Why Work With Us
Before hiring an estate planning lawyer, understand the difference between a traditional lawyer and Edris Law. Many estate planning attorneys take a one-size-fits-all approach with their clients. They do this to work with as many people as possible in a short period. The problem is that the client has an impersonal experience, but this way of planning can lead to unintended results in the long run for the family.
Consequences When Attorneys Don’t Listen
When lawyers do not take the time to listen and consider a family’s circumstances, the result is that your will and trust documents do not end up reflecting what your family wants to happen. And usually, there is no review or updating, so the plan quickly becomes outdated and does not work when your family needs it most.
Even though you may pay less up front to get a standard set of documents (or even documents that are customized for your family), things end up much more expensive in the long run. Plus, you leave your family at risk of having to deal with an expensive, unnecessary court process during a time of tremendous grief.
We Listen
Edris Law is right for you if you want to know that your plan will work when you and your loved ones need it most. If all you want is a set of legal documents, you can use plenty of online resources to create them. Or you can go to a traditional estate planning lawyer and paper document that may get the same result as an only resource.
How Edris Law is Different
Following are some of the ways we are different from most other estate planning lawyers.
Before you engage an estate planning lawyer to help you plan for the well‐being of your money, your family, and your life, there are questions you need to ask. You need to ensure that the estate plan you put in place will work when your family needs it and won’t end up just a pile of worthless paper after you are gone.
The Traditional Experience
Explaining how we’re different requires explaining what the “traditional” experience with a lawyer is like.
During the traditional experience, you’ll go in and meet with a lawyer who will often make things seem very complicated and confusing.
You’ll take your fancy estate planning binder full of documents home, stick it on a shelf or in a drawer, mark estate planning off your checklist as done, feel good, and never think about it again.
You might remember your lawyer said something about moving your bank accounts into your trust, so you’ll go to the bank, forget what you were supposed to do, call your lawyer’s office, get a voicemail, have to leave the bank, and wait for a callback. This process takes several hours at least and sometimes days, and by that time, you’ll have gotten busy with other things and never get around to moving that bank account.
A few weeks later, you’ll get a bill in the mail for $67.50 for 15 minutes of your lawyer’s time for answering a couple of questions. You’ll make a mental note, don’t call a lawyer ever again.
Several years later, you’ll refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust.
Your children will get older, making your guardianship choices outdated, but you don’t want to call your lawyer because you know you’ll get a bill in the mail two weeks later.
You’ll hear something about a change in the tax law, but you figure you’d surely get a letter in the mail from your lawyer if it were something that affected you, so you don’t worry about it. And, you’d have to dig through boxes to find your trust documents so you could remember your lawyer’s name and find her contact information. Who has time for that?
How Do I Know All This?
I have heard similar stories during my tenure as a licensed attorney in this practice area and have worked with firms that practice this exact way.
Unfortunately, we discovered that the estate planning industry was not designed to serve growing families who experience lots of change on their way to success. It was designed to serve 70 and 80-year old’s who were preparing for death. I knew there was a better way to do it.
Edris Law Prepares You for Life
What makes our firm different is that we were built with the needs of growing families in mind. We understand:
You raise children and care for elderly parents while also working hard to build your nest egg for a lifetime of support. You want to know you’ve made the best decisions for your family and that your plan will work when your loved ones need it most. You want to make sure your minor children would be raised by the people you choose, and never by anyone you wouldn’t want, and that your teens and adult children are properly prepared to care for you and what you leave behind.
That is our focus as well. We’ve developed unique systems to give you the same access to a Personal Family Lawyer® as was previously only available to the super-wealthy, so you can have the guidance you need to build and maintain a life of prosperity and wealth. And to keep your family out of court and out of conflict.
Edris Law is Here for You
We encourage communication with our clients. Everything we do is billed on a flat fee basis, agreed to in advance, so there are never any surprises. We ensure the most important details of your planning are followed through, and your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime.
We’ve created unique membership programs to keep your plan up to date year in and year out and give you access to us, your Personal Family Lawyer®, for guidance on any legal or financial matter.
We Help You Transfer Your “Family Wealth”
Lastly, we believe your financial wealth is only a small part of your overall “Family Wealth,” which comprises far more valuable and often lost upon incapacity or death, intellectual, spiritual, and human assets. These assets are what make you who you are and sum up what’s most important to you. A survey of inheritors has revealed that they care more about inheriting these intangible assets than your money.
Most estate plans only focus on the transfer of your financial wealth to the next generation. It’s just not a priority until it’s too late. How much do you know about your grandparent's values? Their most prized personal possessions? How did they feel about you? What had they learned during their lifetime?
If you are like most people, you know very little. That’s why we build the capture and passage of these most valuable assets into every estate plan we create. Not only will we help you pass on your money, but also your values, your insights, your stories, and your experience, the truly valuable assets your loved ones care about the most.
We’ve developed a tool that allows us to capture and pass on your whole family wealth, including your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets. If this all sounds good to you, book a 15 minute consultation here now.
We look forward to seeing you and caring for your family soon!
How Much Should My Estate Plan Cost?
As you can imagine, we frequently get the question, "how much should my estate plan cost?" And, it’s a good question that I want to answer for you as clearly as I can, given that there is not a “one-size fits all solution” for every family. I would run quickly away from any lawyer who can tell you exactly what your plan would cost via email or over the phone without a comprehensive discovery process.
You see, this is exactly why most estate plans fail. Families shop around based on price and end up with a traditional plan, a set of documents that do not work when the family needs them. We can assure you:
Even if you never do any planning with us, the Family Wealth Planning Session alone is a hugely valuable process for you and your family because you will create a full inventory of your assets and ensure your family knows what you have.
Then, when we meet in person, we will educate you on what would happen to everything you own and everyone you love in the event of your death or incapacity. If you already have documents prepared, we would do an estate plan review and checkup.
If you are unhappy with your current plan or the consequences of having no plan at all, we'll look at the most effective, efficient, and affordable way to achieve your goals." You will be making informed, educated, empowered decisions for the people you love, not just shopping around based on price. You will choose your fee based on your budget and the planning options that are most important to you and your family.
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 you aren't simply choosing the cheapest option because you don't have any other basis for making your decisions. With all of that background in mind:
Our three levels of planning for a comprehensive plan range between $1,500 and $7,500 for a married couple, depending on your choices during the Family Wealth Planning Session. If you are single, planning is discounted from there, appropriately.
If after reading this, you are ready to make informed, empowered, educated decisions for the people you love, get started by booking your Family Wealth Planning Session here or Estate Plan Review and Check-up here