A Conversation with Estate Planning Attorney Patricia De Fonte, Esq.
A collaboration between Sheila McGinn, CFP® at Brightview Financial Solutions and Patricia De Fonte, Esq. at De Fonte Law PC
Why I Love Working with Estate Planning Attorneys
One of my favorite parts of being a Certified Financial Planner® professional is getting to work with other professionals to help solve real-life problems for our clients. We thrive on helping you grow your investments, plan for taxes, save for your kids’ education, and plan for an unknown future.
As a CFP® professional, I frequently recommend that my clients address estate planning before they think they’re going to need it. The truth is, nobody knows when they’re going to need it.
Unsurprisingly, people sometimes resist taking care of this task. The benefits of estate planning may not be obvious at first. It may feel like a lot of work with no obvious upside. However, I can assure you, it’s worth the effort. A solid estate plan is critically important to avoid the myriad downsides of simply winging it.
Recently, I reached out to Patricia De Fonte, Esq. of De Fonte Law PC to talk about how she works with tech clients in putting together estate plans.
Meet Patricia De Fonte, JD, LL.M.
Patricia De Fonte is the Founder and Principal Attorney of De Fonte Law PC, a California estate planning firm serving busy professionals — especially those in tech who are building careers, companies, and families at the same time. She has a masters degreen in Estate Planning, Probate, and Trust Administration.
Through her firm’s “Estate Planning with Heart®” approach, Patricia creates thoughtful, comprehensive plans designed for people who do not have time for loose ends. Her team anticipates the details others overlook — equity compensation, real estate, guardianship nominations, incapacity planning, funding, and long-term maintenance — so clients can stay focused on their work and their lives.
Tech professionals appreciate that Patricia understands complexity and values efficiency. Her firm provides clear guidance, streamlined processes, and high-touch service, while thinking several steps ahead to protect both family and future wealth.
Based in San Francisco, Patricia’s team of attorneys serves clients throughout California by meeting online.
Q1: Many of my clients are tech professionals in their 40s and 50s with growing equity compensation and comfortable net worth. Why should they prioritize estate planning now rather than waiting until retirement?
Patricia: As your career progresses, your financial picture becomes increasingly sophisticated. You’re likely managing RSUs, stock options, investment accounts, real estate, and potentially equity in startups or side ventures. Without proper planning, these assets could become tangled in probate, subject to unnecessary taxes, or distributed in ways that don’t align with your values.
Let’s take RSUs as an example. If you haven’t designated a beneficiary for your RSUs (preferably your revocable trust, or at the very least an adult with full mental capacity who is not reliant on government assistance), the RSUs will be subject to probate. This means the probate court will value them, and the attorney and executor will be paid fees set by statute, often in the tens of thousands of dollars. In California, probate can take years to resolve.
I recently worked with a widow who found herself not only addressing trust administration after her husband’s death (a year-long process including tax returns and court filings) but also dealing with probate court for RSUs that weren’t properly designated. These RSUs were a marital asset. The couple thought they had addressed all issues because they created a marital trust. But the devil is in the details, and accurate trust funding is necessary to ensure the estate plan works as intended.
Q2: Do tech professionals really need a trust, or is a will enough?
Patricia: For many tech professionals with substantial assets, a revocable living trust offers significant advantages. It helps your family avoid probate, provides privacy, and gives you more control over how and when your assets are distributed.
If you do nothing, your assets will pass according to bloodlines and go through probate court. The probate process is public. Anyone interested can learn about the extent of your assets and who will inherit from you. If the value of an asset isn’t clear, the court will order a valuation. RSUs, equity stakes in private companies, and angel investments would likely all be subject to probate.
With just a will, the only difference is that you choose an executor and name beneficiaries. In both scenarios, beneficiaries receive their inheritance outright unless they’re minors, in which case the court decides what’s in the minor’s best interest.
A revocable trust provides privacy for your beneficiaries, control from the grave (not just who gets what, but how they get it), and can include asset protection provisions. When properly funded, it avoids the public and expensive probate process. It protects loved ones and business partners.
A revocable trust can also allow a trusted individual to oversee the operation of a company in the event of your incapacity. If you’re in an accident, who has the authority to represent your interests in the company? Consider co-founders of a startup: if one founder dies, what happens to their share? Would it have to go through probate, with the court establishing the value of the equity stake? What would this mean for the remaining founders?
Q3: It’s sometimes challenging to motivate my clients to move forward with estate planning. What could go wrong if you don’t get your estate plans in order as you build wealth?
Patricia: Estate planning isn’t just about what happens after you’re gone. It’s about protecting your family if something unexpected happens. Who would make medical decisions if you couldn’t? Who would manage your finances? Who would care for your children?
These aren’t comfortable questions, but they’re essential ones. The good news is that having these conversations and putting the right documents in place brings tremendous peace of mind, maintains your privacy, and keeps your loved ones out of court.
Your RSUs, stock options, and ESPP shares need special attention in your estate plan. These assets have specific rules about what happens upon death, and coordinating them with your overall plan requires expertise in both financial planning and estate law.
Major life events (marriage, divorce, births, career changes, significant wealth increases) should trigger a review. At minimum, review your estate plan every three to five years to ensure it still reflects your wishes and takes advantage of current tax laws.
The Bottom Line
Not having a plan in place means that the people you love (spouse, family, friends) who are tasked with settling your affairs will face a very stressful, complex, and time-consuming set of tasks if they’re required to manage your estate through a probate process.
Estate planning isn’t for you. It’s for the people you love, and it’s for the people you want to take care of. We all hope we won’t need it for a very long time, but you really should take care of it… for the people you love.
Estate planning works best when your financial advisor and estate attorney collaborate. Together, we can ensure your wealth is protected, your family is cared for, and your legacy reflects your values. Don’t wait until retirement to get your ducks in a row. The families who thrive in the midst of loss are the ones whose loved ones planned ahead.
Bonus: How Does My CFP® Professional Help With Estate Planning?
The estate planning attorney handles legal documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney). The CFP® professional helps with the financial implementation and integration of those legal strategies into your overall financial life.
A Certified Financial Planner® professional, working alongside your estate planning attorney, plays a critical supporting role in the estate planning process. Here are a few examples:
Compile a financial summary to ensure a complete and accurate snapshot of current and expected assets. This helps ensure your estate plan aligns with your goals, tax situation, and expected legacy.
Help you articulate your goals for your estate: who gets what, how you want assets distributed, and any charitable or legacy plans.
Review and update how your assets are titled (joint ownership, trusts) and update beneficiary designations (on IRAs, life insurance, etc.) as needed.
Support trust setup and funding if your attorney recommends a trust, transferring assets into the trust and making sure everything aligns.
Provide ongoing monitoring and reminders to revise your estate plans when life changes (marriage, divorce, sale of a business, out-of-state relocations) require updates.
Team coordination to ensure your estate attorney, CPA, insurance agent, and other professionals are all working from the same playbook.
Bonus: What Does a Comprehensive Estate Planning Client Services Package Include?
A strong estate plan is not a one-time transaction. The most effective plans are supported by an ongoing client-services model that helps ensure your plan actually works when it’s needed.
A comprehensive estate planning client services package may include:
- Trust funding guidance and coordination: Communication with all of a clients’ advisors to ensure assets are properly titled in the name of your trust—because an unfunded trust is often no better than no trust at all.
- Regular plan reviews and updates: Scheduled check-ins to review your estate plan as laws change and life evolves—new children or grandchildren, real estate purchases, business interests, relocations, marriages, or divorces.
- Coordination with your corporate counsel: If you own a business, your revocable trust must be in alignment with your operating agreement and buy/sell agreement.
- Communication with your financial advisor, CPA, and insurance broker: Providing these key advisors with your certification of trust and funding instructions to keep beneficiary designations, asset ownership, tax strategies, and cash-flow planning aligned with your estate plan.
- Support for trustees and agents: Education and guidance for successor trustees, agents under powers of attorney, and health care decision-makers so they understand their roles before a crisis occurs.
- A long-term relationship—not just documents: Access to a legal team that knows your family, your values, and your goals, and has a terrific network, is a benefit you can leverage for anything life may bring you and throw at you.
