How I Work
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Planning For the Ones
You Love

Our process begins with a Family Wealth Planning Session. Before the session, you will complete homework that will have you feeling more organized and put together than you have in a long time.

During the session, we will look at what would happen to all of your assets and everyone you love if anything were to happen to you. We will then determine a plan together to ensure everything goes the way you want it to so you are always in control. And so your family always knows just how much you care. We will present you with planning options that allow you to decide on your fee and the level of service that is right for you and your family.

Three Levels of Planning

Estate planning at Edris Law is not one size fits all. We offer three levels of planning to suit your varying needs. From starter plans primarily for families with young children and little in the way of financial wealth to more robust plans for well-established families concerned with matters of asset protection, preservation, and increased growth, we’ve got you covered.

Generally, our fees for a married couple with kids who is not focused on keeping the family out of court range between $1,500 up to $7,500 on the high end for an extensive plan that provides significant asset protection after death plus maximum protection for your assets from accidental loss to the State Department of Unclaimed Property or the Court process. It’s our opinion that if you are looking for less expensive planning, you may as well read up and do it yourself because you’ll get the same quality of planning online as you will with any lawyer charging fees that are less than what we offer here.

We’ve priced our planning for you at the intersection of affordability and effectiveness. When we meet for your Family Wealth Planning Session, we will review the three planning levels with you, and you will choose your fee based on your budget and the planning options that are most important to you and your family. Our plans are focused on ensuring your family has somewhere to turn if and when something happens to you that your plan will work and you have real security, not the false security that comes with a cheap set of estate planning documents.

There truly is no one size fits all choice. We have created a process to educate you quickly and effectively to make empowered, informed choices about what you want for the people you love so that you aren’t simply choosing the cheapest option because you don’t have any other basis for making your decisions.

A man holding his child on top of him.
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Personalized Service

We believe in personalized service for every client. Our approach is educational and proactive. We educate you based on the specifics of:

  • Your family situation
  • Your assets
  • Your individual needs, wants, desires & values

We then guide you to tell us what you want most, so we can create the plan (and the fee for that plan) that aligns with your objectives for your family and your assets.
We represent families throughout varying stages of life:

  • Traditional two-parent families or single parents wishing to provide for and protect their children and themselves.
  • Unmarried couples either solidifying their relationship through proper planning or dissolving their relationship with the assistance of caring counsel.
  • Blended families negotiating the challenges of creating new relationships with varying expectations.

Ensure Your Plan Is Current

We have annual membership programs to ensure your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime. Your assets are always owned in the right way, and you will be able to call us with any legal issue without ever worrying about receiving a bill in the mail for hourly fees. Whether you participate in one of our membership programs or not, we keep all of our clients updated about changes in the law and issues that might affect your life.

We often serve the whole family and multiple generations of the same family. From free estate checkups for elderly parents to basic planning documents for young adult children, become part of our client family and feel how much we care.

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A house with a driveway and lawn in front of it.

Your Family Lawyer for Life

Our Family Wealth VIP Membership programs are part of what set us apart and allow us to care for you and your family throughout all life's stages. At most estate planning law firms, the relationship ends when you sign your documents. At Edris Law, we see the signing of your estate planning documents as just the beginning of our relationship with your family.

Make sure your plan changes with your life, your assets, and the law. Over time, your assets will change, your family will change, the law will change, and your life will change. Your plan must accommodate all of these changes to ensure your plan works when your family needs it the most. If your plan is not properly updated over time, your documents become worthless - worth no more than the paper they were printed on. And the costs of failing to update are typically far greater than keeping your plan current.

In addition, we ensure your assets are owned in the right way throughout your lifetime. There are currently billions of dollars sitting in State Unclaimed Property depots, and we never want to see a penny of your assets there. Or for your family to be stuck dealing with the court when you’ve worked so diligently to make things as easy as possible. That’s why we prepare a Family Wealth Inventory of your assets and keep it up to date year in and year out. So your loved ones can always locate what you own and how you own it, if and when necessary.

Three-Year Plan Review

With each of our estate plans, we include a no-charge three-year review. As your life changes, we ensure your estate plan is updated and confirm your assets are held properly for maximum protection. Some of the benefits provided under our membership plans include:

  • Annual Plan Review with Unlimited Plan Amendments.
  • Annual Priceless Conversations transition your most important and most frequently lost family wealth- who you are and what’s most important to you.
  • Annual Membership in service, which provides 24/7 online access to health care and guardianship documents.
  • Substantial discount on our fees for advising your loved ones after you’re gone;
  • Annual Review of Your Assets and Update of Your Asset Spreadsheet.
  • And much more, including valuable membership enrollment bonuses.

For more information about our unique membership programs, please schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session. Let’s review what you own, who you love, and what would happen under your current plan or the State’s plan for you.

More Than Just Your Money: Leaving A Real Legacy

Who you are & what’s important to you, how we guide you to leave a legacy that’s about much more than just your money. After you are gone, your loved ones will miss you deeply. They will long for your words of counsel and concern. Hearing your voice again would be a tremendous gift. Through our unique legacy process, you can give your loved ones the most precious gift, a lasting expression of your love. What could be more valuable?

At Edris Law, we believe estate planning is not just about transferring your financial assets and personal belongings. It’s also about capturing and transferring your valuable intangible gifts: who you are and what's important to you – your values, insights, stories, and experience.

Let Me Tell You a Story

Several years ago, both of my parents passed away. Being able to hear their voice, read their thoughts, look at their momentos is such a gift. However, I have few items left with their voices, handwriting, and thoughts on life. I have one piece of paper with my mom’s handwriting and one with my dad’s. Dealing with their love and light loss would have been so much easier if I had more of those items.

You Could Make a Recording, But Who Has Time?

I’m sure many people would like to record a message for their loved ones and put it in a safe place or simply write notes to their children letting them know how they felt about them. But so few people ever actually do it. We just get so caught up with the day-to-day of our lives that focusing on leaving a legacy seems to take a back seat.

We realized we’d have to build this into our planning process and not make it just another thing you’ll get done someday. That’s why at Edris Law, we make it part of our planning for every client to help you capture and pass on more than just your money: your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets, who you are, and what’s important to you.

Get more information about how we help you pass on your most valuable assets, your values, insights, stories, and experience to your loved ones, or about our resources for leaving your family with a true legacy. Please schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session with us.

Schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session

Planning For Your Children

Having a will alone does not ensure the care of your kids if the unthinkable happens to you! If you are a parent of minor children (or those with special needs) who is counting on you, your estate plan must begin with ensuring your children would always be taken care of by the people you want, in the way you want, no matter what happens.

At Edris Law, one of our areas of greatest expertise is in planning for the well-being and care of the children you love. Without advance legal planning for the care of your children, if the unthinkable happens to you, here’s what could happen:

  • Your children could be placed into the care of Child Protective Services (yes, even if you have a will in place and even if you have a living trust) and, yes, it would very likely only be temporary, but trust us, you never want your children in the arms of strangers. Not even for a minute.
  • Your children could be put into the custody and care of someone you would never want, like that one family member who has good intentions, but you’d never want to raise your kids.
  • A judge who doesn’t know you, or your family, will decide who will raise your kids, even if it’s the last person you would ever want;
  • Your family could get into a long, drawn-out custody fight, or there could be a challenge to the guardians you have designated;
  • Up to 5% of the value of your assets could be lost to court costs and other unnecessary fees through the probate process, a court process that can tie up your assets for years and deprive your kids of the resources they need to live comfortably, which can be avoided with advance legal planning;
  • When your kids turn 18, they get a check for whatever assets are left;
  • There are unscrupulous people out there who make it their business to look at the public records to find out when 18-year-olds are getting that inheritance check;
  • Most estate planning attorneys do not address these issues and do not plan from a parent’s perspective.
A group of children sitting on top of a merry go round.

What is a Kids Protection Plan®?

A Kids Protection Plan® is a set of instructions, legal documents, and even an ID card for your wallet, which you need to have if you have kids at home who count on you for their well-being and care.
If you are in an accident, your Kids Protection Plan® will ensure your children are never taken into the custody of Child Protective Services, strangers, or the care of anyone you wouldn’t want because the authorities don't have clear instructions from you. And your Kids Protection Plan® will ensure your children are raised by people you choose, not someone chosen by a Judge who doesn’t know you.

To get started with your Kids Protection Plan®, contact us.

Our Clientele