Lisa McGraw, Esq.

Personal Introduction

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point with my undergraduate degree, then from the University of Cincinnati with my master’s degree, and finally Concord Law School. I am a member of the California State Bar and the Wisconsin State Bar. I’m originally from Wisconsin and now divide my time between living in Hawaii and the mainland with my husband and son. After graduating law school and having a child, I was searching for an area of law I was passionate about and made a positive impact for my clients. My husband and I always said we needed to create an estate plan but never took the time to do it. After we had our son, I felt more pressure to get our own plan in place and I simply thought, “I can just write our own, it will be no big deal.” Then I took a hard look into this area of the law and learned how incredibly important having an estate plan is for my family and how important having a guardianship plan is for our son. It became a priority to have the correct documents in place should something happen to myself or my husband, especially as no other family lives nearby. I wanted my son to stay with the people that I chose and he was familiar with until his permanent guardians could make the trip to Hawaii to get him. Once I started focusing on this area of the law, the more excited I became. I knew I had to educate everyone on the importance of estate planning. I believe many young adults and families think they don't need estate planning. I was just like you, I thought estate planning was something our grandparents or parents did because they were older and had assets to leave behind. However, this is not the case. If given the option, most parents would prefer to have a plan in place for their little ones and be a part of the decision-making process. I am here to simplify that process for you, to educate you and walk you through the various options, and to empower you to make sure that you’ve done everything you can to protect and plan for your loved ones if you are no longer able to do so. Estate planning is so much more than putting a set of documents in place. It is about planning for your family’s future and making sure that your loved ones are cared for. It’s about defining your legacy and how you want to be remembered. It’s about making sure assets go to the people in the manner that you want them distributed. It’s about minimizing transfer costs and ensuring that your family is not bogged down in the court system unnecessarily. It’s about making your wishes known, so that your family doesn’t end up in conflict - making things as straightforward and uncomplicated as possible for your family during a difficult time.