A Bilingual Spanish Speaking Attorney Joins Our Charlotte Office

A long-term care crisis can erase decades of savings in a shockingly short time, and most families do not realize it until they are already in the middle of it. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Anthony Robreno, a new attorney in our Charlotte office, and talk about what proactive elder law and estate planning actually look like when you’re trying to protect a home, property, and the future you built.

Anthony shares his path from South Florida and his Cuban heritage to Wake Forest University and then the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, where he served as a prosecutor. He explains what that work taught him about being reactive after tragedy, and why he chose elder law as a way to help families earlier, before “the worst day” forces rushed decisions. We dig into the real-world value of planning tools like powers of attorney and other core estate planning documents that help you stay in control, protect your choices, and reduce stress on the people you love.

We also talk about the financial reality behind Medicaid planning and long-term care planning, and why so many families unintentionally sacrifice the chance to pass down assets simply because they waited too long to plan. If you’re looking for a bilingual Spanish-speaking attorney in Charlotte, or you want clearer next steps for protecting your legacy, this conversation is a strong place to start.

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Transcript

Welcome And New Attorney Announcement

Greg McIntyre 0:02

I am extremely proud to be sitting here and announce a new attorney in our Charlotte office. Not a new attorney, but one newer to our firm in our Charlotte office, Antony Robreño. Antony has been with us for a minute now and been training in our office and really working with our team and our clients. And just the caliber of Antony as an attorney humbles me, and I'm proud to be able to work with him. Antony h ails h is a graduate from Wake Forest University and also is a former prosecutor with the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office. We're just very pleased and privileged to have Antony Robreño in our firm. Antony has a ton of different attributes. He's not like me who just speaks English and a southern, distorted, contorted version of that. He speaks uh English and fluent Spanish as well. Um, so he can uh, you know, he has two tongues, right? Um and I only have one. So, you know, Antony, I would turn it over to you. Um tell us a little bit about yourself and uh what brought you to McIntyre Elder All and how you plan to serve your clients.

Antony Robreño 1:31

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate

Anthony’s Background And Why He Serves

Antony Robreño 1:33

it, Greg. So um did a great job of kind of getting the high points, you know, where I came from, where I went to law school, that stuff. I'm originally from South Florida, uh Cuban heritage, that's where the Spanish comes into play. And really the biggest thing that I wanted to do when I decided to become a lawyer is to help people. Um, that's really the core belief for me. That's my core value, and that's what I want to get out of my legal career. And I was definitely doing that over at the DA's office, you know, helping victims of crimes, you know, get the justice for what they've suffered, you know, get the retribution for, you know, having sometimes very horrible crimes committed against them. But I felt that it was a little, you know, we're being reactive, you know, once these individuals come to you, you know, the worst day of their life has already happened. They've had to undergo this trauma, they've had to deal with this, and you're just kind of trying to pick up the pieces. Whereas here, I think in Elder Law, you have a great opportunity

Leaving Prosecution For Prevention

Antony Robreño 2:25

to prevent a lot of the heartache that comes with, you know, end of life and you know, dealing with things such as having to, you know, go to probing, stuff like that, get people's futures, you know, avoid having to lose your home, property, assets to having to pay back Medicaid if, you know, long-term care is something that you or your family has to deal with. Getting that in place to protect, you know, people's assets, people's estates, everything that they've worked hard for over the last however many years it is, and not have to lose that at the end of life. I really think that that's a very noble cause. You know, I mean, I my grandparents came over from Cuba, they lost everything, you know, they had to leave their home country, not really knowing how to speak English, and come over here with whatever they had and start anew. And I've seen them, you know, build up their livelihood, build up their assets, build up everything. And, you know, they luckily have listened to reason from myself and have gotten their estate plan figured out. So, you know, seeing the hard work that they've put in, understanding that, you know, so many individuals put in that hard work, being able to help them protect their livelihood, protect their assets, I feel like that's a very noble cause. And I'm glad to be able to help them with that here at McIntyre. That is such a strong story that, you know, so many people, including, as you've said, your

Passing Down Assets Without Heartache

Antony Robreño 3:41

parents, work their whole lives to build something, you know, from where they start from. Could be from nothing, some of us are different positions, but you know, such an opportunity to build things during our lives and to try to hand that down, which is really part of the makeup and the constitution of the the foundation of our country is to be able to pass along what you own, property, real estate, other things to the people that you want to have them, to your children. Absolutely. And I mean, that's part of the fabric of our constitution and the makeup of our country. And so many people lose that or give up that right, don't exercise that right by not engaging in estate planning or considering that long-term care costs so much disproportionately than what people make during their lives and are able to accumulate and save, that they sacrifice it and they aren't able to pass it down. Right. So part of our foundation and what we do is helping everyone have the most opportunities, expand their opportunities to pay for long-term care, to save assets, uh, make smart decisions tax-wise when transferring assets and keep what's theirs and then pass it along. I mean, you know, to build generation after generation and to take care of themselves. So many people sacrifice and don't understand that simply putting in place power as an attorney really exercises taking care of themselves during their life as well. And it's it really is as much about taking care of yourself during your life as afterwards. Um, so that's a great discussion, and that's a deep rabbit hole, which I'm sure Antony and I will go down many times in the future, both in private as well as uh uh, you know, publishing articles and videos uh to um any potential clients and clients out there. Um Antony, I am proud to have you on with our firm, and I'm glad you're here. Um if you would like to meet Antony Robreño,

How To Meet Antony

Greg McIntyre 6:01

um, you can give us a call at the at the office uh 1-888-999-6600, or you can schedule directly on his calendar or any of our attorney's calendars by going to mcelderlaw.com/ scheduling and look for Anthony uh to come do uh some seminars as well as you know other educational events, both in English and Spanish in the future. Um and uh, you know, just proud to have this just brilliant young attorney with us. Um and I can't wait for wait to wait for you to meet him. So thank you, Antony. Thank you. All right.