Estate Planning

Explaining to you how we?re different requires an explanation of what the ?traditional? experience with a lawyer is like. If you?ve worked with a lawyer to prepare estate planning documents for you in the past, this will sound familiar.

During the traditional experience, you?ll go in and meet with a lawyer who will oftentimes make things seem very complicated and confusing. You?ll have a good idea that the lawyer is smart and seems to know what she?s doing, so you?ll nod and answer questions, as if you understand everything. Because you want to do the right thing for your family, you?ll have the lawyer prepare documents for you and you?ll sign the documents, feeling relieved that you?ve got that taken care of.

You?ll take your fancy planning binder home, stick it on a shelf or in a drawer, mark estate planning off on your checklist as DONE and never think about it again.

You might remember your lawyer said something about moving your bank accounts into the trust. So you?ll go to the bank, forget what you were supposed to do, call your lawyer?s office, get a voicemail, have to leave the bank and wait for a call back, (which takes several hours at least and sometimes days) and by that time, you?ll have gotten busy with other things and never get around to moving that bank account.

A few weeks later, you?ll get a bill in the mail for $67.50 for 15 minutes of your lawyer?s time for answering a couple of questions. You?ll make a mental note ? don?t call lawyer ever again.

Several years later, you?ll refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust.

Your children will get older, making your guardianship choices outdated, but you don?t want to call your lawyer because you know you?ll get a bill in the mail two weeks later.

You?ll hear something about a change in the tax law, but you figure you?d surely get a letter in the mail from your lawyer if it was something that affected you, so you don?t worry about it. And, you?d have to dig through boxes to find your trust documents so you could remember your lawyer?s name and find her contact information. Who has time for that?