Estate Planning Review – Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why do I need a review?
We recommend you review your planning at least every 3 years. Depending on your estate plan and the complexity of your situation more frequent review may be required. There are many reasons why a review is VERY important for all of our clients.
These reasons include:
- Taking advantage of new planning tools
Changes in the techniques available for planning may allow us to significantly improve your Estate Plan. Currently there are new techniques available that may allow us to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in income taxes upon your death. Also, new techniques may allow us to qualify you for hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits for long term care. These techniques may only be available with changes in your existing documents. In a review we will check to see if these benefits will be available to you and your family.
- Changes in the laws
Changes in laws and regulations may affect your planning and require changes to your documents. In 2017 and again in 2018 the Georgia Legislature changed the law regarding Powers of Attorney. The legislature created new powers of attorney that are specifically enforceable. Powers of Attorney created before this date cannot be enforced against banks, brokerage houses or other third parties. In order to have a power of attorney that your family can enforce if you become incompetent you need a new Power of Attorney with the new provisions.
In 2018 major changes occurred in the tax laws and these changes had a significant impact on the way we do estate planning. We are therefore asking all clients who have done planning prior to 2018 to come in for a review as soon as possible.
Similarly, we may develop enhancements to our provisions that may make your plan work better. Unless you come in for a review, we have no way of knowing if changes or enhancements are required or may be beneficial for your plan.
- Updating our records
One of the important goals accomplished in the review is to update our records for you, particularly your assets information and family dynamics. You have retained us to help make sure your family will have as few problems as possible at your death or disability. We can help best when we have up-to-date information about you, your family and your assets. If our information is several years out of date, the help we give your family will be hindered. The review allows us to be best prepared to minimize problems for your family.
If changes have occurred in your family dynamic or health we need to be aware of those changes as they may affect your planning. - Verifying that assets are properly linked to your plan
The review also allows us to verify that all of your different assets are properly tied to your estate plan, so that the plan will work properly in avoiding probate and minimizing other work that will be required at your death. If even one item is not properly tied to the trust, we will end up having to do a probate on that item. We also review your retirement plan and life insurance beneficiary designations to ensure those beneficiary designations are consistent with your estate plan.
- Refresh your memory and ours
The review allows us to listen. Our first focus is on the issue or issues that you may want to discuss. We make sure those are addressed. These often include changes to your planning that you know you want to make. In the review we also refresh your memory of all of the important aspects in your plan. We have found that many clients forget certain provisions of the plan and are surprised that the plan contains provisions that were appropriate then but are not wanted now.
2. What happens in the Review?
Before you come in:
A paralegal will review all of the existing plan documents, prior plan memos, and any beneficiary designations that we have suggested and then prepare a detailed outline of that information so that the attorney will know all of the different elements of your plan that may have been put in place years ago. This way the attorney will be prepared and well versed in your individual plan and able to fully discuss your planning. The attorney will advise you on any changes that may be needed to update your plan and implement any changes that you want to make. This organization of your file takes 1-2 hours of the paralegal or associates time, but is critical for us to be able to help you properly.
Upon arrival to our office:
A paralegal will meet with you first to review your asset information and update the information we have in your file. This update of our asset records usually takes about ½ hour.
At the meeting with the attorney:
After the asset review session, you will meet with the attorney to answer your questions and discuss your desired changes. You and the attorney will go through the review items discussed above. If you decide to make changes to your documents the attorney will discuss the fee for those changes.
3. What does the Review cost?
The cost of the Review is billed at an hourly rate with a $650 minimum that includes the following:
- Approximately 1.5 hours of paralegal time to prepare the outline of existing documents and the planning that may have taken place over all past years.
- Approximately 30 minutes of paralegal time when you first arrive to verify and update asset information.
- A one hour meeting with an attorney to review plan details and discuss any changes you may want. The review is detailed and reviews all aspects of your plan.
- The charges will exceed $650 if it takes more than 1.5 hours before the meeting to outline your file, if the time to update your asset information exceeds .5 hour, or if the meeting with the attorney lasts longer than one hour. Any additional time will be billed at the hourly rate of the attorney or staff member doing the work.
4. Does the review fee cover the time after the meeting for any changes I decide to make?
No. Any changes that you decide to have us make will be made after the review. They will generally be billed at regular hourly rates of the attorney or staff member doing the work. Usually the changes will be made by a paralegal at their lower rate and the attorney is only needed for review of the work done by the paralegal. If you request, the estimated fee for completing any changes will be discussed with you and approved at the review meeting.
5. What if I just want a simple change? Can I not have a review and just pay for the time needed for a change?
Yes – BUT, this will be strongly discouraged by us. It may result in missed opportunities to improve your plan and may result in your overall plan not being properly organized. We would still bill on an hourly rate. We will still need to organize your file and refresh our memory about your file. So there will be some time spent for that before you come in for any changes. We will still need to update your asset information, so it will not be out of date. Otherwise, outdated asset information may cause much more difficulty helping your family at your death. Also, one change may affect several parts of the plan. In order to fully know how changes may affect your plan as a whole, we will still have to spend time reviewing and organizing all of your prior estate planning. For all of these reasons, we strongly recommend a full review!
We look forward to meeting you for your Review. It is crucial to help make sure that you, your family, and your Estate Plan are all prepared for the future!