Hi, I’m Dan Weiner, founder of Weiner Law. One question we often get asked is – do I have to tell you what I need before we can get started with estate planning?
People often tell me that they can’t get started with their estate plan because they don’t know what the plan should entail i.e. whether it should just be a will, or also a trust, what kind of trust is needed, who they should choose as successor trustee or guardian.
This is like not going to the doctor when you’re in pain because you don’t know what the doctor needs to do to fix it. It’s the doctor’s job to come up with the solution, likewise with attorneys and estate planning. Of course, there are attorneys who did this on a documents-to-order basis.
What you want though is for an attorney to consider the specifics of your situation with respect to your family, and your assets, and then make recommendations based on that. We have everyone complete an intake form before the planning session, which means that we can use that session to guide you through which options make sense for you.
Knowing what the right plan is for your family requires a knowledge of the law. That isn’t something that we can push onto you.
That’s our job. You’re not expected to have all the answers before you come to the planning session. We’re here for that.
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