Traditional Approach
How We Are Different
You are looking for a sound legal advice at a reasonable cost with no surprises later…
A typical law firm will give you an estimated cost at the beginning but may charge for additional documents, often exceeding the initial quotes. Sometimes, additional costs are revealed later in the process, after you have already signed up and cannot turn back. If estimates are based on hourly rates, every minute spent on meetings or calls with you are directly billable to you that may very well exceed initial estimates.
We provide flat fees agreed in advance during our initial meeting, there are no hidden fees or surprises later. There are no additional costs for requesting a call or following up with us if you need guidance or have a question.
You want a plan that you fully understand and is tailor made to your personal situation…
Traditional law firms tend to use standard legal templates from a document library to fill in information gathered from you, with little consideration to your personal situation.
We do not prepare a cookie cutter template document for you. We educate you about options that are applicable to your personal situation and help you tailor a plan that is right for you and your family.
You need help assimilating all your resources and keeping it updated
A standard one time questionnaire provided by traditional law firms will allow you to assess your position at the time of planning, but leaves you with no ability to update as your situation changes in the future.
We not only help you gather a comprehensive list of all resources and assets that should be included in your legacy planning, but also provide you with valuable tracking tools that you can manage to always keep your resource list updated with changes in your situation.
You would also like to pass down values and other important items/attributes for your generations to come, and need experienced guidance to enable leaving behind a true legacy…
In a traditional approach, the focus of estate planning is primarily on your tangible assets, with no room or guidance provided to pass down your values or other attributes important to you.
Our law firm believes that most of the planning takes care of transferring your hard earned financial assets to your loved ones. However, we give equal importance to passing your family’s invaluable intellectual and spiritual value (who you are and what’s important to you) to your generations to come. We include this special family legacy plan in our services.
You would like reliable guidance from your lawyer to ensure your plan works when you need it to…
Once the plan is signed, executed, and the last installment paid, a traditional law firm will leave all the follow up work on you and their relationship ends. For example, if a trust plan was created, the entire onus will be on you to fund the trust, often without much help and direction you may need. If you do get help, it is usually limited and comes with extra associated cost.
We ensure the plan you have put together is executed as well as completed meticulously. We make sure your assets are owned appropriately. For example, a trust plan is ineffective until fully funded. We provide guidance and help every step of your way to accomplish this. We do not just give directions but hold your hands to make sure you title your assets in the right way so that the plan works for you and not fail when needed the most. Additionally, we name your kids guardians and let them know what to do if anything happens to you, so your kids are never in the care of strangers
You want to be able to reach your lawyer when you have a follow up question and need the lawyer to attend to your needs in a timely manner…
Traditional law firms on hourly billing cycle come with a price tag for every minute of attorney’s time spent on your case. And those with flat fees normally do not like to entertain follow up calls or play phone tags because they operate on a one-time-transaction model.
We always want you to communicate with us. We want you to call us for a quick question or schedule an appointment if it more legal or strategic question. When you schedule an appointment, this eliminates the whole process of playing phone tags and wasting your time.
You want representation and guidance that is reliable and trustworthy…
After signing is complete, your relationship with the lawyer and law-firm typically ends until you need additional services for an additional cost.
We believe in an ongoing relationship with our clients and become their trusted advisor for life. We make sure that none of your assets will end up in a long, expensive probate proceeding (court process) or are lost (due to non-listings of all the assets you own) to the state department of unclaimed property.
You want your plan to be reviewed for impact of any change in personal situation or change in law
Traditional methods are often a one-time deal, failing to stress on the important of periodic reviews and updates to the plan to reflect changes in personal situation or a change in law. If you initiate such review request on your own, you will be required to pay additional fee each time you make that request.
We believe in empowering you with knowledge and help you keep your plan uptodate. Through your lifetime, either your personal situation, or law or both could change. For example, kids become adults, you buy/sell/refinance properties, family members or family size changes etc. or changes are made to the estate planning laws at State and Federal levels. To ensure your plan is uptodate and it works, we offer our clients a free review of their plan at least every 3 years (or annually for our members, through our membership program).
We are Maryland Estate Planning- Wills and Trust attorney serving Howard County and throughout Maryland. We also serve in New York and Washington DC.
Our office provides an educative session through a Family Legacy Planning session where our clients are empowered with knowledge to make informed choices that best suits their family.
Schedule Your Consultation Today! For more information about our Protect your Children program, please contact us today and schedule a Family Legacy Planning session.