Preparing for Your Initial Estate Planning Consultation

     You should receive a welcome packet from our office prior to your initial consultation. Included in this packet is an Estate Planning Organizer designed to help focus your thoughts on the planning process and to help us gather important information about you and your circumstances. Please take the time to review the packet and complete the Organizer as best you can, and please bring the Organizer with you to your appointment.

     You may 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. If you need to reschedule your appointment, please contact us immediately so that we may rearrange our schedule and perhaps make an appointment more convenient for another client.

     There is no need to go on a "treasure hunt" at this point for financial or legal documents, stock certificates, or insurance policies.  Please do not procrastinate because you cannot locate, or do not have time to locate, all of these documents. You will not need them until we are well into the estate planning process. Instead, spend the time before your appointment contemplating the Three P's of Estate Planning.

Understanding the Three P's of Estate Planning

• #1 — People
       Who are the Important People in your life?
       Beginning with yourself, they also likely include your loved ones: your spouse if you are married, children and grandchildren if you have any, perhaps your parents, siblings, or other relatives. Beyond these, however, "Important People" also could include charities, special causes, colleges or universities, or churches to which you are committed. For some, "Important People" include pets. Spend some time thinking about the impact others have had on your life, and consider how they would be impacted if something were to happen to you. Make a list and jot notes if you like. This is where the planning process truly begins.
• #2 — Property
       By Property we mean your assets in general. Your Estate Planning Organizer will take you through various categories of property and ask you for some specific information about each of your assets. Please complete the Organizer as best you can and collect the documents referred to in the Organizer. Clients are often surprised at how much they own, because many of their assets, such as life insurance policies, may not contribute to their standards of living during their lifetimes—yet they are important assets that must be taken into account in any estate plan. At the same time, clients sometimes feel that they do not own “enough” to warrant an estate plan. What happens to your assets will make a difference to you in the event of disability, and to your Important People in the event of your disability or death. Estate Planning is almost always a worthwhile endeavor for anyone who owns anything.
• #3 — Plans
       After identifying your Important People and taking stock of your Property, the next step is to consider the plans you would make for those people (including yourself) and that 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 health care decisions?
  • Who would care for your minor children?
  • How would you distribute your assets to your Important People?
  • Would you prefer to avoid the cost and hassles of going to court?
  • Would you like to minimize the impact of estate taxes or maximize the impact of a charitable bequest?
  • 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?

     We will assist you in answering these kinds of questions and developing a plan that truly works for you. Once your plan is in place, we will help you implement it and keep it up to date.