What to expect during an estate planning consultation

When you make an appointment to meet with a Florida estate planning attorney to discuss creating new, or updating older estate planning documents, several issues will be covered. During the consultation, the attorney will get to know the clients and their situation, and by the end of the meeting, the clients will have a good understanding of what documents are suggested and why.

Information to gather prior to an estate planning meeting

• Names and addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, dates of marriage, or divorce of both husband and wife, if a couple is the client.

• Names and addresses of children, if children are married, have children, and if any of the children or grandchildren have disabilities.

• Names, addresses and phone numbers of other trusted family members, if those family members will serve in any capacity such as agent under power of attorney, health care surrogate, trustee, or personal representative. 

• Information on assets, specifically IRA, other retirement accounts, real property (other than homestead), bank accounts, investment accounts, or annuities. 

• Information on income to include amounts and sources. 

• Copies of any previous estate planning documents. 

What is discussed during your Florida estate planning consultation

• Her review of prior documents (if provided prior to appt) and if they need to be updated due to age of documents, changes in the law, or the inability of prior named family members to serve in those roles as named in the current documents. 

• The process for probate in Florida, and how probate can be avoided based on the assets owned. For example, IRAs have beneficiary designations and if the beneficiary designations are current at death, probate is not necessary to pass the assets. 

• If any beneficiaries have special concerns, such as disability, inability to manage money, or creditor issues that could impact future inheritance and how to protect that inheritance via a spend-thrift trust, or special needs trust.  

• Whether or not a revocable trust is recommended or if wills are sufficient. 

• What powers are required in a durable power of attorney for an agent to qualify the client for public benefits, if that possibility arises, for example a lengthy nursing home stay. 

• The difference between an advanced health care directive, living will and DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) , the purpose and use of each document and why they are needed. 

Steps your Sarasota estate planning attorney will take after you meet

• Send the client(s) a follow up letter or email outlining in detail the suggestions made during the meeting and the cost associated with completing the work. 

• When the client agrees to move forward, a fee agreement will be sent for client signature, and drafting of the documents will begin when one-half the fee is paid.

• When drafts are completed, the drafts will be sent by secure email for review and the balance of the fee is collected. 

• Once the client approves the documents, and any changes or corrections are made, the client will be contacted to set up a signing appt which will take about one hour.

• At the end of the appt, the client will take home all original documents, and a flash drive with PDF copies downloaded for future use.

• The firm will retain digital copies of all documents in the client digital file for a period of no less than six years, as required by law. 

Contact an experienced Florida estate planning lawyer to schedule an appointment

Teresa K. Bowman, P.A. handles probate and trust administration tasks with great care and understanding for clients in Sarasota and Osprey. Please call 941-735-5200 or contact my Sarasota office online to schedule an appointment.