Estate planning attorney Bill E. Hesch explains why trusts, life insurance and powers of attorney are essential
For the 21st consecutive year, Bill E. Hesch has been named a Cincy Magazine Leading Lawyer in Cincinnati for Estate Planning. To mark the honor — and to help individuals better prepare for the future — Hesch will host a meet-and-greet on Feb. 26, where he’ll present the top 10 mistakes people make when they don’t use a trust in their estate planning.
Ahead of the event, Cincy Magazine sat down with Hesch to discuss why trusts matter, the misconceptions he sees most often and how families can better protect their assets for the next generation.
Cincy Magazine (CM): How would you introduce your business to someone unfamiliar with it?
Bill Hesch (BH): I’ve been managing my law firm and CPA firm over the past 33 years here in Cincinnati. We focus on helping clients with death and taxes. In November of ‘24 my CPA firm merged with MMB CPAs in Blue Ash.
We’re real excited about the team of people that we have here and the work that we provide in estate planning in particular to our clients. We also work with clients on elder law, Medicaid planning, special needs trusts, probate and, most importantly, the biggest part of our practice is estate planning for everyone.
In my estate planning, I’m looking at my client not just from their legal issues, but also their financial planning situation and their tax situation. There’s probably no one that has the team that I have put together in Cincinnati that does what I do. You’re not going to find an attorney, CPA and financial planner that has the structure and the service that I provide my clients… And so, the whole process of the holistic approach we take is we do try to make sure that the family is financially secure.
CM: A lot of younger people have a mindset of, “I’ll deal with estate planning later.” What’s your response to someone saying that?
BH: Well, I think that in a way, when they talk about a will, they may not have much in the way of assets… So to a certain extent, when I work with clients that are younger, I try to identify the need for life insurance. And then you do have an estate plan. And then it is important that if you want to provide, especially if you have a young family and you provide life insurance and provide for the financial security of your spouse and your children, where do you want the money to go to?
We use a trust in the estate plans to make sure that we provide for the surviving spouse. But typically, if they do their financial planning properly, they’re going to need a lot of life insurance. If you have a lot of life insurance and you’ve got an estate and a lot of money, and potentially you want to provide for your spouse and also your children. And so that’s why you need a trust potentially in your estate plan, even if you’re a young couple.
It’s not costly to get those documents prepared, but the benefit is quite significant that if you did have a car wreck, if you did have a major illness, if you did have a stroke, that you are able to talk to your family, doctors and to the hospital. And then you also need a financial power of attorney to handle the finances.
And so that’s a big issue that we try to work with, that we need those legal documents in place. We’ve got to plan for the worst, expect the best. That’s the message to my clients.
CM: When you have businesses, what are some things you need? What are some things you need to take into consideration then?
BH: If you’re a business owner, you really need to be concerned about your succession plan. And people sometimes think, well, that I’m not. I’m young, I don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to die, you know, which statistically they’re not. But unfortunately, we found out in COVID, if you become disabled and sick and you can’t go to work, you might lose your business.
If you got in a car accident, you’re in the hospital for six months, or you got Covid, you’re in the hospital for eight months, how’s your business going to survive? Now? Some businesses are so small, you don’t have much choice, quite frankly. You only have the backup.
CM: Is there anything else about you or your business that you want to make sure readers know?
BH: I think the thing that I would focus on that my success in my business the past 33 years is that I’m accessible; I use my cell phone. I learned a long time ago that the number one reason professionals are fired is that they can’t reach their attorney. The CPA clients can call me or text me on my cell phone anytime.
I’m also very experienced. I was a CPA for a number of years before I started practicing law. I’ve been recognized by Cincy magazine as a leading lawyer. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I’ve been very blessed and fortunate that we’ve done very well, both the CPA firm and the law firm.
The other thing is we really care. And that’s the other thing. People don’t understand that they can tell if you really care when you talk to people, when you have that initial meeting, and if you’re enthusiastic and happy to help people.
Another one of my keys to success that I would share with people is that you really don’t realize how important your health is. And you can’t start in your 50s or 60s. I started when I was 38, actually.
Because to me that’s one of my keys to success, is the health that I have, which allows me to be sharp in my game and to provide the service to my clients.
