Referring Professionals

The Estate Planning Team

     As an estate planning law firm, we work closely with other professional advisors, including Certified Financial Planner^™ Practitioners, Registered Representatives, investment advisors, financial consultants, insurance professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and tax advisors. We believe in the team approach providing 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. Because Charles was formerly an in-house lawyer for a regional broker dealer and teaches continuing education for insurance agents and CPAs, we understand the financial planning process and are better positioned to work with you and your clients.

The Process

• Step One: The Initial Consultation
       We generally offer prospective clients a complimentary initial consultation (except in the cases of elder law clients or probate clients, who require immediate advice about asset transfers in anticipation of a Medicaid application or preparation for a probate appointment). 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 or more with your client. After listening to your clients' needs, plans and goals, Charles will generally make some estate planning recommendations. If the situation is complex, he will ask for a follow-up meeting to present a summary and our specific recommendations.
       After making his recommendations, Charles will follow up with a letter explaining the recommendation and the legal fees for the design, drafting and implementation of the plans. Unless other arrangements are made, estate planning clients pay one-half of their planning fee at the initial engagement, and the other half when the documents are ready for signature.  Elder law and probate clients pay for the first meeting, and have the choice of engaging us for a written summary of advice, or for additional services.
• Step Two: Reviewing and Signing the Documents
       After your client engages our firm, we schedule the next meeting to sign documents and begin implementation of the plan will be scheduled ... normally within a week to ten days. This meeting may last two hours 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 and Plan Maintenance
       We offer a follow-up system, which we believe helps build stronger client relationships. All clients are offered a subscription to our estate planning newsletter, the Wealth Counselor, which is offered in an e-mail version. Subscribers to our on-going ‘maintenance’ programs are eligible to receive a hard-copy quarterly. Through the electronic and in-mail newsletters, 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. ‘Maintenance’ program subscribers who enroll in 2008 or later receive free updates and revisions to their plans at any time at no additional cost as long as you are enrolled in the maintenance program. Other clients can have similar services at traditional hourly rates. Maintenance clients, former clients, their guests and advisors are welcome at on on-going seminars and workshops on estate planning, asset protection and elder law. In this manner we hope to ensure that our clients' plans are never out-of-date with their current needs. Periodically, they receive a personal letter encouraging them to come in to review their plans and make any necessary changes.

Resources

• Professional Education
       Please visit our Professional Resource Center for our schedule of MONTHLY study group meetings and continuing education programs for professionals including CPAs, Financial Planners and other advisors. While you are there, reserve your space to attend the next meeting, or request educational materials by email.
• Client Education
       Please visit our Client 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.
• Joint Marketing
       We are happy to work with you to speak to your clients or prospects on estate planning issues, including basic estate planning, charitable giving strategies, generation-skipping and other advanced topics, business succession, or asset protection. Please call the office if you would like to plan a workshop.