Jim Ray: And friends, we are here with Episode 1 of the Protect Your Nest Podcast and my good friend, attorney Brandon Lawrence. Brandon, how are you doing?
Brandon Lawrence:
I’m doing great, Jim. How you doing?
Jim Ray:
I’m doing well. Glad to be getting this off the ground. We’ve talked about this for a while, so congratulations for your first episode.
Brandon Lawrence:
Thank you very much. I’m excited.
Jim Ray:
Absolutely. Me too. So today we’re going to kind of give everybody a little bit of Brandon’s background, kind of let you know who Brandon is, what he’s all about. And at that point, that’ll give you another reason to really kind of, “Hey, why should I be listening to this podcast?” And I think you’ll like Episode 2 that’s coming up as well. But we’re going to launch these about every other week. So, every two weeks you’ll have a new episode. It’ll be available out on the website LawyerForTheCity.org. It’ll be out on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a few other places. So with that being said, Brandon, let’s talk about you. Your favorite topic, right?
Brandon Lawrence:
Absolutely.
Jim Ray:
So you’ve been practicing here for what, about 20 years now?
Brandon Lawrence:
Close to 20 years, yeah. It’ll be 20 years in 2026.
Jim Ray:
Right. And so you and your family are here. I mean, you’ve got a couple of kids and your wife and everybody’s here. And so I mean, you’ve really decided this podcast, in general, is going to focus on estate planning, probate, wills, trust, those kind of topics. Why is that so important?
Brandon Lawrence:
Well, it’s important because it’s important to people. It’s important to families. Being a family guy, you look down the road and you see things that happen in my own family and other people’s families. I want to be able to help people and enlighten them and direct them and guide them to a place to where they know that after they’re gone, that their impact and legacy live on through their family and their family’s going to be secure.
Estate Planning Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
Jim Ray:
Yeah. I mean, it’s one of those topics that I’m so glad you’re doing this because so many people either put it off or they get confused or, “Hey, that sounds complicated.” It’s really not all that complicated, but you need to have a plan.
Brandon Lawrence:
Yeah. It’s pretty simple. You need to have a plan, and the earlier you start and the more thought that you put into it, the better the outcome will be, just like with most things.
Jim Ray:
And the thing is, I mean, once you get this on paper, once you get it ready to go, down the road, if you need to make an update, family changes, situations change, new people come into the picture, things like that, you can always update these documents. I mean, this is kind of a document or a process that at least gives you a foundation, but that’s not where it stops, right?
Brandon Lawrence:
No, it doesn’t stop because life changes constantly. We all know that. We have more children. We might get divorced, and situations change. You might have to bring a family member into your home, things like that. Your kids come back and we all know that. So, it’s the documents that we’re going to talk about in the future, they’re pretty fluid, and you have to be flexible, which is, again, it’s a life thing. So we have that opportunity to do that, the tools to do it, and we need to have the knowledge and have someone to help us, guide us through the process to ultimately achieve what we want to achieve.
When Children Need Advice Helping Parents
Jim Ray:
Well, as we were planning for this podcast, one of the points that you brought up was you may need a Will or something for yourself, but a lot of times it’s people our age who are trying to help their parents, and their parents may not have all these documents pulled together. So, having that information and being able to guide your parents is also an important part of it, right?
Brandon Lawrence:
Oh, absolutely. A lot of calls that I get are from children of parents, older parents that want to make sure that their parents’ wishes are seen through and they need assistance with whatever it is. They’re moving back in with them. They might be going into a nursing home or some situation like that where they need assistance. They want to be able to protect their parents and make sure that they’re not taken advantage of, and they want to also protect the things that their parents have worked hard for and want to pass on down to them and their children.
Jim Ray:
Well, I think that’s where a lot of people get confused is unless it’s documented, a lot of times the court’s going to step in and make those decisions for the family. And that doesn’t always go the way it should be. I mean, if mom said, “Hey, Brandon, I want you to have this when I’m gone” and it’s not on paper, it doesn’t really mean much.
Brandon Lawrence:
Well, no. Yeah, because the court will definitely step in. They have to. It’s the law that’s been written in since the common laws, since the laws were instituted. And in order to get accomplished what you want to, and we’re going to talk about these things later on, in order to avoid certain things like estate taxes, capital gains, taxes, or minimize them, which is what you want to do.
You want to know what you’re going to do, and you want to know that what you’re doing is the most effective, efficient method of if you’re going to transfer property, transfer wealth, or preserve something in your family, you want to do that and make sure to basically keep the courts out of it, as much as possible.
The Role of Specific Legal Guidance and Trusted Guests
Jim Ray:
Right. And I like the fact that you’re going to have a series of guests who are going to come in. Each episode is basically going to be Brandon and a guest for the most part, and they’re going to talk about specific topics. So we’ll talk about financial issues, we’ll talk about real estate issues, we’ll talk about all sorts of different planning issues, and you’ll be able to break down what these actual documents are, what they’re meant to do, and how to get them done. The nice thing is you’re also going to bring your legal background as an attorney into the conversation. So now you’ve got two people who are going to be able to offer some advice that may be helpful, but ultimately you’re going to have to choose your own attorney, and you’re going to have to work with your attorney. But we’re going to make it easy for you to hopefully pick up the phone and call Brandon. Right?
Brandon Lawrence:
Most definitely, Jim. I mean, I know a whole lot and through experience, but I also know enough to know that I don’t know at all. I’m going to bring in some people that I’ve come into contact with along my journey that I trust and I know have a specific expertise that they can impart on you, on whoever’s listening and watching to guide them in the right direction.
And yeah, of course, you don’t have to choose me. I’d love for you to choose me. Of course. That’s part of the reason why we’re doing this, giving this information out to help people become acquainted with me. So I hope that you take this journey with us, tune in, listen, and keep listening and tell other people to listen, to gain some knowledge and to be able to have some comfort with decisions that you make and know that you’re making a good decision and it’s going to positively affect your future and your children’s future.
Jim Ray:
Well, and that there’ll also be legal decisions. I mean, sometimes between two people, they can decide, Hey, we’re going to do this, or this is how it’s going to play out, but the court says, no, you can’t really do it that way, or there’s a different process for that. You’re going to be able to, again, bring that stuff to the forefront here so people can go, “Oh, I do need to get an attorney involved. I do need to probably sit down and get some advice.” And the nice thing is, these podcasts, we’re not going to teach you everything in and out, every little aspect of the law, but hopefully, and I think Brandon, I think you’d agree with this. The idea is to really help you ask better questions so that you can offer the advice that they need for their specific situations. I mean, just because this is right for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for another person or a different family, right?
Brandon Lawrence:
Well, absolutely. I mean, it’s going to be interactive. We’re going to be able to field questions, not in real time probably, but we’ll do an episode, either a real way for people to get in contact with us. We will take the questions and suggestions. We’ll be able to answer the questions next time when we get a question beforehand. And let’s face it, nowadays you have all types of mediums to gain information through. Everybody knows a little bit of something. You could go to, what can you go to Office Depot? Is that still around? I don’t know.
You go to Office Depot, OfficeMax, online, whatever, and get a bit of information. But what you’ve got to make sure that that information specifically applies to you in your jurisdiction, state, whatever, and that you can utilize that particular, we will go over some statutes and laws and things to make sure that it definitely applies to you. We’ll flesh out the information that the viewers have the public has and nail it down and say, Hey, this applies to you or it doesn’t. It can help you or it won’t benefit you. Things like that. So you’ll rest assured that, hey, I’m making the right decision and this is the decision that’s specifically for me, and it’s the correct one to make.
Jim Ray:
Yeah, I think on that topic, just because a family member had a friend who once had a friend who knew somebody who did it that way, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s right for your specific situation. Right?
Brandon Lawrence:
There you go. Your cousin’s dry cleaner or whoever, your cousin’s Uber driver might not know what’s best for you.
Jim Ray:
Exactly! Maybe we’ll deal with some myths and misconceptions, some common misunderstandings about things as well. So they’re just a variety of topics. But Brandon, once again, I’m glad you’re doing this. I’m glad you’re making it approachable. This has always kind of been your style. I’ve known you for what, about 20 years now.
Brandon Lawrence:
Oh, yeah.
Jim Ray:
And it’s always kind of been your approaches. Let’s talk it over, right? I mean, that’s kind of your tagline.
Brandon Lawrence:
Exactly. Exactly. And that’s what I started this thing. I got into this line of work to help people, of course, to make some money and provide for my family, but most importantly, to help people and provide people with knowledge that I’ve acquired and kind of point them in the right direction and see them with a smile on their face and be content and assured that what they’re doing is the best thing for them long term.
Jim Ray:
I think that’s the challenge because everybody’s got ideas about things, but don’t really have a plan. And I think what Brandon’s going to try to do for you is to help you start putting that plan together. And ultimately, when you’re ready to be able to sit across the desk with Brandon and ask some questions and let him kind of guide you through that. Because again, sometimes you plan in advance, and that’s great when you’ve kind of got all this worked out ahead of time.
Sometimes life happens and you’re dealing with a situation that you hadn’t really planned for to begin with. And again, your steady hand is going to be able to sit there and say, okay, here’s what we need to deal with, and here are your options. And this is probably what’s best given the situation. But yeah, this is going to be fun.
Conclusion
Whenever you launch a new initiative like this podcast, the one thing that we want to do is ask you all to, please do us a favor. If you’ve found this episode, if you’re watching or listening to this now, do us a favor and share it out on your social media. Let other people know about it. Let other people know about Brandon and the help he’s going to be offering through this, and just help us build that momentum early. I think that’s always important for us.
So this is Episode 1, and generally we’re going to last about 30 minutes. That’s kind of the target. These first two will be a little bit brief. The topics are a little bit more specific, but other than that, we’re going to have just some good conversations, you and your guests, and just really try to unpack it and make it a little bit more easy for people to understand, but more importantly, for them to actually take that first step, which is to sit down with you and actually start putting things on paper.
Brandon Lawrence:
Right That’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to break it down, make it more palatable and taste good, and easier to access, easier to digest and comprehend.
Jim Ray:
Outstanding. Any closing thoughts?
Brandon Lawrence:
Well, not a whole lot Jim. I’m excited about what we’re doing. Happy about it, and glad to be doing it in concert with you. Thank you very much for creating the atmosphere, and we’re looking forward to helping people. That’s what we want to do. People want help, need help, seek help, and we’re here to help. That’s the most important thing. We’re here to help the people
Jim Ray:
Outstanding. So friends, once again, you’re going to be able to find these episodes on Brandon’s YouTube channel. You’ll find it on his legal Facebook page, you’ll find it on his LinkedIn profile. It’ll be out there on Spotify, iTunes, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast, just really pretty much wherever you listen. So we’re going to make it easy for you to find us. We’re going to ask you to help other people find us, us as well, and we’ll take it from there. So Episode 1 is in the can buddy. Thank you so much and look forward to getting at it.
Brandon Lawrence:
Alright, thank you, Jim.
Jim Ray:
Take care. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye.
