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 Est8Planning Essentials Workshop
       We invite all prospective clients and their professional advisors to attend one of our Est8Planning Essentials workshops. The two-hour workshops cover a variety of critical estate planning concepts. While we do not charge for attendance at the workshops, we do charge clients who decline to attend a workshop but wish to have a private consultation with us. Those charges are credited against the fees for creating estate plans for clients who retain us to take them through the Est8Planning Process.
• Step Two: The Vision Meeting
       At our Est8Planning Essentials workshops, we explain our fixed-fee charges for our services, and we give prospective clients an idea of how much they can expect their estate plans to cost. Upon request, we schedule Vision meetings with those individuals who want to take the next step with us. At the Vision meetings, we gather the information we need to propose estate plans and quote fees to prospective clients. Those clients who have attended a complimentary Est8Planning Essentials workshop will not be charged for their Vision meetings. During the Vision meetings, prospective clients are given the opportunity to retain our firm as their estate planning counsel. Those who opt to proceed with us then help us design their personally-tailored estate plans and are scheduled for the next step in the process.
• Step Three: The Signing Meeting
       Within three to four weeks after a Vision meeting (or sooner, if circumstances dictate-though there may be additional charges for "rush" engagements), the clients will return to our office to review and sign the documents that will implement their estate plans. As with the first two steps in the process, you are welcome to attend.
• Step Four: Implementation and Funding
       One or more further meetings may be needed to help clients make sure that their estate plans are fully implemented and funded. You can be an invaluable resource in that process, and at the same time educate your clients regarding the value you add to their overall estate and financial plans.
• Step Five: Review and Update
       A year after the Vision meeting, the clients are invited to return to our offices to update their estate plans. Some updates are necessitated by the passage of time, and others by changes in circumstances. Either way, we want to assist clients in knowing that their estate plans will work as intended in a moment of crisis when incapacity or worse comes to pass. There is a charge for the annual meetings, which may give rise to additional legal work, as well as product sales for advisors as needs are identified in the face of changing circumstances. In either case, the goal is to serve clients' needs and best interests.

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.