Our Process

We do not view estate planning as a transaction, but rather as an ongoing process. We want to have a relationship with our clients. We are not lawyers who hand you a will, charge $200, shake your hand and close the door.

We take the time to get to know you, listen to your concerns, and design a plan that achieves your goals. Then we ensure that your plan remains current with our Client Maintenance Program.

We are not selling a document. We provide peace of mind by way of a comprehensive plan that protects you, your family, and your assets from a variety of ills that come from being unprepared.

Our Process

We have a seven-step process that we follow in preparing estate plans for our clients:

1. When you make an appointment to come in and discuss estate planning, we will send you our questionnaire to fill out and return before our meeting. The questionnaire asks for information about your family, your concerns, and your assets. Having an idea of your situation allows us to be better prepared for our first meeting, so we can use the time more efficiently.

2. We schedule two hours for our initial, complimentary meeting. During this meeting, we get to know each other and determine what your needs are. At that point, we will tell you what we can do for you and we quote our fee. We collect full payment of our fee before moving on to the next step: designing your plan.

3. If the initial meeting has run the full two hours, or if your situation raises issues that either we or you need more time to think about, we will schedule a second meeting to design the plan. Otherwise, if there is still time, we can move on to designing the plan right away. Our questionnaire has a section on designing the plan, so you can look at that for issues you will need to consider. Probably you will need to discuss many of these issues with us before making a decision about what you want. One in particular that we raise here is the matter of trustees after both your and your spouse's deaths. Your trustee will be the one carrying out your instructions, possibly with respect to the care of your children and their inheritance, so this issue requires special attention.

4. Once we have the design, we draft the plan and all related documents. There is not much to see here, except for the spinning wheels inside our heads.

5. When your plan documents are prepared and hot off the printer, we meet again to sign them all. Often we will keep the signed documents to make copies, rather than keeping you waiting. If you have a living trust-based plan, which is very likely, we will proceed to the next step.

6. We schedule a follow-up meeting a month later to confirm you have re-titled your assets in the name of your trust. At that meeting, we will give you your original signed documents.

7. You've been having so much fun. You don't want it to end. Good news: we have a Client Maintenance Program. Click here to learn about it.