“The most important case of my career wasn’t even one of my own,” said Sarah Breiner, estate planning attorney. “I watched it all unfold from the gallery – at first in disbelief, and finally in horror.
“A traffic accident had incapacitated the parents of a 2-year-old. Both pairs of grandparents were present and able to care for the child. On the mom’s side were two particularly well-respected members of the community: a retired sheriff for that county, and a retired social worker who had served that very same city for over 30 years. Coincidently, their daughter – the child’s aunt – had just recently been approved to foster by child protective services.
“Despite all this, the judge still ordered two days of testimony before deciding whom the child should go to. The court scrutinized the competency of every family member who had enthusiastically volunteered to become a guardian. Fair enough. But the focus then shifted to the competency of the parents themselves, as though their being in traction somehow entitled the court to pass judgement over them.
“And the court most certainly did. The judge ruled the parents – and by extension everyone else in their extended family – unfit to care for the child. They instead placed the child in foster care: surrounded by perfect strangers, where they stayed until their reunion with their sobbing parents two years later. Victims of a legion of legal professionals who were just so darn certain they were all doing the right thing.
“I had practiced law for over a decade when I first started following that case, though all my experience up until that point had been in litigation. As a new mother myself, I had to ask one of my mentors, an estate planning specialist, if there was anything the parents could have done to avoid so much trauma and heartbreak.
“‘Yes,’ she explained. ‘All they had to do was create temporary legal guardianship documents. If they had those, child protective services couldn’t have gotten involved. End of story.’
“I mentioned that I’d never heard of those documents before. ‘I’m not surprised,’ she said. ‘It’s not standard practice to offer them. The bar doesn’t require it.’
“I asked how neglecting to bring up something so important didn’t constitute malpractice. ‘It’s like I said,’ she answered. ‘The bar doesn’t require it.’
“And that’s when a switch flipped inside of me. I realized my true calling: not as a litigator, but as The Legal Mama, whose mission is making sure parents and their children are fully covered under any contingency – and fully protected against the worst excesses of the law.
“Wills. Trusts. Powers of attorney. Advanced healthcare directives. Breiner Law Firm has created all the estate planning essentials since its foundation in 2012. What truly distinguishes the firm is its legacy planning services, which ensure that our clients’ children and other surviving family members would all be taken care of in exact accordance with their wishes.
“If you have minor children, then you can’t go without legacy planning. It names would-be guardians, as well as their substitutes in the event of a truly worst-case scenario. It informs those guardians of how you would like your children to be raised vis-à-vis your culture, values, and spiritual beliefs. You can even instruct which musical instrument and second language you would prefer your children to learn.
“I’ll distill the spirit of your parenting style into your own personalized Guardian Guide™, complete with a legally recognized emergency wallet card. It identifies precisely whom you want to care for your children in the event of a crisis. Not the government. Not a family member who can’t be trusted to water your houseplants, let alone raise your baby. Not some other family member who passes every background and credit check possible, but who has got all the warmth of a wild turkey.
“Your wishes. No one else’s. That’s all that matters to The Legal Mama.”
Protect what you cherish most. Visit LegalMama.com today to schedule your free 20-minute phone consultation, life and legacy session, or estate plan checkup and review.