How we work - what to expectWe've been doing wills and trusts for 29 years. One thing, more or less. So we created a comfortable place to deliver wills and trusts in Plain English. We aim to:
Note: COVID-19: The following describes the process we followed until Covid 19. We hope to get back to that someday soon. For now, we do the first meeting via Zoom, then review the documents with you over Zoom, and then sign the documents in person, about 3-4 weeks after our first Zoom meeting.
At the heart of this process is communication We need both (1) uninterrupted time and (2) applied focus between you and me. During this 1 hour or so, we touch on several topics. This discussion is central to estate planning.
All meetings are with an experienced estate attorney. And, it is:
Conference room: No phones or computers
The initial meeting has two primary purposes
We charge $150 for this session. We charge for three reasons.
[We credit this amount against the total charge if you decide to work with us within a week of the session.] In summary, I'll assess your personal and financial situation and outline your estate planning choices. Our approach to ongoing communication If we decide to work together, you'll sign documents about 3-4 weeks after the meeting. But we continue to communicate with clients after that. For many years, we’ve updated our clients twice a year by a reminder letter. That letter/memo mentions significant law changes and also reminds people of life events that can affect their estate planning. Clients appreciate this approach, and we are proud of it. There is no charge for it. When was the last time your estate planning attorney communicated with you? For almost all clients, it is a new experience. Post-Death Administration When a person passes, and there's a will involved, it goes through the probate court process. If a trust is involved, we call it post-death administration. We call it all post-death administration. This is because most post-death engagements involve dealing with several different types of assets, including real estate, retirement accounts, life insurance, pensions, and other property. We do this type of work also. And have handled over 190 post-death matters. |