For Professional Advisors

The Estate Planning Team

     As an estate planning law firm, we work closely with other Professional Advisors, including Certified Financial Planner Practitioners™, Investment Advisors, Financial Consultants, Insurance Professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and Tax Advisors. We believe the team approach provides our clients with the most sophisticated, comprehensive, and effective estate planning possible. To that end, we encourage our clients to invite their Professional Advisors into the estate planning process.

The Process

• Step One: The Initial Consultation and Designing the Plan
       We offer all prospective clients a complimentary initial consultation. With the clients' permission, we encourage their Professional Advisors to attend this initial consultation as well. If this cannot be arranged, we will ask the clients' permission to discuss their estate planning with their Professional Advisors afterward.
       During this first meeting, we will spend approximately an hour with our prospective clients. After coming to an understanding of the clients' needs, plans and goals, we will generally make some estate planning recommendations. If the situation is particularly complex, we may suggest a follow-up meeting to present a summary and specific recommendations.
       After making our recommendations, we will quote a flat fee for design, drafting, and implementation of the plan. The clients then may choose to engage our firm by signing an engagement letter and making a 50 percent deposit; or they may choose to take some time to reflect before moving ahead. If the clients engage us, we will spend further time with them in designing their estate plans.
• Step Two: Reviewing the Documents
       Our standard practice is to send drafts of documents to our clients and then meet with them a week or two later to discuss the specifics of the documents and how those documents fit into the clients’ overall estate plans. At that meeting, we will set the appointment to sign the documents.
• Step Three: Signing the Documents
       The signing meeting may take some time, as there usually many documents to sign, and clients inevitably have a list of questions for us.  This meeting is also the beginning of the funding process (i.e., the process of changing title to assets in order to carry out an estate plan).  We provide detailed instructions to enable our clients to do most of the work of funding their estate plans, but we are always available to answer questions and to provide whatever assistance the clients request.  Professional Advisors often have an important role in the funding process.
• Step Four: Follow Up
       The signing of the documents is not the end of the Estate Planning Process. Plans must be funded, and they must be kept up to date. In addition to our ongoing availability to assist and answer questions, each of our clients will receive a subscription to Pocket Watch®, our estate planning newsletter. Through the newsletter we attempt to keep our clients informed of matters that could affect their planning, and to help them maintain an awareness of their estate planning goals. In this manner, we hope to ensure that our clients' plans are never out of step with their current needs and goals.

Resources

• Client Education
       Please visit our Resource Center for an online library of articles on issues related to estate planning. We have posted a number of articles that are helpful to individuals and that may be suitable for Professional Advisors to use as hand-outs.
• Joint Marketing
       We will work with Professional Advisors in reaching individuals in need of estate planning. We will also provide educational workshops for existing clients on issues that impact their current estate plans. Please call us if you would like to plan a workshop.