Before Hiring an Estate Planning Attorney—Understand the Difference
Many estate planning attorneys take a “one-size-fits-all” approach with their clients; they do this so that they can work with as many people as possible in a short period of time. Oftentimes the attorney is in the consultation for an hour and then hands off the file to an assistant or paralegal. The problem is that the client has an impersonal experience; but worse than that, this way of planning can lead to unintended results in the long run for the family.
Consequences When Attorneys Don’t Listen
When lawyers do not take the time to listen and consider a family’s personal circumstances, the result is that your Will & Trust Documents do not end up reflecting what your family really wants to happen. Usually there is no review or updating, so the plan quickly becomes outdated and does not work when your family needs it most.
Even though you may pay less up front to get a standard set of documents (or even documents that are customized for your family), things end up much more expensive in the long run. Plus, you leave your family at risk of having to deal with an expensive, unnecessary court process during a time of tremendous grief.
We Listen
JMK Law is right for you if you want to know that your plan will actually work when you and your loved ones need it most. If all you want is a set of “one-size-fits-all” legal documents, there are plenty of online resources you can use to create them.
If what you want is to know you’ve got a plan in place that will work when your family needs it, keep the people you love out of court and conflict, and your assets out of the hands of the government, then we are the right fit for you.
Here are Some of the Ways We Are Different From Most Other Estate Planning Lawyers
All of our fees are flat fees agreed to in advance. At our initial meeting you will choose the level of planning and fee that works best for your family, so there will never be any surprises.
We keep you informed and make sure your plan works. We don’t just prepare a set of legal documents for you and send you on your way. We make sure your assets are owned in the right way, we make sure your kids’ well-being is properly planned for, we ensure everyone you’ve named in your plan knows what to do if anything happens to you, and we make sure that none of your assets become part of the $3.5 Billion of unclaimed assets across the state of Illinois.
We review your plan at least every three years and annually when you join our Family Wealth VIP Membership program. We foster a lifetime, ongoing relationship with our clients. Throughout your life, things change. You change; your assets change; your family changes; the law will definitely change and there are several aspects of estate planning that are in flux right now with a new Administration. When planning with us, your plan will keep up with those changes.
We make ourselves available to answer your quick questions and to make the planning process incredibly easy and painless for you and your family. We have a process for helping you make sure that your assets are titled in the right way, both now and over your lifetime.
We get your legal and financial house in order by helping you make smart choices about things like buying insurance, saving for college, and retirement planning so you never spend more than you have to or get taken advantage of by unscrupulous sales people.
We’ve been specifically trained as a Personal Family Lawyer to plan for your life and death, and to ensure that if you have minor children, they are never raised by anyone you wouldn’t want or taken into the care of strangers. And, if your children are adults, we help you weave them into your estate plan with care and forethought that most other lawyers simply do not have the training to do.
Legacy Planning. We believe that planning is about much more than just the transfer of your financial wealth. With all our plans, we include a process to help you transfer your most important personal wealth to your loved ones, including your intellectual, spiritual and human assets—who you are and what’s important to you.
Before you hire an estate planning lawyer to help plan for the well‐being of your money, your family and your life, there are questions you need to ask. You need to ensure that the estate plan put in place will really work when your family needs it and won’t end up just a pile of worthless paper after you are gone.
Don’t let a set of “one-size-fits-all” legal documents become false security that keeps you from doing what’s best for your loved ones.