Tag: Stephen B. Yim

  • Capturing the Heart of an Estate Plan

    The usual response I receive when I ask, “What brings you here?” during an initial meeting with clients, is, “To avoid probate and minimize taxes.” Avoiding probate and taxes are good goals, and easy to resolve. The much more difficult — and much more meaningful work — is all relational. When we delve further into…

  • Make Yours a Soulful Estate Plan

    If an estate plan is our final personal and intimate letter to our loved ones, why is it that we can’t understand it when we read it? This last intimate writing should be full of our unique, personal and emotional voice, yet, it reads like a sterile contract, devoid of any human feeling or emotion.…

  • The Hidden Costs of Probate Court

    The Hidden Costs of Probate Court by Stephen B. Yim, Attorney at Law from the Oct-Nov 2016 issue of Generations Magazine, Hawai‘i’s Resource for Life

  • Put Your Voice Into Your Estate Plan

    Put Your Voice Into Your Estate Plan by Stephen B. Yim, Attorney at Law from the August-September 2016 issue of Generations Magazine, Hawai‘i’s Resource for Life

  • Sycamore Row

    Sycamore Row by Stephen B. Yim, Attorney at Law from the June-May 2016 issue of Generations Magazine, Hawai‘i’s Resource for Life

  • The Most Difficult Conversation

    During the winter break, I read a book called Difficult Conversations, how to discuss what matters most. The authors teach ways to engage in conversations, maintain good relationships and convey and receive meaning and intentions without blame and defensiveness. They point out that the key to engaging in successful difficult conversations is to talk about…

  • Start with Why

    Lately, I’ve had questions from beneficiaries of trusts asking “why did the decedent make the trust distribution a certain way?” The trust clearly identified who the beneficiaries were, and what they were to receive and how they were to receive it. Unfortunately the trust was silent as to “why” — the underlying reason and purpose…

  • Estate Planning for College Students

    I recently received a call from a client who has a daughter attending college on the Mainland. Her daughter had been in a ski-accident and was in the hospital. When the mother called the hospital to find out her daughter’s status, they would not release any information or allow the mother to make any decisions…

  • Lost in Translation

    Did you play the game “grape vine” as a child? You whisper something to someone who whispers it to another, until the last person gets the message. The last person says the message out loud. At best, it is a very garbled version of the original message. Think about estate planning. People tell their attorney…

  • After The Pause

    I like to call our meeting room where we meet to discuss estate planning “the pause room.” When we enter and close the door, and leave outside all the busy-ness in our lives — we put only the matters relating to estate planning on the table. We pause for about an hour, and concentrate solely…