If this is your first time making an estate plan, you’ll need to provide some basic information about yourself, your family, your assets, and your liabilities.
Submit your responses at least 48 hours before your consultation. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers in advance — just do your best. Check out the Resources page for helpful tips.
Schedule your complimentary consultation. During our meeting, we’ll review your questionnaire and identify the estate plan tools and strategies that best align with your goals. By the end of the consultation, you’ll have answers to your questions and a roadmap to begin building your estate plan.
If you are reviewing and possibly updating your estate plan, kudos to you for getting organized! As time goes by, your life, laws, and practices change. Here’s how the process works:
Prepare and submit your documents at least 48 hours before your consultation.
Existing clients: Review your Estate Plan Summary and Asset/Liability Inventory. Mark up your changes and questions. Upload documents to your Box folder, email me to set up that link if you don’t have one, or use the general upload box below.
New clients: Complete the Estate Plan Questionnaire and provide copies of your Trust(s), any amendments, Wills, Codicils, Powers of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directives, HIPAA/CMIA Releases, and Marital Property Agreements.
The combined review, consultation, and follow-up typically takes 30 minutes to 2 hours (existing clients) or 1-2 hours (new clients) and will be billed at $450/hour.
Quotes for updates or additional work will be provided after the consultation, once we understand the scope of the project.
If you are administering a trust or estate, please accept my condolences on the loss of your loved one.
If the incapacitated adult or decedent was my client, I have a summary of his or her estate plan documents and a worksheet outlining his or her assets and liabilities. I will be prepared to walk you through your legal and fiduciary responsibilities.
If I did not represent the incapacitated adult or decedent, I’ll ask you to provide a copy of the relevant estate plan documents, if any. I like to read through these often lengthy papers and prepare an outline so that I may engage in a meaningful conversation with you.
Either way, I’ll ask you to provide: (1) a certified death certificate or evidence of incapacity; (2) the decedent’s original will, when available; (3) a list of beneficiaries and heirs including their full legal names, relationships, addresses, and telephone numbers; and (4) a current inventory of assets and liabilities, including copies of any relevant deeds that are not already in my file.
Attorney’s fees:
Non-probate administrations are billed at my hourly rate ($450/hour), plus costs. Every administration is different. How much time it takes depends on the complexity of the trust(s), the assets and liabilities involved, how much communication the trustee needs, how cooperative the beneficiaries are, etc. I’ll guide you through each step and keep you informed so that you know what to expect.
Probates involve court-awarded ordinary compensation based on a sliding scale applied to the gross estate, plus gains and income receipts, less losses (i.e., $4,000 for a $100,000 estate; $7,0000 for a $200,000 estate; $9,000 for a $300,000 estate; $11,000 for a $400,000 estate; and so on). The court may also award extraordinary compensation in various circumstances. Thus, the legal system recognizes that the complexity of estate administration is not solely related to the size of the estate.
If we decide to work together, I will ask you to sign a Legal Services Agreement. This contract forms the attorney-client relationship. It sets forth the services I will perform, details included vs. excluded services, and outlines your rights and responsibilities.
Flat-rate estate plans are billed as folllows:
50% due upon completion of the drafts.
50% due at signing (or when final documents are provided to you to sign independently).
Hourly rate-add ons and reimbursements, when applicable, will be added to the first or second invoice, depending on when services were performed or expenses incurred.
Hourly rate engagements are billed as work is performed and may include reimbursements for expenses incurred.
Probate fees are awarded at the conclusion of the proceeding.
Step 3: Draft Documents
Unless we agree to a quicker turnaround, please allow me 2-3 weeks to draft your documents.
Upon receipt, you should carefully review the documents.
Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or changes.
When documents are ready to finalize, we proceed to step 4.
Step 4: Implement Estate Plan / Initiate Trust or Estate Administration
If you are signing estate plan documents:
We will schedule a meeting or I will send you independent signing instructions.
If you sign at my office, I will scan executed documents to create a PDF and upload it to your Box folder. I will always return the originals to you.
If you sign independently, you will scan and upload documents to your Box folder.
After documents have been executed, you must take affirmative steps to fund your trust. Even if you don’t have a trust, it is important to understand that assets are controlled by their account titles and any beneficiary designations directly applied to accounts. Trusts and wills cannot override these titles and designations. While privacy laws prevent me from completing most of these tasks for you, I am always available to guide you through this process.
I recommend that you keep important documents in a fire- and water-resistant home safe. If you prefer a bank safe, please be sure that you designate a joint depositor. In all cases, someone should know where you are keeping the originals and how they can be accessed.
Please note:
Notarized documents generally require a valid ID (i.e., driver’s license, senior ID card, or passport). If you don’t have any unexpired forms of identification, you’ll need to resolve this first or locate 1-2 “credible witnesses” who can confirm your identity.
Medallion-stamp guarantees are not the same as notarization, The medallion may be provided by most banks and brokerage firms.
Wills require two disinterested adult witnesses. If you sign at my office, I will provide the witnesses. If you sign independently, you will need to arrange two friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc., to serve as witnesses. Witnesses should not be family members or other persons named in your estate plan documents.
If you are initiating trust or estate administration:
This is the beginning of the process. Ask the beneficiaries to be patient. Find ways to involve them and keep them apprised.
While some trust administrations can be completed in a matter of weeks, most will average 6-9 months. Trust administration may be slower if assets are hard to value, sales are pending, beneficiaries are uncooperative, or estate tax returns are required. Furthermore, some trusts will continue for an extended duration, perhaps for the life of one or more beneficiaries.
Probate administration involves considerable delays. It will take 3-6 months, on average, before you are appointed to serve as personal representative for the estate. Then you must allow at least 4 months for creditors to file claims. If the estate is in a condition to be closed, you’ll wait another 3-6 months, on average, before the court hears your petition for distribution. The quickest, simplest probate, with the most diligent attorney and personal representative will take 12+ months. It is not uncommon for probate to last a year and a half or more.
