The Process

We know that beginning your estate plan is a big step. Our process is designed to ensure your confidence in the planning process each step of the way, and our planning process designed to be collaborative.

Every decision is carefully reviewed with you and yet the entire process stretches out only eight weeks. You can feel confident knowing that within two months of meeting with us, your family could be totally planned for, protected and not at risk of being stuck in court or conflict if something happens to you.

Your Initial Meeting: The Family Life and Legacy Planning Session

Our planning process begins with your Family Life and Legacy Planning Session, where we have the opportunity to meet each other and ensure that working together is a good fit.

This is your opportunity to get educated, informed, and fully empowered to make the right decisions for the people you love. During your Family Life and Legacy Planning Session, we will walk you through exactly what your loved ones would have to do and where your assets would go if something happened to you.

You will then be able to determine if there was anything about what would happen that you would not like and you will get clear on what you would want to happen instead.

If We Are a Good Fit...

Assuming there is a good fit between our firm and your family AND that you identify specific ways you would want things to happen that are different than what would currently happen if something happened to you, we can design a plan for your family right away.

By looking at what would happen under your current plan, you can identify what you would want to happen differently. With our guidance you can make the decisions necessary (including choosing your own fee) to give you the peace of mind of knowing your family will be taken care of and would stay out of court and out of conflict in the event something happens to you.

Once your plan has been designed to your satisfaction, we will meet again, about a month later, to sign your newly prepared estate plan. We have a process of reviewing the documents with you that makes your plan so easy to understand that you will know for certain that it can accomplish your goals. Once you sign your documents, your assets and your family are protected as discussed during your design meeting.

In Most Law Firms, the Relationship Ends There

We see the signing of your estate plan as the beginning of our relationship with your family. This is where our law firm is very different.

After you sign your estate plan, we don’t simply send you on your way and wish you luck for the future. Instead, we create an electronic record of all of your legal documents so you can easily access them anytime you need to in the future and then schedule our next meeting with you.

At this final meeting, one of the most important meetings of our process, we help you:

  • Ensure your assets are owned in the right way (you can have the best set of legal documents, but if your assets are not owned in the right way, it has all been a waste). We also verify that all your asset transfers are moving forward on schedule and we review your asset spreadsheet with you to ensure all of your questions are answered. Of course, if they are not, we are always available to answer your questions at any time in the future. There’s no charge for this additional service.
  • Make sure everyone you have named to take care of you, your children, and the money you are leaving behind knows just what to do if and when something happens. We send letters to all the important people you have named as health care agents, trustees and guardians letting them know just what to do if something happens to you – namely, call us, we’re here for your family!
  • Work with you to capture and plan for your intangible and most valuable assets: your values, insights, stories, and experiences that neither you nor your loved ones would ever want lost and ultimately passed to your heirs. We will guide you to pass on more than just your financial wealth. We will discuss issues such as who you are and what is most important to you, and other intangible, “spiritual” matters. We have developed a tool that helps you to pass on your intangible wealth right along with your financial wealth.

Ensuring Effectiveness!

After you take your estate planning binder home with you, the maintenance phase of your plan will begin. We meet with you at least every three years to review your plan and make sure it stays up to date because we know, that if regular reviews of your estate plan are not happening, then your set of documents is very unlikely to work when your family needs them.

Before Your Personal Consultation

You will receive our Family Life and Legacy Inventory and Assessment worksheet (also available below) and other important information that you will want to review prior to your consultation.  We ask that you complete and return your worksheet to our office at least three days prior to your Planning Session so that we have time to review your information and provide the most valuable counsel we can during your Planning Session.

Feel free to call us at any time if you need assistance completing your worksheet or have any questions whatsoever.

Downloads

What to Expect the Day of Your Meeting

Our initial meeting usually takes about two hours. This meeting serves two purposes:

  1. To identify whether there is a good fit between you and the attorney who will become your “counselor for life”.
  2. To educate you about the law and what would happen if you died with your current plan, or with no plan at all.

Assuming that you and your attorney determine that there is a good fit between our firm and your family AND that you can benefit from our services, you and your attorney can work together to design a plan for your family right away.

If you have any preliminary questions regarding wills and trusts, I invite you to watch our On-Demand Webinar.

You can also preliminarily assess your needs by taking our QUIZ