Preparing for Your

Initial Estate Planning Consultation

Your Initial Estate Planning Consultation is an opportunity to meet with one of our estate planning attorneys, discuss your family and financial circumstances, and begin developing an estate plan tailored to your goals and needs.

Providing us with information about your family, assets, and planning objectives in advance allows the attorney to prepare for your meeting and make your consultation as focused and productive as possible.

Before Your ConSULTATION

Please complete our Estate Planning Questionnaire before your consultation.

The questionnaire provides us with important information about your family, assets, professional advisors, and estate planning goals. Having this information in advance allows the attorney to review your circumstances before you meet and devote more of your consultation to discussing your goals and recommendations.

Why We Ask for THIS Information

Estate planning involves more than preparing documents. How your assets are owned, who is named as a beneficiary, your family circumstances, and your goals for the future all play a role in determining the estate plan that is appropriate for you.

Having complete and current information allows the attorney to:

  • Understand your family and financial circumstances;

  • Discuss how and to whom you would like your assets to pass;

  • Identify the estate planning documents appropriate for your circumstances;

  • Consider opportunities to minimize probate, taxes, or future administrative burdens;

  • Discuss appropriate individuals to act on your behalf in the event of your incapacity or death; and

  • Develop recommendations tailored to your particular goals and needs.

You do not need to know what type of estate plan you need before your consultation. Determining the appropriate plan is part of the process.

Providing Your Asset Information

The Estate Planning Questionnaire asks for a general overview of your assets, including real estate, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, business interests, and other significant assets.

If you work with a financial advisor, you may provide a current asset statement or balance sheet prepared by your advisor, or ask your advisor to provide it directly to our office.

If your advisor provides this information, please still complete the portions of the Estate Planning Questionnaire relating to assets your advisor does not manage or may not have information about, such as real estate, bank accounts, life insurance, or other assets.

The purpose of the questionnaire is to give the attorney a sufficiently complete picture of your assets to identify the estate planning considerations that may apply to you.

What To Expect

  • Before the ConferencE—The attorney will review your completed Estate Planning Questionnaire and any other information you provide in advance so that they have an understanding of your family, assets, and circumstances before you meet.

    Please submit your Estate Planning Questionnaire sufficiently in advance of your appointment to allow time for review.

    If we do not receive your completed questionnaire with sufficient time for the attorney to review it, your consultation may need to focus primarily on gathering background information and discussing your circumstances generally. An additional conference may then be necessary to fully address your estate planning objectives, and that additional conference may be billed at the attorney's applicable hourly rate.

  • During the Conference—Your attorney will discuss your family circumstances, assets, estate planning goals, and any particular concerns or questions you may have.

    Depending upon your circumstances, the discussion may include:

    • How and to whom you would like your assets to pass;

    • Who should serve as your Executor, Trustee, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Representative;

    • Whether a Will-based or Revocable Trust-based estate plan is appropriate;

    • Probate avoidance;

    • Asset titling and beneficiary designations;

    • Planning for minor children or other beneficiaries who may benefit from assets being held in trust;

    • Incapacity planning, including Powers of Attorney and Health Care Instructions; and

    • Other estate, tax, or administrative considerations relevant to your circumstances.

    By the conclusion of the consultation, the attorney will generally be able to recommend an estate planning structure and the documents appropriate for your circumstances.

  • After the Consultation—Following your consultation, we will generally provide an engagement letter outlining the recommended estate planning documents and the associated fee.

    If you decide to proceed, substantive drafting will begin after we receive the signed engagement letter and payment of the quoted fee.

    Once your drafts are ready, we will provide them to you for review together with a cover letter summarizing the document. When appropriate, we will also prepare recommendations regarding the ownership of your assets and beneficiary designations so that those arrangements work together with your estate planning documents.

    After you have reviewed the drafts and any questions or revisions have been addressed, we will schedule a conference to formally execute your estate planning documents.

Your initial consultation is complimentary

There is no charge for your Initial Estate Planning Consultation when the purpose of the meeting is to discuss the creation of a new estate plan and you do not currently have estate planning documents in place.

The complimentary consultation allows the attorney to learn about your circumstances and objectives, discuss the estate planning options appropriate for you, and recommend a proposed plan. Based upon that discussion, we will generally be able to provide you with a fee for preparing the recommended estate planning documents.

If You Already Have Estate Planning Documents

If you already have a Will, Trust, or other estate planning documents and are seeking advice regarding, or changes to, your existing estate plan, your appointment should instead be scheduled as an Estate Planning Review & Update Conference. Review & Update Conferences require the attorney and our estate planning team to review your existing documents and current circumstances and are therefore billed at our applicable hourly rates.

Please contact us before your appointment if you have existing estate planning documents so that we can make sure you are scheduled for the appropriate type of conference and provide you with the applicable preparation instructions.

Matters outside the initial estate planning consultation

Your complimentary consultation is intended to discuss the creation of your new estate plan.

We are happy to discuss whether our firm can assist you with other legal needs; however, substantive legal advice or guidance regarding matters outside the scope of creating your estate plan may be billed separately at the applicable hourly rate.

This may include, for example, advice concerning:

  • Long-term care or Medicaid asset-protection planning;

  • Business or succession planning;

  • Estate administration;

  • Trust administration; or

  • Other legal matters requiring separate analysis or advice.

If a separate engagement or additional conference is appropriate, the attorney can discuss that with you.

Making the Most of Your Conference

You do not need to have all of your estate planning decisions made before your meeting. The purpose of the consultation is to help you understand your options and determine the plan that is appropriate for you.

We encourage clients to be informed and engaged in the estate planning process. However, we recommend caution when relying on general internet resources, artificial intelligence tools, or other materials that are not tailored to your particular circumstances or applicable state law. Estate planning is highly fact-specific, and strategies that may be appropriate for one person may be unnecessary or unsuitable for another. Extensive research into techniques that do not apply to your situation can sometimes create confusion and require additional conference time, billed at our regular hourly rates, to explain why a particular strategy may not be appropriate. We are always happy to answer your questions, but the most productive approach is often to share your goals and concerns with us and allow us to recommend the planning tools best suited to you.

What is most helpful is providing complete information about your family and assets and thinking about your general goals, including who you would like to benefit from your estate and who you trust to act on your behalf if needed.

Providing this information in advance allows the attorney to spend more of your consultation discussing your goals, options, and recommendations, rather than gathering basic background information.

We look forward to meeting with you and helping you get started with your estate plan.