For many people, the thought of meeting with an estate planning attorney strikes fear into their hearts. It can be uncomfortable to even consider the possibility of no longer being able to manage your own affairs, let alone no longer being alive. For far too many people, this causes them to put off the crucial task of estate planning. As a result, they are unprepared when something unfortunate happens to them or their loved ones. And let’s face it: All the legal speak can be confusing and intimidating. Do you need a will? Do you need a trust? Or do you need both? What about powers of attorney? And what is a “living will”?
We are here to reassure you that estate planning is not as scary as so many people think it is. For most people, their fear is the result of the unknown. Not knowing what you are going to encounter at an attorney’s office frequently leads people to imagine all kinds of horrible scenarios and refuse to pull the trigger and set up an appointment. Forewarned, though, is forearmed. By explaining some of the common questions you might encounter when you meet with an estate planning attorney, we hope to help you prepare for your first estate planning meeting and alleviate some of the fear and anxiety that accompanies it. Consider the following common questions an attorney might ask.
What keeps you up at night? Though this might seem like an odd question for an attorney to start with, another way of putting this is, “What do you find yourself thinking or worrying about most often with regard to your property, your family, and your future, as well the future of your loved ones?” What the attorney is trying to find out with this kind of question is your motivation for meeting with an attorney in the first place. By identifying your underlying concerns, the attorney will be better able to bring the right legal tools to bear in addressing those concerns.
Or the thing that keeps you up at night is a concern for your children. Maybe one of your children has a rocky marriage, and you are not sure if they will have the financial ability to provide for themselves and their children if the marriage breaks up. How can you protect whatever amount of an inheritance may end up passing to that child from a divorcing spouse? Or maybe you have a child who has special needs and will have significant medical and living expenses in the future because of their condition. Or perhaps you have a child that cannot seem to get ahead in life, has substance abuse issues, or is simply irresponsible with money and regularly needs your help to get back on their feet and headed in the right direction.
If these are the kinds of things that keep you up at night, an attorney is going to want to understand your circumstances to properly draft legal documents that address your concerns.
Experienced estate planning attorneys spend ample time with you asking lots of questions to understand the dynamics of your family. These types of questions help the estate planning attorney determine where they should spend their time and effort to design an estate plan that will be perfect for your family and address your specific concerns, rather than just telling you what your concerns should be.