By now you have seen that we are different than your typical lawyer and our process is a bit different too. We have three options for your next step:
You can schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation to learn more about us and get a few preliminary questions answered.
You can schedule your Life & Legacy Planning Session and complete the pre-session questionnaire so that you come in prepared to be educated, informed and make empowered decisions for the people you love.
You can schedule an Estate Plan Checkup and Review if you have an existing plan so that you can get educated on whether your existing plan still works for your family or you have gaps that you must fill to get the peace of mind that your family is covered.
The Life & Legacy Planning Session
We block two hours on our calendar for your Life & Legacy Planning Session so that we can focus entirely on you and your family needs. The fee for this meeting is $750 (for an Estate Plan Checkup and Review, the fee is $950), but we have built in ways to get this fee waived. In advance of the meeting, we will send you an online Inventory and Assessment Questionnaire to review and complete. If you would like us to waive the Planning Session fee, you need to complete the questionnaire and submit it to us at least 48 hours PRIOR to our meeting. This helps you begin getting your legal and financial life in order and helps us prepare ahead of time so we can hit the ground running at the meeting.
During the first hour we will guide you to review everything you own, everyone you love, and what will happen to all of it when something happens to you. We talk about what matters most to you, what are your biggest concerns, and what would help you feel the most secure for the care of your loved ones in the future. If you decide to move forward at this point and engage our firm, then we immediately start designing the most effective and affordable plan for you, together. When you leave at the end of the meeting, you will have a clear idea of what your plan will look like and how it will be structured. And before you leave, we will schedule the next meeting for about a month later for you to sign your plan.
How to WAIVE the Planning Session fee:
We encourage you to complete the Inventory and Assessment Questionnaire ahead of time because it saves you money and it saves us time! If you prefer not to submit the questionnaire ahead of time, you are welcome to pay for the Life & Legacy Planning Session and we will credit the Planning Session fee to any additional work we do after the Planning Session. We require a credit card to hold your appointment slot. Nothing will be charged except in case of last-minute cancellations, no-shows, or if you choose not to complete your inventory and assessment prior to the meeting.
Our estate planning process is broken down into three specific meetings: 1 – Life & Legacy Planning Session, 2 – The Signing Ceremony, 3 – The Binder Meeting. Each of these is described below and planned out to have your entire plan completed within two months – from our initial session to the delivery of your plan.
The Signing Ceremony
At your Signing Ceremony, we will review your documents with you in a way that makes your plan easy to understand and shows exactly the way you want things to happen if and when something happens to you. Once you sign your estate plan –
your assets and your family are protected!
Since we are not a traditional law firm, we see this as the planning phase and only the beginning of our relationship. Where other lawyers may send you on your way with your final binder, we schedule one more meeting as part of your initial planning.
The Binder Delivery Meeting
The next step of the process is to verify all your assets are transferred and held in the appropriate title for your plan. Depending on the type of plan you chose, either you will be doing the transfers with our guidance or you will have hired our firm to transfer the assets for you. During the meeting, we will review your asset spreadsheet and make sure all your questions are answered to make sure that your assets are documented and titled appropriately.
The Maintenance Phase
At no additional charge, we will meet with you to review your estate plan at least every three years to ensure that any changes in the law and other issues that may affect your family and your wealth can be taken into account.
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