Step By Step

Are We a Good Match?

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Complete an Inquiry Form. We promise it's not hard. You don't even have to worry about scheduling anything.

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• This gives us just enough information to see if we can help or need to find someone else who can. 

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Due to our intensive, hands-on approach, we limit the number of new clients we commit to each month and only work with a handful of clients at any given time. This is to ensure the highest quality services and support to our families. Please keep this in mind as you inquire about whether you'd like to hire us to be part of your family's support and safety-net team.

Great News! We Match or Let's Find Some Help.

 

Check your email inbox.

 

•  If we match, then we'll send you a link to schedule a 30-minute consultation to help us hear from you your goals and any initial questions or concerns you might have. We will chat briefly about the overall process tailored to you specifically based on the Inquiry Form, hearing from you, and set expectations for each other regarding how our services and our flat-price structure work. There is no commitment here. Shortly after this brief "get-to-know-you" meeting, you'll receive an email about next steps. You'll receive links to schedule your Initial Visit, sign our Initial Service Agreement, pay an initial deposit (that's totally refundable), and receive a questionnaire to digitally start organizing your thoughts, assets, and wishes.

•  If we don't seem like the right fit after the consultation, then we make sure you have a list of resources and names that can help you.

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You'll notice we want you to have all the information you need upfront to discuss with your family and make an informed decision about the investment you'd like to make. We are committed to your success and that means you are our ideal client and we are your ideal attorney.

You Become Informed

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Based on your consultation, you'll make an informed decision on whether hiring us as part of your support team is best for your family's current situation and future goals. This is when the planning gears really start turning. If you'd like to become a client, then you will:

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• Sign-In to our Client Management System (keeps your information safe and secure)

• Complete your Design Meeting Questionnaire

• Sign Initial Engagement Letter (our Price & Service Agreement regarding the Design Session)

• Schedule your Design Session

• Submit the Design Deposit (holds your 2 hour time slot on our calendar)

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Though filling out questionnaires and intake forms sound like a drag, our questionnaires aren't your typical estate planning forms. Rather, our questions are thought-provoking and helpful, not merely for your Design Session, but for your life, parenting, and desired wealth goals. Remember wealth isn't just your finances. Family wealth is everything you want your family to represent and inhabit during this life and for incoming generations. It's the values, beliefs, customs, and opportunities you want for yourself and your loved ones. Because of this, we will ask you to do some pre-thinking to reflect on those that came before you, those that raised you, the life you want to build, and the legacy you'd like to give to those that you love. Life & Legacy Planning is an emotional endeavor, but that's why we firmly believe in offering the level of support that is needed to make estate planning not just a tool that ends up hidden and left to "work" in the shoe box in your closet. Rather, we want a planning experience that brings your family closer together, actually enhances the bond you have with your loved ones, AND is an effective set of tools everyone actually knows how to use.

Initial Visit - You Become a Client

Let's Roll Up Our Sleeves.

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Once your pre-session questionnaire/s, initial service agreement, and deposit are submitted, we put a 2-hour virtual or in-person planning session on the calendar.  During your Design Session we review your information together, discuss scenarios and options to keep your family aligned with your goals and values, actually design some of your plan with you, and most importantly listen. This is also the time where you choose your budget and level of support. Here's a little about how these working planning sessions run:

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• Session Agenda

• Review completed pre-session questionnaire together

• Explain the impact and outcome of your current "as is" or "do nothing" plan

• Explain alternative options and scenarios aligned with your goals and values

• Time to think, ask, take notes, chat, and make informed decisions about key aspects of your plan

• Review service options and you choose your flat-fee based on needs and budget

• Discuss tool aftercare processes, options and customize your desired level of support

• Design part of your plan with you so you feel comfortable with how the document/s would operate

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Based on the service and budget option you've selected, you'll receive a final service agreement (our agreement on what work is to be done + compensation).

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• Sign-in to the Client Management System

• Sign the Final Engagement Letter

• Submit Final Payment

You're Almost Done! Final Review Session

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Once your final engagement letter and final payment are completed, we go to work while keeping you informed every step of the way. Drafting takes on average 6 weeks from the date of your Design Session to complete. After we have a completed final draft of your planning tool/s, you receive an email to schedule a final review session. In the final review session, we provide:

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• Line-by-Line Review of your Planning Tools (any last-minute changes)

• Education on Tool After-Care (executing will, transferring assets into a trust, where to put important documents, creating legacy letters, etc.)

• Schedule your Validation Ceremony (witnesses, notary, etc. to make your documents legally legitimate.)

• Discuss and schedule customized support meetings and ongoing services if needed.

• Enroll you in our Life & Legacy Care Plan.

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Yay! We Made It. Follow-Up Support.​

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Without proper after-care your planning tools lose their effectiveness and value. To ensure you receive the maximum benefits of your investment with us, we professionally bother you. Of course, we also support you in finalizing your documents (signing ceremony and/or notarization), funding your trust if needed and depending on the support level you've chosen, and housing copies of your finalized documents for safe-keeping and continuity. Depending on your specific services these last pieces will vary, but in some form-or-fashion the firm will get a scanned and uploaded copy of all your originals to secure in your client portal folder, advise you on who to notify, where to keep documents, and get confirmation that the planning tools are in a "functioning" status.

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• Receive your digital binder to store in the cloud and to print.

• Follow-ups are scheduled every 30 days (at no charge) to complete the transfer of assets to your trust if applicable.

• Reminders seeking confirmation about proper aftercare.

• Send us copies of your signed/executed documents.

• Optional Survey to improve our processes and service.

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Annual Review - Care Plan Membership

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Your documents need to change as your life changes. If you receive a plan with us, then we send an annual check-up form to you each year. If nothing's changed, then you give us a thumbs-up or if something needs to change or be updated, then we schedule a review session. We want you to have planning tools that work and keep their value throughout your lifetime and afterwards.

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Some membership advantages include:

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• Annual Reviews & Inventory Updates Discount

• Unlimited Document Updates

• Priority Email Access

• Discounted Review and Service for your other family members like parents, brothers, sisters, etc.

• Discounted Service Support for your surviving spouse or children in the event something happens to you.

• Unlimited Referral Research for legal issues not in our practice area.

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