What to Expect

TEAM APPROACH

The cornerstone of our estate planning practice has been working closely with our clients and other professional advisors to develop a plan that truly meets the clients’ needs.

We believe that the Team Approach is an extremely important part of the planning process, and encourage you to consider allowing us to use the Team Approach in planning your estate.

By involving your Accountant, Insurance Advisor and Financial Consultant in the planning process, all aspects of your Estate Plan will be properly coordinated and implemented.  This helps to assure that all important facts and information needed to complete your Estate Plan can be gathered more efficiently.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

We generally begin the process with an initial consultation.  This is a face to face meeting with one of our attorneys for up to an hour.  Instead of charging our usual hourly rate ($150 to $300 per hour), we offer these consultations at a flat cost of $100 (plus gross receipts tax).  At the end of that time we can usually give a set fee for any necessary work.  If our firm completes the work, we waive the initial consultation fee and only charge the fee quoted.  If, on the other hand, a person decides to do nothing with us, all that they pay is the $100 initial consultation fee.  Once we are hired, a general description of the process is:

First Meeting. We discuss the options available to you for planning your estate, determine whether tax planning is required, gather information about your assets and heirs, and help you formulate a plan that assures that the right assets go to the right people at the right management and at the right cost.

After the first meeting we draft the documents required for your selected Estate Plan.  These documents are sent out for your review prior to the second meeting.  Any changes or corrections needed are normally phoned in prior to the second meeting.

Second Meeting.  We review the draft documents with you to make sure they clearly carry out your wishes and to make any final changes, corrections, or additions.  In most cases, the estate planning documents are signed by the end of the second meeting and the client leaves with the assurance that his or her Estate Plan has been put into action.  In some instances, we have a third meeting to sign the finalized documents.

Additional Meetings.  Sometimes additional meetings may be required or desirable in order to properly plan the estate.  In that case, there may be an additional charge for each additional meeting, which will be billed at our regular hourly billing rates.  However, the extra costs associated with meeting with the attorney or staff member is a good investment in order to make certain the Estate Plan works right.  Remember your Estate Plan is perhaps the largest single transaction you will ever enter into.  Setting up a proper plan for your estate is not a “cookie cutter” approach.  It requires custom drafting a plan to meet the unique needs of your estate.

Finally, there are also certain other “cost” items for which the client is billed.  Examples include filing and recording fees.  Lawyers are also required to charge New Mexico gross receipt tax on their fees and cost billed to clients.  These costs are in addition to the charges for legal fees, so they do increase the overall cost of completing an Estate Plan.