Our Estate Planning Process
At Willockx Law, estate plans are created to fit the individual wants and needs of your family.
Scheduling a Free Consultation
Our client/attorney relationship begins with a free consultation. Please call (586) 580 1680 to set up your consultation at a convenient time for you. We offer flexible appointment times and locations, and we can come to you, if needed.
Initial Planning
We will sit down for our initial planning meeting. Our goal is the make the estate planning process simple. We meet to discuss what will happen to your children and assets with your current plan (or lack of plan). Then, we will discuss what you would like to happen. If your current plan doesn’t meet your goals, we can design a plan that does. This initial meeting will help you learn about the estate planning process, identify some areas of concern (if any), and help you to start thinking about what needs to be addressed.
Homework
After discussing what your plan looks like, there will be some homework. Most clients do not have all the documents and answers they need in the first meeting. This is normal and expected. Don’t be afraid if you don’t have something you think you need for the estate planning process. We will help you fill in the blanks as we go.
Signing
After your homework is complete, we will meet to sign your documents. We will set up a meeting to review and sign all of the documents in your estate plan. The plan will be presented to you in a way that will be easy to understand, and we’ll go through it with you. If you are happy with the documents, we can sign them. Then, you are well on your way to having your family protected.
Funding
This is generally the final meeting in the process. At this meeting, you will receive your estate plan. We will work with you to make sure your estate plan is properly “funded,” meaning that your assets are positioned to help your estate plan do its job.
Maintenance
Your plan’s maintenance is very important. As your situation changes and as the laws change, we will review your plan at your request to make sure your plan still accomplishes your goals. If you ever have any questions about your estate plan, we are happy to answer them at no cost.
FAQ
This FAQ is meant to educate but it is not meant to replace legal advice. Please contact our office for specific questions.
Estate Planning refers to the wide variety of documents and processes that are completed in an effort to arrange assets in a way that makes their owners confident that their assets and loved ones are taken care of, should they pass away. Common estate planning documents include Trusts, Wills, Deeds, and Powers of Attorney, among others. Each estate plan at Willockx Law is individually crafted to allow our clients unmatched peace of mind.
Yes! All consultations and estate plan reviews are free. Please contact our office to set up a consultation for a new estate plan or to review your existing estate plan. Cost of services is determined after the consultation and/or review takes place.
Unique situations include planning for stepchildren, special needs care, issues surrounding LGBTQ families, guardianships, and more. All of these situations require you to take special care and consideration. Major life changes can also impact the estate planning process. Major life changes include: the birth or death of a family member, marriage, divorce, a change in assets, and many more. At minimum, your estate plan should be reviewed every five years and each time a major life change occurs.
A trust allows you to account for all passing assets using one document and one central coordinator (or more, if you prefer). It is an agreement between a Settlor (the original owner of the property or assets) and a Trustee (the person managing the trust). There are many different kinds of trusts and many different ways to arrange them. Meeting with an attorney is the best way to evaluate which type of trust, if any, you may need.
A Will is the declaration of a person’s wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property after death. Wills do not avoid probate. A Will is instructions to a probate court on how to transfer assets.
Powers of attorney go by many names. At their essence, powers of attorney allow the person named to have a degree of control over your affairs. In the context of estate planning there are two powers of attorneys, medical and financial. These documents are commonly used to allow others to make medical and/or financial decisions on your behalf, if you are unable to do so. They can be very limited or very broad. Being married alone does not give your spouse the right to make these decisions, so it is a very important part of an estate plan.
Probate is the process by which a deceased person’s assets are divided among that person’s heirs (or others). It involves paying off the deceased person’s debts, transferring assets, sending notices, and a lot of paperwork. Clients usually want to avoid probate because it takes a great deal of time and money, and it is public record. In addition, there are cases in which heirs cannot agree, which increases probate costs and makes it more likely that the court will make the decisions for the clients.
We offer comprehensive business planning services for our estate planning clients. We can help put appropriate documents in place and set up legacy plans for your business.
Costs are determined after a consultation. Each estate plan and probate case is unique, so the costs vary. Our office usually bills in flat fees rather than hourly rates.
