Almost every client begins their journey to creating estate documents with an intake meeting. Inevitably, the first questions asked when the meeting is scheduled is, “what should I bring?” The good news is that there is no requirement for you to bring anything to your intake meeting. However, to get the most out of your meeting, it is beneficial to prepare for it. Here are a few key ways to do that:
- Review and bring any prior estate documents that you have. This may not be necessary for your circumstances, but it is definitely helpful.
- Gather basic information regarding your assets. One of the most important parts of the intake meeting is gathering information on what you own. At this point, we may not need to go into extensive detail, but we will need an outline of sorts. This does includes assets, such as real estate, that may be located in another state.
- Think about what you want to happen with your assets and consider what is most important to you about that plan. For example, are you really wanting avoid probate? Do you have a lot of creditors? Are your children minors? At what ages do you want your heirs (or beneficiaries) to receive their distribution?
- Come with questions. Another large part of the first meeting involves me teaching clients about the law and various options available. This is usually a great conversation that is only made better if questions are involved. This is your plan that we are building and I want you to be completely comfortable with the options you choose.
- If you are interested, use our intake informational sheets. If you would like assistance in thinking through some of the details, our office does have intake forms that can be useful. Please feel free to use these, but they are optional.
The bottom-line is that we hope to make the intake process pleasant and straight-forward. Even if you feel completely unprepared for the meeting, we will gladly walk you through the process.
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