Explaining to you how we are different requires an explanation of what the “traditional” experience with a lawyer is like.  If you’ve worked with a lawyer to prepare estate planning documents for you in the past, this will sound familiar. 
During the traditional experience, you go in and meet with a lawyer who will oftentimes make things seem very complicated and confusing.  You will have a good idea that the lawyer is knowledgeable and seems to know what he or she is doing, so you just nod and answer questions as if you understand everything.  Since you want to do the right thing for your family, you have the lawyer prepare documents for you and you sign the documents, feeling relieved that you have got that taken care of. 
You take your fancy planning binder home, stick it on a shelf or in a drawer, mark estate planning off on your checklist as DONE and never think about it again.

You might remember your lawyer said something about moving your bank accounts into the trust.  So you go to the bank, forget what you were supposed to do, call your lawyer’s office, get a voicemail, then have to leave the bank and wait for a call back, (which takes several hours at least and sometimes days) and by that time, you’ve gotten busy with other things and never get around to moving that bank account. 

A few weeks later, you will get a bill in the mail for $67.50 for 15 minutes of your lawyer’s time for answering a couple of questions.  You’ll make a mental note– don’t call lawyer ever again.  Your lawyer essentially “disengages” you as their client once they have completed their legal work, fundamentally treating you like a docket number.

Several years later, you will refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust.  Your children will get older, making your guardianship choices outdated, but you do not want to call your lawyer because you know you will get a bill in the mail two weeks later.  You will hear something about a change in the tax law, but you figure you would surely get a letter in the mail from your lawyer if it was something that affected you, so you don’t worry about it.  And, you would have to dig through boxes to find your trust documents so you could remember your lawyer’s name and find his or her contact information.  Who has time for that?  It’s not until you become incapacitated or die and your family finds the binder you stuck up on a shelf several years before and never looked at since.  Then they will realize your plan is so outdated that it has nothing to do with your life, your assets or the law, which leaves your family at a loss.  They do not know where to turn or what to do, so they contact the same lawyer you used to prepare the documents. That same lawyer will be as happy as can be to collect a large fee to probate your assets that never made it into the trust.

How do I know all this?

I know the above story because I used to work for a firm where this was the regular practice.  Unfortunately, what became readily apparent to me is the estate planning industry was not designed to serve growing families who experience lots of change on their way to success.  It was designed to serve the established, who were preparing for death.

Our Firm Helps You Prepare for Life

What makes our firm different is that we were built with the needs of growing families in mind.  We understand you are busy, you are growing, you are planning for a life of prosperity and you value comfort, convenience and efficiency.  You want to know that you’ve made the best decisions for your family and that your plan will work when your loved ones need it most.  You want to make sure your children will be taken care of in the best way possible and will be prepared to receive your wealth if anything happens to you.  We have developed unique systems to give you the same access to a personal family lawyer as was previously only available to the likes of the ultra rich, so that you can have the guidance you need to build and maintain a life of prosperity and wealth.

We strongly encourage communication with our clients.  In fact, we have thrown out the time clocks so you never have to be afraid to call with a quick question.  Everything we do is billed on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance, so there are never any surprises.  We have a whole team to serve you.  When you call our office to ask your quick question, you will not have to wait hours or days for a phone call back.  You will get your question answered right away.  In addition, if you need to schedule a more in-depth legal or strategic call with your personal family lawyer, a call will be scheduled when you are both available and ready for the call so we can make the best use of your time instead of wasting your time by leaving voicemails back and forth.

Moreover, we ensure the most important details of your planning are followed through on so that your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime.  We have a “funding coordinator” to ensure your assets are protected throughout your lifetime and so none of your assets will end up going through a long, expensive court process (probate) or are relinquished to the state because they were unaccounted for after your death.  We have created unique membership programs to keep your plan up to date year-in and year-out as well as provide access to our Trusted Team of Legal Experts for guidance on ANY legal or financial matter.  One day you will need a lawyer.  I don’t know when or why, but when you do, you will be grateful you can call on us and we will be here to advise you.

Most estate plans are only able to transfer your financial wealth onto the next generation.  That what makes you unique (your family dedication, charitable commitments, volunteered time, etc.) are often most difficult to capture and most often lost when someone passes.  How much do you know about your grandparents’ values?  What about their most prized personal possessions?  How they felt about you?  What they had learned during their lifetime?  If you are like most people, you’re probably unsure.  However, the wealthiest families are able to capture these intangible assets and pass them along in conjunction with their financial wealth.  We’ve developed a tool that allows us to pass on your whole family wealth, including your Intellectual, Spiritual and Human assets. I cannot go into all of the details here, but we will definitely talk about when you come into meet with us.  We look forward to seeing you and caring for your family soon!

PS – this may sound expensive initially, but I can promise you it will seem like a bargain once you discover the thoroughness and quality of our services.  I can guarantee you that if you qualify to meet with a personal family lawyer, that planning is substantially less costly than it would be for your family if you died with a dysfunctional plan in place or did not have a plan in place at all. I have never had a single family who believed in this kind of planning and wanted to put it in place for their loved ones leave my office because they were unable to afford it.