Our Estate Planning Process

PRE-CONSULTATION

We work with your referring advisor, so we can understand your financial background, your situation and needs. During this part of the estate planning process, you will complete our Estate Planning Deficiencies Check-Up, provide us with basic contact information, and begin to identify and express your goals and concerns using our Estate Planning Design Questionnaire.

INITIAL CONSULTATION

We will discuss in detail your background and family, goals and concerns, and any issues identified in the Estate Planning Design Questionnaire that require further consideration.

At the end of this meeting, a fee range will be quoted based on a preliminary plan design.

DESIGN MEETING

During this meeting, your proposed estate plan design will be presented to you in plain English and with easy to understand outlines and diagrams. Together, we will work through the details of the proposed plan to create a customized estate plan strategy that meets your goals and objectives while addressing your concerns and anxieties.

DELIVERY MEETING

We review the documents to ensure that you understand your estate plan and that it meets your goals and objectives. If you want us to do so, we will also educate your family members, executors, trustees, agents and beneficiaries about your plan, their roles in the plan, and why the plan is designed as it is. At this point, you will also sign the legal documents to implement the estate plan.

Note: We take confidentiality very seriously. Subject to certain limitations, nothing about your estate plan will be revealed unless you specifically authorize us to release it.

FUNDING

Once the estate plan documents have been executed, we assist you with beneficiary designation changes and other funding issues to ensure the planning is effective and works as designed.

LONG-TERM CLIENT CARE

For members of our Estate Care Program, among other benefits, we review their estate plan annually in light of any changes in their family, finances, the law, or new planning strategies to help ensure their plan continues to carry out its original intent.