Hiring a lawyer to help you make wise
decisions for life and death can be the most empowering choice you ever make
for yourself and your loved ones. The right lawyer will be there for your
family when you can’t be, so you want to understand who the lawyer is as a
person, not just an attorney. Of course, you’ll also want to discover the
services your lawyer offers and how they run their business.
Here are five questions to ensure you don’t
end up paying for legal services you don’t need, expect, or want. Once you know
exactly what you should be looking for when choosing an estate planning lawyer,
you’ll be much better positioned to hire an attorney that will provide the kind
of love, attention, care, and trust your family deserves.
01 | How
Do They Bill For Their Services?
The first question to ask isn’t “how much does
it cost,” but rather, “how do you bill for your services and how do you
determine what to bill for your services?”
When working with an estate planning lawyer,
find a lawyer with clear expectations and boundaries who bills for all their
services on a flat fee, no surprises basis —and never hourly—unless a court requires
it for limited “court-related” services.
Your lawyer should determine the fees they
charge you only after guiding you through a process of discovery in which they
learn about your family dynamics and your assets and educate you about what
would happen for your family and assets if and when something happens to you.
Through that process, they will help you choose the right plan that meets your
budget and desired outcomes.
02 | How
Will Your Lawyer Respond To Your Needs
On An Ongoing Basis?
One of people's biggest complaints about
working with lawyers is a lack of responsiveness. To ensure your lawyer can be
responsive to your needs, ask them how quickly calls are typically returned in
their office and if someone will be on-hand to answer quick questions when and
as needed.
Ideally, all calls to your lawyer should be
pre-scheduled with a clear agenda, so you both can be ready to focus on your
specific needs.
03 | How
Will Your Lawyer Proactively Communicate With You On An Ongoing Basis?
Sadly, most lawyers fail to communicate
regularly with their clients. As a result, if you’ve created an estate plan in
the past, you may not have realized that estate planning means a lifetime of
wise legal and financial decisions, not a one-and-done kind of thing.
You want to work with a lawyer with systems to
keep your documents current and ensure your assets are owned correctly and
protected throughout your lifetime. Ideally, the lawyer should get to know you
and your family over time so that when something happens, your lawyer can be
there for the people you love. There will already be an underlying relationship
and trust with regular communication.
04 | Can
You Call About Any Legal Problem Or Just About Matters Within Their Specialty?
Given the complexity of today’s legal world,
lawyers must have specialized training in one or more specific practice areas.
You do NOT want to work with a “door law” attorney - a lawyer who professes to
be an expert in whatever random legal issue walks through the door.
That said, you do want your personal lawyer to
have broad enough expertise to consult with him or her about all sorts of legal
and financial issues that may come up in your life—and trust he or she will be
able to offer you sound guidance about whether you have a legal issue, or not.
And while your lawyer will not be able to advise you on all legal matters, he
or she should be able to refer you to other trusted professionals who can help
you.
In this capacity, you can consult your
personal lawyer before you sign any legal documents, any time you have a legal
or financial issue arise, or whenever anything that might adversely affect your
family or business comes up, and know that you’ll get excellent guidance.
05 | What
Happens When They Die Or Retire?
This is a critically important—and often
overlooked—question to ask your lawyer and any service professional before
beginning a relationship. Sure, it may be uncomfortable to ask. A
client-centered professional will have a succession plan to ensure their
clients are cared for no matter what happens to the lawyer managing your plan.
Look for a lawyer with a detailed plan that
will ensure that someone warm and caring will take over your planning without
any interruption of service.
A Lasting
Relationship
Although hiring the right estate planning lawyer may not seem that important, it’s one
of the most critical choices you can make for yourself and your family. After
all, this is the individual you trust to serve on your behalf to protect and
provide for your loved ones during one of life’s most emotionally challenging
experiences. Should you choose the wrong person for the job, your family could
face unnecessary conflicts, expenses, and legal entanglements when they are
most vulnerable.
At our firm, we develop a relationship with you
and your family that lasts a lifetime. Our unique, family-centered, flat free,
communication driven legal services are specifically tailored to provide our
clients with the kind of love, attention, and trust we’d want for our loved
ones. We work with a community of lawyers just like us who serve clients with
Life & Legacy Planning, so if anything happens to us you will be treated
with the same level of care and relationship that we provide.
To learn more about our one-of-a-kind systems
and services, contact us today.
This article is a service of Ganvir Law, Personal Family
Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and
empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.
That's why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get
more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best
choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to
schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article.
The
content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family
Lawyer® firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This
material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not
intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal
advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your
own separate from this educational material.