Firm’s Purpose

At its organizational roots, The Ventura Legacy Group, APC is an estate planning law firm; one that recognizes that estate planning has profound implications in the construct of people’s personal legacies. For this reason, The Ventura Legacy Group, APC was founded on the fundamental belief that estate planning lawyers can and should do more to help clients build better legacies. Unfortunately, estate planning is traditionally treated as isolated transactions that sporadically plan the transfer of property at death. This approach produces estate plans that are disconnected from a client’s evolving human experience; and as a result, clients seldom fully develop their desired legacies.

Estate Planning is a lifelong process that encompasses wealth planning not only at death, but also during life. It is a planning process for tangible wealth and intangible wealth – such as personal values, vision and purpose. Estate Planning is a process that is fused into the strategic planning levels of a legacy.

There seems to be no real consensus on the exact meaning of the word “legacy.” A “legacy” is a complex concept that takes on may interrelated interpretations. It is generally defined in dictionaries as a gift by will received from an ancestor or predecessor. The gift may be money, personal property, heirlooms, ideas, knowledge or wisdom. I personally define the word “legacy” as the embodiment of a person’s enduring process of creating and sharing tangible and intangible wealth, while living and beyond. Conscious of it or not, we are all continuously building our own personal legacy. Building a legacy is a permanent and ongoing process being shaped by our thoughts, our values, our attitudes, our decisions, our actions, lifestyle choices, and our contributions to the growth of ourselves, others and the world.

I coined the term “Fulfilling Legacy” to define the type of legacy that leads its creator to live life with a higher sense of purpose and well-being – to live a more satisfying life. Ultimately, a Fulfilling Legacy enables a person to live the life which I believe most people fundamentally aspire to live.

While the composition of a Fulfilling Legacy can differ significantly among individuals, the strategic vision is the same in all cases: to live both a happier and a more meaningful life. I believe a happier life stems from satisfying personal needs and desires. These include biological and physiological needs; the need for safety; and desires for acceptance, belonging, achievement and independence. Generally, it is the tangible and intangible wealth we create throughout the course of our lives that determines how well we are able to satisfy our personal needs and desires. Consequently, I recognize that when I help clients develop and grow their tangible and intangible wealth throughout their Estate Planning process, I am also helping them attain the means to better satisfy their personal needs and potentially live happier and more satisfying lives.

When I help clients share their wealth throughout their Estate Planning process, I recognize that I can also help enhance their potential to live more meaningful lives. While happiness concerns itself primarily with satisfying the self, meaningfulness has a deeper sense of joy and significance that involves doing things in the service of someone or something other than the self. We attain a more meaningful life by positively impacting or improving the lives of others – not by pursuing selfish endeavors. When guiding clients on how to share their material and immaterial riches, I focus on discovering and furthering the type of impact they genuinely wish to make – while living and beyond. Whether it be deepening family unity, improving relations with business partners or employees, passing down sentimental assets or family values to succeeding generations, pursuing new business ventures, keeping the family business operating within the family, or benefiting charitable causes; my primary goal when helping clients plan the transfer of their wealth is the same: move them closer to the attainment of a Fulfilling Legacy by ensuring their tangible and intangible wealth influence the world in a manner that is meaningful to them.

A Fulfilling Legacy is a Legacy that leads its creator to a more enjoyable and satisfying life. We can build a Fulfilling Legacy by creating the tangible and intangible riches necessary to satisfy our subjective personal needs and desires, and by willingly sharing those riches for the constructive benefit of others. Building a Fulfilling Legacy entails expanding one’s knowledge about the human condition, about how it comes about, which factors shape it, and for what it ultimately strives. While continuing to develop a better understanding of these subjects, I endeavor to provide services with the underlying purpose of helping my clients build Fulfilling Legacies – because I believe that is ultimately how I can make the most significant impact in their lives.

Frank Corral