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When is the best time to draw up awill? When one marries? When onehas children? When one assumes a

certain degree of wealth? Upon retirement?R. Leonard Davis, III, who leads the estateand business practice groups at Drake,Hileman & Davis, P.C., believes the youngeryou are when you make a will, the better.

“Planning should be done when you’rewell, not when you get sick or are too old,”Davis says. “Let’s say you’re 21 years old.That’s not too soon to begin thinking aboutestate planning. Young people should planearly. Parents who are doing their own plan-ning should talk to their children about awill. For people in their 20s, that’s by far thebest way for them to hear about it.”

In the United States, 55 percent of peopledie without a will or estate plan, and nearly72 percent don’t have an up-to-date will.Dying without a will is a condition knownas “intestacy” and means that the intestacylaws of their state will determine how andto whom their property is distributed,including bank accounts, securities, realestate, and other assets they own at thetime of death.

“It’s not the worst thing that can happenif you die without a will,” Davis adds. “But ifyou don’t have a will, you’ve made yourestate more complicated and expensive foryour loved ones. Without a will, how yourestate gets distributed to loved ones andmaybe minor children is decided by some-body else. A judge gets involved, and theremay be conflicting claims. Eventually it willbe straightened out, but in the meantime itcan be a mess. The half of Americans thathave wills see the value in estate planning.And if they see it for themselves, they’ll seeit for their children.”

Drake, Hileman & Davis, P.C. is a full-service, general practice law firm servingclients throughout eastern Pennsylvania.Davis joined the law firm in 1986. His primary

With R. Leonard Davis, III at the helm,the estate and businesspractice groups ofDrake, Hileman &Davis, P.C., help clientsprotect their wishesand preserve theirwealth for generationsto come.

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Plan, Preserve,and Protectby PHIL GIANFICARO | photography by NINA LEA PHOTOGRAPHY

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practice areas are estate planning, includingwills and trusts, charitable and gift planning,elder law, and estate and trust administration,as well as helping clients form businessentities such as corporations and LLCs, busi-ness and real estate transactions, and businesssuccession planning.

“It’s a feeling of satisfaction when youcan help people,” Davis says. “That’s one ofthe reasons I went into law. People getexcited about saving money or taxes fortheir heirs and I get a kick out of that, too.”

Estate planning involves wills; trusts ofall kinds, including revocable and irrevocable,testamentary and living; general durablepowers of attorney and durable healthcarepowers of attorney; asset protection planning;

special needs trusts for underage and inca-pacitated individuals; charitable gift planning;foundations; life insurance planning; taxreduction strategies including federal estatetax planning; and nursing home and Medicaideligibility planning.

“Estate planning addresses what happensto a client’s assets when they die or becomeincapacitated or ill and can’t manage theirmoney or assets,” Davis says. “It addresseswho will take care of them. Wills are thestarting point. But for those with larger,complicated estates, they may graduate froma will to a trust. There are many types oftrusts in a lawyer’s toolbox.”

Davis says that some people mistakenlyassume estate planning is only for the very

wealthy. In truth, anyone with a family, ahome, and/or any kind of financial assetsshould have an estate plan. When doneproperly, an estate plan can help individualsresolve everything from designating aguardian for children to passing on a family-owned small business and mitigating intra-family conflicts.

Davis’ areas of expertise also includeestate administration, or the process of col-lecting and managing one’s estate, payingdebts and taxes, and distributing theremaining property to the heirs of the estate,as well as business succession planning.This sort of planning is for small or family-owned businesses of all types, especiallyentrepreneurial businesses.

“So often, when the founder dies orretires, the business is unable to survive,”Davis says. “This outcome can be avoidedwith careful planning. We help the businessto survive and thrive over multiple generationsby use of shareholder and buy-sell agree-ments, employment agreements, incentiveprograms for successors, identifying triggeringevents, and helping the client to deal withthe same in the most effective and efficientmanner. My job is to protect the retiringfounder while incentivizing the futureowners.”

Davis also focuses on elder law, dealingwith the myriad of issues that affect theaging population. This area of law helpsprepare the elderly person and his or her

spouse for financial freedom through properfinancial planning and long-term care options.

“Seniors should be thinking about retire-ment homes and, potentially, nursing homes,”Davis says. “We try to qualify people forMedicaid and preserve an inheritance fortheir children and grandchildren. We helpclients maximize their retirement assets andSocial Security benefits. You can’t do elderlaw planning in a vacuum. You must includeincome and asset planning.”

Davis received his law degree from Vil-lanova University School of Law in 1980.He was associate editor of the VillanovaLaw Review, in which he had both a com-ment and a case note published. Prior tojoining Drake, Hileman & Davis, he workedas a senior associate in Mellon Bank’s legaldepartment, where he drafted commercialand consumer loan documents for usethroughout the Commonwealth. Earlier hewas an associate with the Philadelphia lawfirm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, serving inthe banking, bankruptcy, and corporatedepartments.

Now, 34 years after Davis joined thefirm, his son, Raymond, has joined Drake,Hileman & Davis as an associate after workingthere as a part-time law clerk for four years.Raymond is also a trained fine artist, sharinghis father’s love for art.

“I’m mentoring my son to take overmy practice someday,” Davis says. “Hegrew up knowing about the firm because Italked about it daily. He understands thepractice and our clients. His personality isa lot like mine. We both like helping people.He worked with me for four summersduring college and law school, learningthe ropes before he became a lawyer. Heknows how to draft wills and trusts. He’sbeen a perfect fit.”

Although he has begun planning for thefirm’s future, Davis has no intention of goinganywhere anytime soon. He still derivesgreat pleasure from helping clients managetheir lives.

“Helping people, and seeing them realizethey’ve been helped, is very satisfying,” hesays. “And knowing we not only helpedmake their life easier, but also established abetter future for their children and grand-children, and provided for charities theycare about is an indescribable feeling.” ■

Thirty-four years after Davis joined the firm, his son, Raymond, has joined Drake, Hileman & Davis as an associate. “He’s been a perfect fit,” Davis says of his son.

SUBURBANLIFEMAGAZINE.COM|19NOVEMBER 2020

D For more information onthe law firm of Drake, Hileman & Davis, P.C., including addresses for its offices in Allentown,Bethlehem, Doylestown,Easton, and Stroudsburg,call (215) 348-2088 orvisit www.dhdlaw.com.

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