Living Trust Planning | Estate Planning Attorney

Tag: estate

  • Top 5 Questions to Consider Before Hiring a Lawyer for Your Estate Planning Needs

    Top 5 Questions to Consider Before Hiring a Lawyer for Your Estate Planning Needs

    I know discussing topics like death, incapacity, and other potentially frightening life events, with someone like me, an estate planning lawyer, may feel intimidating or even morbid. Take a deep breath and relax… it doesn’t have to and shouldn’t be that way.

    Hiring a lawyer to help you make wise decisions for life and death can be the most empowering choice you ever make for yourself and your loved ones. The way I explain it to my friends and family is, “estate planning isn’t about planning for your death, it’s about planning for your life.” So, with that frame in mind, let’s talk about how to choose an estate planning attorney, because we aren’t all cut from the same cloth.

    The right lawyer will be there for your family when you can’t be, so you want to understand who the lawyer is as a person, not just an attorney. Of course, you’ll also want to discover the services your lawyer offers and how they run their business.

    Here are five questions to ensure you don’t end up paying for legal services you don’t need, expect, or want. Once you know exactly what you should be looking for when choosing an estate planning lawyer, you’ll be much better positioned to hire an attorney that will provide the kind of love, attention, care, and trust your family deserves.

    01 | How Do They Bill For Their Services?

    Your first question to a lawyer may be, “how much does it cost?” But that’s typically only because you aren’t clear on what else to ask. So we’re going to give you an upgrade here.

    The first question to ask isn’t “how much does it cost,” but rather, “how do you bill for your services and how do you determine what to bill for your services?”

    The right lawyer for you will have a clear answer that helps you understand how they determine how much to charge you and how you’ll be charged. They’ll set clear boundaries and expectations around fees – so there are no surprises.

    When working with an estate planning lawyer, find a lawyer who bills for all their services on a flat-fee, no surprises, basis —and never hourly—unless a court requires it for limited “court-related” services.

    Your lawyer should determine the fees they charge you only after guiding you through a process of discovery in which they learn about your family dynamics and your assets and educate you about what would happen for your family and assets if and when something happens to you. Through that process, they will help you choose the right plan that meets your budget and desired outcomes.

    At my firm, all of our fees are a flat-fee, agreed to in advance, and you choose your fee through our Family Wealth Planning Session process, during which we educate you about the law, and you educate us about your family dynamics and assets. Then, you choose the right plan, at the right price, for the people you love.

    02 | How Will Your Lawyer Respond To Your Needs On An Ongoing Basis?

    One of people’s biggest complaints about working with lawyers is a lack of responsiveness. We’ve even heard of situations in which clients went weeks without getting a call back from their lawyer. It’s unfortunate, and yet it makes sense when a lawyer doesn’t have systems in place to ensure they can serve their existing clients and respond to the needs of past clients.

    So, to ensure your lawyer can be responsive to your needs, ask them how quickly calls are typically returned in their office and if someone will be on-hand to answer quick questions when and as needed.

    Ideally, all calls to your lawyer should be pre-scheduled with a clear agenda, so you both can be ready to focus on your specific needs.

    03 | How Will Your Lawyer Proactively Communicate With You On An Ongoing Basis?

    Sadly, most lawyers fail to communicate regularly with their clients. As a result, if you’ve created an estate plan in the past, you may have had a “checked off the list and done” kind of experience and not even realized that estate planning means a lifetime of wise legal and financial decisions, not a one-and-done kind of thing.

    Unfortunately, most lawyers don’t have their business systems set up for ongoing, proactive communication. They don’t have the time to get to know you or your family and then keep your plan up to date throughout your life.

    Work with a lawyer who has systems to keep your plan updated to ensure your assets are protected (throughout your life) and who will communicate with you regularly.

    Additionally, ask them how they will proactively support you in keeping your plan up to date on an ongoing basis and be there for your loved one’s when you can’t be.

    Think of it this way: Your estate plan includes a set of documents, but your plan is far more than those documents. Your plan is an inventory of your assets, which changes throughout your life. It’s a structure and container for who and what your family will turn to when something happens to you.

    You want to work with a lawyer with systems to keep your documents up to date and ensure your assets are owned correctly throughout your lifetime. Ideally, the lawyer should get to know you and your family over time so that when something happens, your lawyer can be there for the people you love. There will already be an underlying relationship and trust.

    04 | Can You Call About Any Legal Problem Or Just About Matters Within Their Specialty?

    Given the complexity of today’s legal world, lawyers must have specialized training in one or more specific practice areas, such as divorce, bankruptcy, wills and trusts, personal injury, business, criminal matters, or employment law. You do NOT want to work with a “door law” attorney – a lawyer who professes to be an expert in whatever random legal issue walks through the door.

    That said, you do want your personal lawyer to have broad enough expertise to consult with him or her about all sorts of legal and financial issues that may come up in your life—and trust he or she will be able to offer you sound guidance about whether you have a legal issue, or not. And while your lawyer won’t be able to advise you on all legal matters, he or she should be able to refer you to other trusted professionals who can help you.

    Trust me, you wouldn’t want the lawyer who designed your estate plan also to handle your personal injury claim, settle a dispute with your landlord, and advise you on your divorce. But you do want him or her to be there to hear your story, refer you to a highly qualified lawyer who specializes in that area, and overall, serve as your go-to legal consultant.

    In this capacity, you can consult your personal lawyer before you sign any legal documents, any time you have a legal or financial issue arise, or whenever anything that might adversely affect your family or business comes up, and know that you’ll get excellent guidance.

    05 | What Happens When They Die Or Retire?

    We all die, including your lawyer. And they may retire before they die. So be sure to ask what the plan is for your plan and your family when they do.

    This is a critically important—and often overlooked—question to ask your lawyer and any service professional before beginning a relationship. Sure, it may be uncomfortable to ask. A client-centered professional will have a succession plan to ensure their clients are cared for no matter what happens to the lawyer managing your plan.

    Look for a lawyer with a detailed plan that will ensure that someone warm and caring will take over your planning without any interruption of service.

    Here at our law firm, we work with a community of lawyers just like us who serve clients as a Personal Family Lawyer with Life & Legacy Planning.  We have a network of successor attorneys who practice with the same morals and model as we do, so if anything happens to us, you will be treated with the same level of care and relationship that we provide.

    A Lasting Relationship

    Although hiring the right estate planning lawyer may not seem that important, it’s one of the most critical choices you can make for yourself and your family. After all, this is the individual you trust to serve on your behalf to protect and provide for your loved ones during one of life’s most emotionally challenging experiences.

    Should you choose the wrong person for the job, your family could face unnecessary conflicts, expenses, and legal entanglements when they’re most vulnerable. Ultimately, estate planning is far more than having a lawyer create a set of documents for you and then never seeing you again or only seeing you when something goes wrong.

    We develop a relationship with you and your family that lasts a lifetime. Our unique, family-centered legal services are specifically tailored to provide our clients with the kind of love, attention, and trust we’d want for our loved ones. To learn more about our one-of-a-kind systems and services, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session today.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Why Everyone Needs to Keep Their Estate Plan Updated

    Why Everyone Needs to Keep Their Estate Plan Updated

    As the world and its laws continue to evolve, everyone needs to keep their estate plans up-to-date. An estate plan is a set of documents, such as a will or trust, that dictate how assets will be distributed upon death or incapacity. An individual’s current legal and financial situation should be considered to create a comprehensive estate plan tailored specifically to their needs.

    Ensure Your Wishes Are Respected

    The primary reason to update an estate plan is to ensure that an individual’s wishes are respected upon death. For example, suppose an individual has recently acquired valuable property or has had changes in family structure (such as marriage or children). In that case, updating the documents that outline how assets should be distributed is important. If the documents aren’t updated, this could lead to disputes between family members and legal complications when probate occurs. Additionally, if laws change at the state or federal level, those changes need to be incorporated into the existing estate plan to remain valid and effective. 

    Ensure Your Loved Ones Are Protected From Tax Implications

    Another reason for updating an estate plan is for future tax planning purposes. Without proper planning and asset allocation, taxes can significantly reduce the amount that beneficiaries receive after one’s death. Additionally, some states have transfer taxes on certain assets (such as real estate), which must be factored into one’s estate planning decisions. In addition, changes in federal tax law may affect whether other taxes, such as capital gains tax, applies at the time of death or while transferring assets during life – thus providing additional incentive for individuals to review their plans regularly with their advisors and make necessary updates when necessary. 

    Ensure Your Medical Decisions Are Handled With Care

    Estate planning also encompasses contingency plans in case of incapacity due to illness or injury – commonly referred to as disability planning. This means creating end-of-life documents such as Advance Health Care Directives, which list specific instructions about medical treatments that should be administered if certain conditions arise – such as if a person suffers from dementia or a traumatic brain injury and can no longer make decisions on their behalf. This planning can provide peace of mind knowing that an individual’s wishes will be respected even if they cannot make decisions themselves due to illness or injury. 

    Ensure You Leave a Legacy For Your Loved Ones

    Finally, updating an estate plan allows people to express gratitude for those who have helped them over the years – whether it be through providing advice on financial matters or being there simply by offering emotional support during difficult times – by including them in a legacy interview with our firm. Specific instructions can also be included in your plan regarding how charitable donations should be handled after death – enabling individuals who wish to donate part of their wealth to leave behind a lasting legacy that furthers causes they believe in long after they pass away. 

    Keep Your Estate Plan Up-To-Date

    In conclusion, having an up-to-date estate plan helps ensure that your wishes are respected upon incapacity or death; protects you from unnecessary taxes; helps with disability planning; and allows you the chance to express appreciation towards those who have had a positive impact on your life while still alive. Therefore, estate plans should consider current circumstances and anticipate future events to avoid any potential problems. We hold regular reviews of your estate plan through the stages of change in your life or every three years. Contact us today with your questions about your current plan and if you need an update.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • 5 Reasons Why Shopping for the Cheapest Estate Plan Could Leave Your Family with an Unintended Mess

    5 Reasons Why Shopping for the Cheapest Estate Plan Could Leave Your Family with an Unintended Mess

    In most cases, from the most sophisticated business people with the highest net worth to those just starting in the workforce and on their path to adulthood, you very likely don’t know how to evaluate estimates when shopping for an estate plan.

    Shopping for an estate plan based on getting the lowest cost plan possible is often the fastest path to leaving your family with an empty set of documents (maybe in a beautiful binder, but not worth the paper they’re written on) that won’t work for your family when they need it.

    Unfortunately, we see the negative effects of cheap estate planning when family members come to us during a time of grief with that fancy binder that sat on the shelf for years sending out signals of false security, full of out-of-date estate planning documents, and find themselves stuck in what could have been an avoidable court process, or even conflict when that’s exactly what their loved one thought they had paid someone to handle for them.

    Here Are 5 Reasons Why Shopping For The Cheapest Estate Plan Is Likely To Leave You With A Plan That Won’t Work For Your Family… And Could Leave Them With A Big Mess Instead.

    01 | The least expensive plan isn’t worth the paper it’s written on once you’ve left the attorney’s office — your life changes, the law changes, and your assets change over time; your plan needs to keep up with those changes.

    And the truth is a lawyer can’t afford to provide anything more than documents that won’t get updated when you only pay a few hundred dollars for a plan. The business model doesn’t work for the lawyer and won’t work for you.

    An attorney who has built a practice specifically to serve your family in their best interests cannot make a living selling $399 (or even $1,500 or $2,000) Wills, Trusts, or estate plans. Only insurance and financial professionals getting paid commissions to sell your family’s annuities and life insurance products can make a living selling cheap documents. Buyer beware!

    02 | “Estate planning” is often sold by financial professionals who want to get their hands on your “assets under management,” not necessarily prioritizing doing right by your family or keeping the people you love out of court or conflict. They may not even know how to keep your family out of court or conflict.

    When your estate plan has been sold to you by an investment advisor as part of your financial advisory and retirement support services, their focus isn’t on understanding the relational and legal dynamics of families, which can flare up after the death of a loved one. As “relational lawyers,” we’ve got specific expertise and training in pre-emptively identifying potential for family conflict and heading it off before it becomes an expensive problem. We’ve seen it all when it comes to families getting stuck in court and we can help you design a plan that prevents your family from court and conflict.

    03 | Forms and documents won’t be there for your family when you can’t be — you want to leave your loved one’s relationship with a trusted advisor with whom you have built a relationship during your lifetime and who has met them and they already trust.

    Working with a lawyer who focuses on “the best documents” at the “lowest price” or doesn’t charge enough for their services cannot provide more than form documents. These days, especially with the rise of AI, template form documents are free for anyone to use, which makes it difficult to know how those documents are handled when it comes to protecting the people you love.

    Shopping around for the least expensive plan may get you the cheapest documents, but those documents won’t be there to guide the people you love when they need someone to turn to in a crisis or grief. We will be.

    04 | You get what you pay for. It’s your family that will pay the price. Traditional law firms usually use generic forms and documents. These are called “trust mills” and are a firm that drafts plans but doesn’t ensure assets are owned correctly or stay up to date over time. You might think that’s malpractice, but it’s not. It’s common practice, leaving your family at risk if and when something happens to you!

    05 | An estate plan isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. It needs to stay updated with changes in your life, the law, and your assets.

    There’s currently more than $58 billion in unclaimed property held in departments of unclaimed property across the United States. Yep, that is billion with a B. Assets often land there when someone dies or becomes incapacitated, and their family loses track of it because it wasn’t tracked well during life. And that’s just one way your family loses out if you’ve shopped around for the cheapest estate plan rather than having a plan that works for the people you love.

    Is Something Better Than Nothing?

    Sometimes, having something in place is better than nothing, but this isn’t one of those cases. In this case, having a “something” plan leaves your family holding the expensive, or even empty bag, when it’s too late for them and you to do anything about it. It’s risky business to leave your loved one’s with a set of documents you aren’t sure are going to work, and our guess is that you love your people too much for that.

    Bottom line: don’t waste your time shopping around town for the cheapest plan possible. You don’t want the cheap plan. You want the plan that will work for the people you love when they need it.

    If you already have an estate plan in place that you may have bought based on price, and are concerned you may have gotten a set of documents that won’t serve your family when they need it most, call us and ask about our 50-point assessment. We can help you save some money by giving it to do yourself, or you can pay us for a plan review to make sure your loved one’s won’t get stuck with an expensive and painful and unnecessary court process or loss of assets, when it’s too late.

    Contact us to get on our calendar. We begin our planning process with a Family Wealth Planning Planning Session, during which you’ll not only become more financially organized than ever before, you’ll finally be able to make informed, educated choices about the right plan for your family based on your unique family dynamics and your assets, instead of just shopping around for an estate plan based on price.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

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