our process

Our estate planning process is specifically designed to make the process of starting and completing an estate plan simple for our clients.

Prepare

We don’t require that you fill out or gather any paperwork prior to our initial meeting. However, there are certain matters we ask you to put some thought into in order for the meeting to be most productive. For more information, please refer to this sheet entitled Preparing for the Estate Planning Consultation.

Plan

At the estate planning consultation, we will discuss your specific estate planning needs and goals. Questions are answered, pertinent information is gathered and exact fees are provided. There is no obligation to proceed at the conclusion of this meeting. Clients wishing to proceed will be asked to sign a fee agreement and documents will be ready for signing in approximately 1-2 weeks time. This meeting is complimentary and lasts no more than one hour. Married couples must attend this appointment together.

Sign

At the signing appointment the legal documents are printed and ready for signature. Each document will be reviewed at this time. You will sign the documents and we will notarize them for you. This appointment lasts approximately 1.5 hours. Payment in full is required. If a signing appointment is not practical due to distance, we can send the printed documents to you with detailed instructions for signing. We can do a virtual delivery via Zoom to review the documents.

Fund

After signing your documents, your trust must be funded in order to be effective. This is VERY important! Assets will need to be transferred to the trust. We will assist you with the funding process but some of these steps can only be done by you. We provide detailed funding instructions to assist you.

Review

We encourage our clients to review their estate plan annually and anytime you have a major life change – birth, death, divorce, retirement etc. Laws change, as do life circumstances, and you want to ensure that your plan will work how and when you want it to.

To learn more about the estate planning process and how to get started on your estate plan, contact us today.