Drummond Woodsum

Firm Overview:
Drummond Woodsum’s estate planning and administration team provides a broad array of personal legal services to help clients accomplish their estate planning goals. In addition to preparing wills, trust agreements, financial powers of attorney and advance health care directives, which are the foundation of almost all estate plans and are carefully tailored to meet clients’ specific needs and wishes, the firm also advises individuals and families on gift and estate taxation, succession planning for business interests and the ownership of family camp/vacation home real estate, charitable giving, retirement plans, pre-marital agreements, planning for incapacity and general tax planning and other estate planning and administration services.

Drummond Woodsum represents personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries in the administration of trusts and estates and takes pride in being able to efficiently implement and put to the test the estate plans the firm has designed for its clients during their lifetime. The firm's estate planning law and administration law resources include a veteran paralegal staff to assist in the proficient administration of estates and trusts. Drummond Woodsum also has extensive experience in all types of proceedings in probate courts throughout the State of Maine, including guardianships, conservatorships, adoptions, and will and trust interpretation and administration issues. In collaboration with the firm’s Trial Services Group, Drummond Woodsum is able to provide skilled representation in all types of contested probate, will and trust matters.

The Firm's Approach to Estate Planning and Administration Law
In the firm’s estate planning, estate and trust administration and personal tax practices, Drummond Woodsum is committed to providing prompt, innovative solutions, built upon a thorough understanding of its clients’ circumstances, an appreciation of their personal goals and an application of the firm’s technical expertise.

Drummond Woodsum’s estate planning clients fit no particular mold. The firm provides estate planning services for clients at every conceivable stage of life. They include young couples who are anticipating the birth of their first child, unmarried individuals, unmarried domestic partners, widows and widowers, business owners and retirees. People come to Drummond Woodsum at key times and milestones in their life, sometimes in times of joy and sometimes in times of crisis, and the firm takes great pride in being able to offer advice and help at those important waypoints or crossroads.

Drummond Woodsum recognizes that the need for creative assistance and planning often bears little or no relation to a client’s net worth and the firm welcomes clients without regard to any minimum amount of assets. In helping clients accomplish their planning goals for themselves and their families, the firm will always be mindful of the limits of clients’ resources and will do its best to find efficient ways to meet, and hopefully exceed clients’ expectations.

The most important estate planning considerations typically have little to do with taxes, but rather, are tied to ensuring that clients are able to control their property while they’re alive and well, take care of themselves and their loved ones in the event of their incapacity, and give what they have to whom they want, the way they want and when they want and do so in a way that minimises every professional fee, administrative cost and estate tax possible. Too often, when the firm meets with clients for the first time, it finds that although their existing estate plan may have been created with a focus on minimizing estate taxes, there was little or no consideration for addressing family concerns and goals. The firm believes that the things that keep people awake at night have nothing to do with a concern over the amount of estate taxes that might be due at the time of their death. Estate taxes are best addressed as part of the planning process only after knowing what the other, more important, planning goals are for clients.

An important part of the planning process is ensuring that the beneficiary designations of life insurance policies and retirement accounts are coordinated with the foundational estate planning documents. Too often, the firm sees clients who have prepared elaborate estate planning documents but they and their advisors never took the time to ensure that the beneficiary designations for their life insurance policies and retirement accounts match the provisions of their other estate planning documents. As part of the firm’s planning processes, Drummond Woodsum routinely takes the time to review client’s beneficiary designations and change them when appropriate to match the rest of the clients’ planning goals.

Working with the other members of the firm’s Business Services Group, Drummond Woodsum is able to successfully integrate all facets of business planning into the estate planning process, including business continuation in the event of incapacity or death, and the transition of business ownership from one generation to the next.

The firm prides itself in the resourceful use of trusts and its ability to help clients find thoughtful and appropriate ways to leave an inheritance to children and grandchildren. These include protecting an inheritance from the potential claims of a beneficiary’s creditors or a possible divorcing spouse and encouraging beneficiaries to become productive members of society and develop the skills and ability needed to take care of themselves and those who are dependent upon them for their care and support.

Drummond Woodsum approaches estate planning from the perspective that it’s the firm’s role to teach clients about the law and the various planning options available to them that they might not otherwise be aware of, and that in exchange, it’s the clients’ role to teach the firm about themselves, their families and their planning goals. Then, together, an estate plan can be designed and implemented that best accomplishes their goals. Clients enjoy the creative process and the most common comment the firm hears from clients after completing their estate planning, or an update of a previous plan is “Thank you. I’ll sleep better knowing that this is done.”