
Your Legacy Deserves a Plan
You've done the hard work of building something real. The final step is making sure it survives you and reaches the people you built it for. I work with Women Entrepreneurs across the country to create estate plans that address both their families and their businesses, without the overwhelm.