For Professional Advisors

The Estate Planning Team

As an estate planning law firm, we work closely with other professional advisors, including investment advisors, financial consultants, insurance professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and tax advisors. We believe the team approach provides our clients with the most comprehensive, realistic and effective estate plan. To that end, we strive to keep you informed and involved at all stages of the estate planning process.

The Process

• Step One: The Initial Consultation
  We offer your prospective clients that meet our minimum $2 million net worth requirement a complimentary initial consultation. With the clients' permission, we encourage you to attend this initial consultation as well. If this cannot be arranged, we will seek the clients' permission to discuss their estate planning with you afterward. During this first meeting, we will spend approximately an hour with your clients. After listening to your clients' needs, plans and goals, we will generally make some estate planning recommendations. If the situation is complex, we will ask for a follow-up meeting to present a summary and specific recommendations. After making our recommendations, we will quote a flat fee for design, drafting and implementation of the plans.
• Step Two: Signing the Documents
  Should your clients choose to engage our firm at this point, a follow-up meeting to sign documents and begin implementation of the plan will be scheduled ... normally within thirty days. This meeting may be quite lengthy, as we will thoroughly explain the planning documents to your clients, and to their family members if necessary. We also will explain the trust funding process -- whether your clients choose to engage our firm in this process, or prefer to complete the process themselves, or with your assistance.
• Step Three: Follow-Up
  We have an extensive follow-up system, which we believe helps build stronger client relationships. Each of our clients receives a follow-up letter after their plan is complete and a continued subscription to our estate planning newsletter, which is sent monthly direct to the clients designated e-mail address. Through the newsletter we attempt to keep our clients informed of changes that could affect their planning, and to help them maintain an awareness of their estate planning goals. In this manner we hope to ensure that our clients' plans are never out-of-date with their current needs.

Resources

• Client Education
  Please visit our resource center for an online library of articles on issues related to estate planning. We have posted a number of articles suitable for use as hand-outs to your clients.
• Electronic Newsletter
  Each month we produce an online-newsletter for professional advisors and clients. To subscribe to our electronic newsletter simply contact the office.