On it Like White on Rice

Have you heard about our Plan Preservation Program? How about the expression “we’re on it like white on rice”? Sounds like I may need to elaborate…

Estate planning is not ‘One and Done.’

It’s not something you get to check off your task list for good. In fact, visiting with your attorney to make sure you and your family are legally taken care of should be in the same category as your annual physical, semi-annual dental hygiene appointments, and taking your car in for regular servicing. (You’re doing all that stuff, right?)

You read in this blog post just a few of the many reasons estate plans need to be reviewed and updated regularly.

Do you know when you need your plan reviewed? Will you remember to get that done? (You’re allowed to answer ‘no’ to both questions if ‘estate law’ is not your zone of genius.)

You take your car to a mechanic as part of a regular maintenance routine; that’s his zone of genius. Could you study up on all the technology in your car, and learn exactly when and how to perform all maintenance? Sure. But is that a great use of your time, effort and mental capacity, when you have a dedicated genius to do it for you?

If you have a car accident, you want to know those airbags are going to work as planned. Airbags are a planned system, designed to take care of you in an emergency.  They’ll save you from catastrophe IF they’re working properly. So it makes sense to have them checked periodically to make sure they’re viable and will function as needed.

Same for your estate plan.

And I know what you’re thinking. “Yeah, yeah, I know. When my life changes, my plan changes. I’ll just call Tracey to update my plan when…”

Here’s the thing though: you won’t. You know how I know? Because you haven’t.

Even when we reach out to you to say it’s time for a check-up, nearly everyone blows it off.

At first we thought you were just avoiding the cost of a call or a meeting. So we waived that. And you know what happened? Nothing. Not a darn thing. People still didn’t return our calls.

And then plans started to fail. Families were left in the lurch. More taxes paid than needed to be. Lengthy probates that could have been avoided.

It’s soul-crushing for me to work with a family through extra taxes, surprise expenditures, cascading problems, lengthy and complex probate processes when all that could have been avoided.

There HAS to be a better way, we thought. And now there is.

Enter the Plan Preservation Program. It’s the ‘maintenance program’ for your estate plan. It covers 7 key areas to make sure your family is well taken care of and protected.

Here’s what our Plan Preservation Program gives you:

1. Priority Access. When you’re in the program, you get ‘front of the line’ priority status in receiving responses to your phone calls and emails. It’s like VIP status, but without the need for a wristband.
2. Continuous Asset Integration. You’ve heard me mention that your assets need to be integrated into your plan. One slip in this area could mean your family is dealing with lengthy and expensive probates, and/or unnecessary estate taxes. In the program, we’ll be available to help you any time you have an asset change, change jobs and have new benefits, refinance the mortgage on the house, or anything else that impacts your assets. And we’ll be reaching out to you regularly to ask.
3. Advisory Team Coordination. We’ll make sure every member of your team of advisors (attorney, financial advisor, accountant, etc.) is on the same page as us. And we’ll speak with them directly, so you don’t feel like a messenger trying to deliver critical information in a foreign language. This communication will go a long way to making sure your assets are always integrated into your plan as well.
4. Plan Review and Updates. You have enough on your plate, and you may be surprised when it’s that time again to review your plan. We’ll take the lead to make sure we talk regularly and keep your plan running in tip-top shape.
5. Care of Other Family Members. Are your kids becoming adults? Have older parents? We’ll advise you of what they need, to make sure they have the right legal documents in place too.
6. Educational Services. We host regular workshops, provide nuts-and-bolts guides and maintain a growing library to keep you abreast of decision-making during life’s transitions. These are all vetted resources to keep things as simple as possible for you and your family.
7. Everything Else. You get access to our trusted database of professionals for any situation your family might face. Injured in a car accident? We know the best personal injury attorneys. Need someone to help make sense of money matters? We know just the right people. Just call us and ask.

Life’s complicated. And to keep up with all the constantly shifting legal details you really do need a zone-of-genius attorney who’s all over it, like white is all over rice, whether you ask it to be or not.

The only way I feel really great about my work is knowing that I’ve done everything I can do to make sure your family will be taken care of and protected. And I know that this Plan Preservation Program is the best way to fulfill my promise to you and your family.

Want to learn more? Let’s hop on the phone (fee-free of course!) and talk.