Preparing for your initial consultation

If you will be meeting with us to discuss matters other than estate planning, we will advise you what you will need to bring with you to your initial meeting.

If you will be meeting with us concerning your estate plan, then you should continue reading below to familiarize yourself with our process. Keep in mind that we offer a free initial consultation to all of our new estate planning clients to assure that our firm is a good fit for you.

Step One: Appointment

Please call us or contact us via this site to schedule your initial meeting. Plan on spending at least an hour with us to discuss your estate plan and how we can assist you. If you choose to work with us, the meeting will continue for up to another hour. We may need to meet with you again, if necessary to further design your estate plan, although subsequent meetings at this stage are not common.

Step Two: Meeting

Most importantly, you will need to consider who are the most important people in your life. They likely include your loved ones such as your spouse, children and grandchildren, perhaps your parents, siblings or other relatives. Beyond that, however, important people also could include charities, special causes, college or universities, or churches to which you are committed. For some, important people could even include pets. Spend some time thinking about the impact others have had on your life. Make a list and jot notes if you like. This is where the planning process begins.

Step Three: Property-Your Assets in General

You will receive a welcome kit from our office prior to your initial consultation. Included in this kit is a short questionnaire designed to help focus your thoughts and your concerns on the planning process, and a personal survey to help us gather important facts, about you and your immediate family, and about the assets you own. Please take the time to review these documents, complete them, and bring them with you to your appointment.

There will be no need to go on a "treasure hunt" at this point for financial or legal documents, stock certificates or insurance policies. Sometimes we find clients procrastinate in getting their planning done because they cannot locate, or do not have time to locate, all of these documents. These documents will not be needed until we begin the funding process....which is one of the last steps in the process!

Step Four: Plans

After identifying the important people in your life and your property, the next step is to consider the plans you would make for those people (including yourself) and your property in the event of your own incapacity or death.

• Who would you name to make decisions for you if you could no longer do so yourself?
• Would the same person handle your finances and your personal and healthcare decisions?
• Who would care for your minor children?
• How would you distribute your assets to your beneficiaries?
• Would you prefer to spare your heirs the cost and hassles of the probate process?
• Would you like to minimize the impact of estate taxes or maximize the impact charitable bequests?
• Is there someone in your family with special needs for whom you would like to provide?
• Is there someone who perhaps should not receive a great deal of money without some outside oversight?

Step Five: Meeting

Expect to receive a reminder phone call from our office the day before your appointment. This is simply to confirm the time and date of the appointment and to ensure that you are still planning to attend. If you need to reschedule your appointment, please contact us immediately so we may rearrange our schedule and perhaps make an appointment more convenient for another client.

At the conclusion of the first meeting, if you have decided to go forward with an estate plan, you will be asked to sign a retainer agreement, and pay one-half of the fee. A second meeting will be scheduled, at which time we will review all of your estate planning documents with you and have them fully executed. Additional meetings or telephone conferences may be scheduled to complete your estate planning process.