Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 5-1-24

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May 1, 2024
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All of the Sudden ...
Law Matters
I met Mike
at a wedding in
Illinois. We
were both outsiders
standing
off to the side.
Although it
embarrasses
my family, I'll
often just strike up a conversation
with strangers under those kinds of
circumstances. It turns out Mike
was a lawyer from Chicago. When I
mentioned I was a lawyer in Saint
Louis, he became interested.
Their firm was trying to establish
a foothold in Saint Louis, and he
asked if we'd be interested in talking
to them. I naively said yes. Our
senior partner eventually identified
them as a “merge-and-purge” firm.
They would merge with a firm,
dump the younger attorneys, and
eventually steal the clients. I would
have been one of the first ones to
go. Fortunately, we dodged that
bullet. But I digress.
After that initial encounter, our
firms struck up a conversation.
Mike was our main contact. He was
pretty slick. He made it all sound so
wonderful. We had a lot of
discussions trying to figure out if
there was a fit.
And then all of the sudden, Mike
went silent. We tried to follow up
with him, but we heard nothing, and
no one else in the firm told us
anything.
After some time, we heard from
another of their partners who asked
if he could come down and talk to
us. So next thing we know, we are
(636) 537-7884 | fvilbig@lawmatters.llc | www.lawmatters.llc
@MIDRIVERS_NEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
meeting with this burly attorney.
He was not at all as smooth as
Mike had been, but he told us that
Mike had died.
Evidently, Mike had been a
workaholic. His partners forced
him to take some time off. The
stress was apparently too much.
While “relaxing” on a beach in
Florida, Mike had a heart attack
and died. I don't understand how
laying on a beach in Florida could
stress anyone out, but there are all
kinds of people on this earth.
The point of my story is that
things can happen when we least
expect it … even on vacation. Life
is fine one minute, and then, all of
the sudden …. Without planning,
things can go badly awry. If you
don't plan your estate, the state has
written a will for you. Depending
on how assets are held, a surviving
spouse could end up with only a
little more than half of the
deceased spouse’s assets.
It is a good idea to plan. Give
me a call if you want to talk.
Everyone’s experience
with estate planning is
unique and you don’t
always know what to
expect. Fred has gathered
some of the most
interesting examples he
knows into an entertaining
and educational book.
You Can’t Take It With You is available
to order online at www.law-matters.net
Fred L. Vilbig is an attorney with over 30
years of experience in the areas of wills
and trusts, small businesses, and real
estate. This column is for informational
purposes only. Nothing herein should be
treated as legal advice or as creating an
attorney-client relationship. The choice
of a lawyer is an important decision
and should not be based solely upon
advertisements.