If I knew what was going to happen for the rest of your life, and I knew what was going to break and what you’d need to fix, I could tell you what tool to get. Assuming you knew you would need to unscrew the top of the dishwasher, I would tell you to get a screwdriver. If you need a hammer in the future, I would advise you to get a hammer. However, I don’t know what’s going to break so I don’t know what tool would be best.
There are people who three out of four weekends of the month, are at Home Depot getting the tools they need to do the work at the time. They know what tools to get to repair whatever needs to be done. However, people don’t go to law firms every week, and most people never do an estate plan.
Don’t Leave Your Estate Plan On The Shelf
Those who do estate planning, often only do a will when the kids are little. They then leave the document on the shelf for 30 years. This same estate plan names a deceased person as an executor, or somebody in their 90s to be their power of attorney. While we take the time to repair what is broken at home, we don’t consider what is more important. Having an estate plan that works should be a priority.
Imagine if on a Saturday morning you go to Lowe’s or Home Depot, only to walk in the front door and be stopped by the guy handing out promotional flyers. He tells you that today is the last day that you will ever be allowed to come inside Lowe’s. You then decide to call Home Depot, to find out if they have what you will need. You are told you’re also not allowed to go back to the Home Depot after today. Essentially, the rules of the universe have changed and you are no longer permitted to enter any hardware store again after today.
It Will Probably Be A Full Shopping Cart
Since you are at Lowe’s, knowing this is your last time in a hardware store, and you can’t order tools off the internet, you probably feel panicked. You had only intended buying a screwdriver and a pipe cutter today, but now you will be loading up your shopping cart. While you don’t need all the tools you are buying, you don’t know what you will need in the future. You can’t come back to Lowe’s or Home Depot next week either.
This is how we as attorneys look at estate planning. You know you won’t be doing an estate plan 15 more times for the rest of your life. Most people never do. If you’re in your retirement years, the estate plan you select now, is probably the estate plan you will have for the rest of your life. However, we don’t know what will break next.
Something Had To Change
Something I realised I was doing incorrectly in my law firm, was asking my clients what tool they wanted. They didn’t know what would ‘break’ next and what tool they would need. They were merely guessing because they didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision. I realised that my job as an attorney was not just to fix what is broken today, but also to help you fix what may break in the future. The reality is that you won’t necessarily be coming back next month to tell us what has broken.
I felt I was doing a disservice to my clients asking them to make a decision, choosing between a will or a trust. There was also a tremendous difference in the price tag between the three options I presented. Option one was cheap, option two was expensive and option three was more expensive. With many people not knowing which option they needed, most people chose the cheaper option. They reasoned that they didn’t think they would be one of the two people out of three to get dementia, and wouldn’t need long term care.
We Wanted To Make A Difference
I started my practice to help people make good decisions, and to protect their family and treasures and have a solid plan. I realised that I was offering the best plan to people, but they weren’t purchasing it because it was too expensive. After being in this business for a decade, I started seeing people who trusted me ten years previously to do their estate plan, needing help. Things are broken and the family is ill equipped, because they don’t have the right tools.
I then figured out a way to practice law better. Estate planning was so expensive, because we spent so much time one-on-one educating people. We had to bill for our time which increased the cost. We then created this process whereby we offer classes providing education to more people at once. This allowed us to reduce our costs. We’ve endeavoured to make our best estate plans more affordable by doing group based education. The result is that families are doing better planning because the price is better. Families are also better informed because we’re providing more education in a group setting.
What We Can Offer You
We’ve also eliminated the guessing game and we now only offer the best plan, and a full toolbox. You have all the documents or tools you need, and we won’t need to sell you more tools. Instead we will teach you how to properly use the tools you already have. We are able to enjoy a longer term relationship with our clients once they have their fully-loaded toolbox. Welcoming you as a member of the Red Wagon Club, we provide monthly educational workshops. These workshops teach you what to be aware of when the laws change, and an annual review of your estate plan helps you to remember your toolbox. We also have some fun along the way, with the many social events we host.
If you have been thinking you need to update your estate plan, you should come to one of our Three Secrets Workshops. Register now on sechlerlawfirm.com/workshops. We hope to see you there!
