By now you've seen that Ascend Law is something special and because you love your family, you know your family deserves the kind of protection, guidance and love we provide. It's important that you know how we work because we do things a bit differently at Ascend Law than at other law firms. Here is how to get started on your estate plan today (Our business planning Foundational Audit process is very similar).
Schedule Your Family Wealth Planning Session
Call or email our office to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session and ask to speak with our Client Services Director, who will schedule the most convenient appointment time available for you.
When you schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session, you will provide your credit card number to secure your appointment even if you have a certificate for a free consultation. So long as you don't cancel your appointment within 1 weeks of your scheduled appointment, nothing will be charged to your card. If you must cancel within 2 weeks of your appointment, your credit card will still not be charged unless you fail to reschedule your appointment within 30 days of your cancellation. If you cannot keep your appointment and you choose not to reschedule, your credit card will be charged $250.
We understand that this policy of securing your appointment with a credit card may seem unique. So is our law firm. We provide our very best service to those families who are looking for a long-term relationship with their trusted advisor. We expend most of our energy providing an exceedingly high degree of service to our clients and limit the number of new clients we see each week. As a result, we must secure your appointment time so that if something comes up and you can't attend your appointment, we will have enough advance notice to open the slot to a waiting family.
What to Do Prior to Your Family Wealth Planning Session
About 3 days after scheduling your appointment, you will receive a Priority Mailer with your Estate Planning Worksheet and other important information that you will want to review prior to your personal Family Wealth Planning Session. We must have your Estate Planning worksheet returned to our office three days prior to your Consultation either by mail, fax or electronic mail or we will need to reschedule your Consultation. Feel free to call the office at any time if you need assistance completing your worksheet or have any questions at all.
If you have existing estate planning documents, please make sure that we have your existing documents in our office at least a week before your meeting so that we can review them prior to meeting with you.
What to Expect the Day of Your Family Wealth Planning Session
On the day of your meeting, please expect to spend 2 hours with your attorney. The initial meeting with your attorney has two purposes:
By looking at what would happen under your current plan, you can identify what you would want to happen differently and then together with your Trusted Personal Lawyer's guidance make the decisions that are necessary to give you the peace of mind of knowing your family would be taken care of in the way you want if something happened to you.
Assuming that you and your attorney determine that there is a good fit between our firm and your family AND that you identify specific ways you would want things to happen that are different than what would happen if something happened to you, you and your Trusted Personal Lawyer can design a plan for your family right away.
What Happens Next?
Once you and your Trusted Personal Lawyer have completed the design of your plan, you will meet with our Client Services Director who will first review your assets for the purpose of ensuring that everything you own will be titled for maximum protection and then schedule a meeting for you to sign your planning documents approximately 4 weeks later. We have a process of reviewing the documents with you that makes your plan so easy to understand that you will know for certain that we understand exactly the way you want things to happen when something happens to you and that your loved ones will be in excellent hands with our firm. Once you sign your planning documents, your assets and your family are protected as discussed during your design meeting.
We see that as only the beginning of our relationship. You may make changes to your planning documents at no charge for up to 90 days after you sign your documents. In addition, we send letters to all of the important people you've named as health care agents, trustees and guardians letting them know just what to do if something happens to you.
At our final meeting during the planning stage of our relationship, we verify that all of your asset transfers are moving forward on track whether we are taking the lead or you are taking the lead with our unlimited guidance. We review your asset spreadsheet with you and ensure all of your questions are answered. Of course, if they aren't or they become cloudy later on, we are always available to answer your questions at any time in the future. And, there's no charge for that.
What Happens After I Sign My Estate Planning Documents and Take Them Home?
After the planning phase is complete, the maintenance phase of your plan will begin. At no additional charge, we review your plan at least every three years and keep you informed at least monthly about changes in the law and about other issues that affect your family and your wealth. And, if you participate in one of our membership programs, you will have an opportunity to review your plan on an annual basis and we will provide your family with a number of other valuable services.
Finally, we are always here for you and we don't charge you for phone calls, faxes, or emails. We welcome your communications!
Contact us today to schedule your initial consultation!