Share Your Stories to Make Those Family Heirlooms Truly Priceless

As an estate planning lawyer in Cornwall and area, I have discussions with clients all the time about the assets they will leave behind to their loved ones after they pass away – their investments, their real estate, and their personal items in their home. Although personal items normally have the lowest monetary value, these items are often priceless to certain people.

When I talk to clients about their wills and estate planning, I stress the importance of leaving a legacy for your loved ones that is about more than just the money in the bank and the “stuff”. The stories that people have to tell are equally important and should be captured and shared. It is the telling of your stories that creates sentimental value in a personal item and makes that item a family heirloom, whether it be valuable in monetary terms or not. This was recently made very clear to me.

Allinotte Law Office has expanded, and with the expansion, things are looking a little empty and the walls seem bare. I need some art work and prints to cover these bare spaces. Conveniently, my parents have just done some work at their house and have taken some of their pieces down and were looking to store them or get rid of them. So I went to take a look to see what might work at my office. I walked away with some items that are very special to me and to my family.

Two of the pieces were crocheted doilies that my mother had framed several years ago. These doilies were made by my maternal great-grandmother when she was a girl in the Netherlands. My great-grandmother passed away in her nineties over twenty years ago, so these items are likely close to a century old. My daughter is named after my great-grandmother, so I will pass these pieces on to her when she is older.

The other two items that are priceless to me are two charcoal sketches that belonged to my maternal grandfather. They were sketched in the early 1940s and are of a mine and a castle in the Netherlands. Although I will likely never see the places in the sketches (if they are even still standing), looking at them makes me feel closer to my grandfather. My son has the same name as my grandfather (although he is actually named after his great-grandfather on my husband’s side, but that is another story!), so I will likely give these sketches to him later in life.

In addition to being aesthetically pleasing (and filling up the empty spaces), I now have these pieces that I will see every day that belonged to my relatives who are no longer with us. They are family heirlooms to me and I will treasure them. But if I didn’t know the stories behind them, I could have easily passed them over. At one time, the doilies were yellowed and folded up somewhere and those charcoal sketches were in a drawer or a box. So I thank my mother for sharing the stories about these items with me. I encourage you to look around at your important possessions and to share the stories about them with your loved ones so they too can see that these items are priceless.

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Michele R.J. Allinotte is the owner of Allinotte Law Office in Cornwall, Ontario and she helps her clients make the best decisions for themselves, their families and their businesses. Her practice focuses on the areas of business law, estates and estate planning and real estate. Visit www.YourCornwallLawyer.com to get her FREE Peace of Mind Personal Inventory to make sure that your family has all the information they need.

Love Stories for Valentine’s Day

For Valentine’s Day I thought I would share this lovely post by my colleague, Candice Aiston. Candice is a lawyer (and a friend) who is an Estate Planning Attorney for families in Portland, Oregon.  Wherever you are and whomever you are sharing your Valentine’s Day with, I wish you a wonderful day.

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Love Stories for Valentine’s Day

by Candice N. Aiston

In my adult life, I have learned a lot about love, and I guess the biggest thing I’ve learned is that love is not a feeling, love is the things we do. Do you remember what you thought about love when you were younger? I remember thinking that love must be thrilling, exhilarating and blissful. My ideas about love probably started with some Disney movie, and then continued with 90210 and whatever other TV shows and movies I was into as a teenager. Although I heard from many grown-ups in my live that “love is in an action”, I didn’t really grasp that until I was older.

You know what else I’ve learned about love?  I’ve learned that martyring myself doesn’t prove my love for someone.  I’ve learned that taking great care of myself is a way of loving my family.  I’ve learned that sometimes, when it comes to my kids, I don’t have to say yes to every single thing.  They might not understand my love now, but they will when they are older.  I didn’t always understand that my parents loved me, and I’m sure there were several years when they didn’t feel very warm and fuzzy about me, but their acts of love continued – making sure I was fed, clothed, educated, and given opportunities – and I can see that today.

The truth is, most of us are suckers for love stories, but not the unsexy stories that focus on real acts of love.  We like romance.  And when it comes to our kids, we enjoy those special warm and fuzzy moments like Christmas or birthdays, but we don’t feel warm and fuzzy about the loving acts that we do every day.  Changing a diaper is a loving act, trust me.  (Consider the alternative.)  Going to work every day is a loving act.  Making sacrifices to raise your kids according to your beliefs is a loving act.  Sometimes, sacrificing the feel-good moments for the greater good is a loving act (like when you have to say no to something your kid wants to buy, because you are spending that money on something more important, like contributing to your retirement account).

And here are some love stories that I see in my line of work every day:

~The spouses who execute healthcare directives, so that one spouse is not left agonizing over important medical decisions.

~The spouses who organize their assets so that a surviving spouse doesn’t have to go to court to gain access to them.

~The working spouse who buys a life insurance policy so that a stay-at-home spouse is not left penniless and hopeless if something happens.

~The parents who start planning for retirement and end-of-life care early, so that theirkids are not overly burdened with their care later in life.

~The parents who execute a KidsCare Plan, so that their kids are always with the right people, no matter what happens.

~The parents who ensure that their family always has quick access to financial resources and are never left paying thousands of dollars to get access to the money they need.

~The parents who make sure that the kids’ inheritance is safeguarded until they are through college so that they have every opportunity in life.

~The parent  who makes sure that their child always has an inheritance, even if the surviving spouse remarries.

~The parents who record a special message to their kids, so that their kids always have guidance, even if the parents are no longer there.

And there are so many more.  Estate Planning is the ultimate act of love – ensuring that your family is cared for even if you’re not here.  It probably won’t give you that warm fuzzy feeling that you get when you see your kid on her first ride at Disneyland, and you won’t get any I-love-you’s from your kids for doing it, but you’ll know that your loved ones will always be taken care of, no matter what happens in life.

That’s what love is all about.

Candice N. Aiston is an Estate Planning Attorney for families in the Portland, Oregon area.  She helps loving parents to prepare their families for a lifetime of security, prosperity, and guidance.  If you would like to receive her free report, “The 9 Common Planning Mistakes Parents Make,” please visit http://candiceaistonlaw.com/.

Get Your Legal and Financial Affairs in Order in 2011

As you may know, I write a column for one of our local community papers, the Seaway News. Here is an article that was recently published on their web site. For the original article, please click here.

If you are interested in getting more information on getting your legal and financial affairs in order, you can attend my Busy Parent’s Legal and Financial Boot Camp on Thursday, February 24th at the Cornwall Public Library. For more information, visit my Coming Events page by clicking here:

Get Your Legal and Financial Affairs in Order in 2011

The start of a new year is the perfect time to review and evaluate your important documents.  We’re approaching tax time, so you’ll need to organize all your financial documents anyway.  Why not get it done now?  Investing a few hours will provide you with peace of mind about your financial and legal security.

Some key components to get your financial and legal affairs in order include:

1. Review your estate plan

I recommend that everyone have a Will, and if you don’t already have one, consider setting up an appointment with a lawyer. Reviewing all of your assets and documents should help you prepare to meet with your lawyer.

If you already have a Will, make sure you (and your loved ones) know where the originals are located. Review it annuallyto ensure that the decisions you made still work for you and your family. Contact the individuals you selected as your guardian and executor and make sure they’re still able to take on these roles, if needed.

If you’re making the conscious choice not to complete a will, you should still review your assets and beneficiary designations.  This means pulling out all of your Deeds, policies, benefit statements and other information about your assets and where they would go in the event of your death or incapacity.

2. Make sure that someone can make decisions for you if you cannot

A Power of Attorney for Personal Care allows you to choose someone to make your health care decisions if you are unable to do so yourself. While a “living will” is not really a legal document in Ontario, you can indicate in your Power of Attorney for Personal Care your specific wishes regarding end of life decisions and other important matters.

A Power of Attorney for Property allows you to choose someone to make financial decisions – and to deal with your property – if you were incapacitated. Think about what would happen if you suddenly were unable to sign cheques or make bill payments. If you haven’t appointed someone, your loved ones would need to bring a court application to be appointed as the Guardian of your property, which is expensive and time-consuming.

3. Get your financial and legal documents organized

It’s extremely important to “get your affairs in order,”  As part of my estate planning process, I provide my clients with a Peace of Mind Personal Inventory, a tool to record all their important information, from their doctor’s contact information to their office security code. There are a lot of things that most of us store ‘in our head” that our loved ones would need if we were gone.

Don’t wait until someday–resolve to get organized today!  To make the process easier, I’m offering $150.00 off all estate planning fees for clients who book an appointment before the end of February, 2011. Call Allinotte Law Office at 613-933-7720 to book your appointment today. Please mention this blog post when you call for an appointment.

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Are you interested in using this article in your newsletter or on your blog or website?

You can, but  please use this complete caption with it:

Michele R.J. Allinotte is the owner of Allinotte Law Office in Cornwall, Ontario and she helps her clients make the best decisions for themselves, their families and their businesses. Her practice focuses on the areas of  business law, estate planning and real estate. Visit www.YourCornwallLawyer.com to get her FREE Peace of Mind Personal Inventory to make sure that your family has all the information they need.

Do We Have To Change Our Will If We Are Having Another Baby?

I’ve noticed recently that more and more families are having three children (or more!). Some friends and clients have added to their families in the last couple of years and some will be having a new family member arrive in the next few months. Thinking of all the changes they will need to make led me to consider whether or not they need to change their Wills.

When I meet with clients to do their Wills and Powers of Attorney, I always talk about when they should review or make changes to their Wills. There are some events in life that should make you ask if the plan you made still “works”. Some of these events are marriage and divorce, death of a close family member (or a person named as a beneficiary or executor), and, also, adding a new family member.

While you may not have to change your Will as your family grows, you certainly should think about it and perhaps review it with your family (and your lawyer) after getting the happy news.

Some things that you would need to think about when reviewing your plan are:

• Did your Will name your existing children or did it talk about your “issue”? If your existing children were named, it is possible that your Will may not include another child. If you aren’t sure if your new child would be included in your Will, you should see your lawyer to make sure.
• Hopefully your Will named guardians who would take care of your children in the event that both parents passed away. Are your guardians going to be willing and able to care for another child? You need to check in with your guardians with each new child to ensure they are still up to the task of caring for your growing brood. You also should speak to your guardians if they add to their family to make sure that they would still be able to handle the additional responsibilities that being guardians to your children would bring.
• Now is also a good time to review your life insurance and savings needs. As your family grows, so will your expenses. You should review your financial picture to make sure your (larger) family will be taken care of if something happens to you and your spouse.

So, before you have to worry about late night feedings and diaper changes again, review all of these things and set up an appointment with your lawyer or financial advisor if necessary so that you can be ready for your new arrival.

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Are you interested in using this article in your newsletter or on your blog or website?

You can, but  please use this complete caption with it:

Michele R.J. Allinotte is the owner of Allinotte Law Office in Cornwall, Ontario and she helps her clients make the best decisions for themselves, their families and their businesses. Her practice focuses on the areas of  business law, estate planning and real estate. Visit www.YourCornwallLawyer.com to get her FREE Peace of Mind Personal Inventory to make sure that your family has all the information they need.

Wait! Don’t Sign That Contract!

I hear it all the time from my clients in Cornwall and area, “Can I get out of this [insert name of contract here]?”.

People are asking about leases, guarantees, agreements to purchase a home, weight loss center memberships, you name it.

My answer is usually the same. “Well, I would have to review the agreement first.”

Some agreements do contemplate how to “get out” of the agreement, or, in legal speak, how to terminate the agreement.

If the contract says you can “get out” of an agreement before the term is up, normally you will need to have a reason (which would be set out in the agreement), or you have to give notice to the other party for a period of time, or it is going to cost you.

Most of the time there is a cost to ending the agreement early.

In other agreements, there is nothing in the document that discusses ending it early.

So what do you do then?

Well, you can try to negotiate with the other party, or you can stop honouring your obligations under the agreement and wait for the other party to sue you.

Because that is what generally happens when you don’t fulfill your side of the bargain – someone is going to pursue you for whatever money they have lost. If it is a lot of money, they are going to sue you.

Depending on the fact situation, you might be sued successfully if you break your contract.

And then you will be responsible not only for your initial obligations in the agreement, but you also might have to pay interest, and, sometimes, part of the legal costs of the other party.

Many of my clients are surprised at what their obligations are under the agreements and contracts they have signed.

Problem is, they come to me AFTER they have signed the agreements.

It doesn’t do much good for me to explain all of your obligations under a contract once it has been signed. I cannot change the contract for you (unless the other party would agree to amend the contract, which isn’t likely).

So, next time someone puts a contract in front of you to sign, don’t just sign it blindly.

First of all, READ the contract. It may not be what you agreed to, or you may not like the terms and want to renegotiate some items.

Secondly, if you aren’t sure what it means, ask to have a few days to review it before you sign. You can use that time to have your lawyer review it, or to look it over in more detail yourself so you can figure out what the heck it means.

I know not everyone can afford to hire a lawyer for every contract they sign, but think about what it might cost you if you want to get out of the contract. If you couldn’t handle the cost of fulfilling your end of the bargain if certain things do or don’t happen, you should get some legal advice on what it all means and also, if you can “get out” of it if you need to down the road.

I can almost guarantee that the cost of having me review a contract after it is signed to see if you can “get out” of it (and to help you deal with attempting to get out of it) is going to be greater than the cost of reviewing the agreement up front before you sign.

I can also tell you that almost every time I review a contract for a client, we end up asking for changes.

Some of the things we end up changing could have cost my clients a lot of money if they had signed the contract as is.

And sometimes, my clients decide that once they know their obligations and the true cost of the contract, it is not worth it, and they don’t go through with the agreement.

I recommend that you review in detail EVERY agreement you sign. A gym membership, a lease, a loan agreement, an agreement to buy a home or other large ticket item, you get the picture.

And if you aren’t sure about what is in the agreement or what your obligations are (or what the other party’s obligations are), you should get legal advice.

This is especially important for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

I have membership programs available for clients who want to have ongoing access to legal advice for contract reviews and other issues but who are concerned about managing the cost of legal services.

If you are interested in Allinotte Law Office’s membership program, give us a call at 613-933-7720 or email erin@allinottelawoffice.com.

What You Need To Know About School Emergency Contact Forms

It’s back to school time. The kids should be settled by now in school and their extra-curricular activities are starting up again.

Along with the new school year comes all the forms and contact sheets and other information you need to give to your child’s school or day care provider. I wanted to share this article by my colleague, Danielle G. Van Ess, that discusses what might happen if those forms are ever used. Her original post appears here.

Danielle and I do estate planning thousands of miles apart but our approach is very similar. For parents of young children, both of us recommend naming temporary guardians (among other things!).

In Ontario, the only way to appoint a guardian of your children is by a Will.

In my practice, I have developed a designation form for parents who are doing Wills and Powers of Attorney or trusts with me to appoint temporary guardians. There is no law in Ontario that says parents can do that, but as a mom myself, I want the people I trust to take care of my children to have a a signed, witnessed and notarized document giving them authority to care for my children if my husband and I are in an accident.

I give the temporary guardian form to the parents and to the people they have appointed so that if emergency strikes, everyone knows what to do and who is to take care of the children. I also recommend that caregivers and schools be provided with a copy of the form so they know who to contact.

Thankfully, none of my forms have ever been used (because that would mean something horrible would have happened to a client), but my hope is that in an emergency, the authorities will respect the designation made by the parents and the children of my clients will always be with people they know, love and trust.

Read on to find out more from Danielle.

What You Need To Know About School Emergency Contact Forms

by Danielle G. Van Ess

If your child is starting preschool, daycare, or elementary school, you’ve probably already been asked to complete the school’s emergency contact form.  The school will release your child to your emergency contact in the event of an emergency, but would that form be sufficient if the emergency lasted more than a couple hours?  None of us wants to think about it, but if we should happen to be involved in a serious accident, would our neighbors who kindly offered to serve as a temporary emergency contact on that school form be legally empowered to care for our children overnight?  What about for a couple days or even a week?  Would we want to ask them to do so and would they want to accept that kind of burdensome responsibility for our children, particularly in a time of crisis for our children?

If you have already legally named temporary emergency guardians for your minor children, you should provide a copy of that legal instrument to your child’s school along with their emergency contact form. You should also be sure your child’s named emergency guardians have copies in their possession to bring with them if possible if they are ever called upon to serve that way.  You should also have documentation in your possession and on your person at all times alerting emergency responders to the fact that you have minor children and directing them to contact the named guardians with legal authority to care for the children.  Finally, you need to provide information in a readily accessible format and keep it in a handy place and discuss with all of your children’s caregivers whom to call and in what order in the event of an emergency.

Perhaps that sounds like overkill or a bit daunting but I assure you it’s really very simple.  And just consider the minimal extra effort required on your part to avoid the possibility of your children being temporarily placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families (a/k/a “DCF” or “the agency formerly known as DSS” a/k/a CPS).

That’s why this comprehensive temporary emergency planning for minor children is part of every estate plan I create with my clients.  This is my focus and my passion; it’s taking my motherly perspective and applying it to the estate planning context.

If you have any questions or concerns about protecting your minor children in the event of an emergency no matter where you or they are, please email me (dgve@dgvelaw.com) or call (781) 740-0848.

Wishing you and your children a wonderful start to the new school year!

Danielle’s original post appears here.

4 Simple Steps For Dealing With Any Emergency

Imagine your child or spouse is injured accidentally at home – would you know what to do?

This past weekend, clients of mine (who are also my Facebook friends) posted about their son being injured in an accident. He will be ok, but my heart was instantly in my throat, thinking about the family and about the times I have had to rush my children to the hospital or call an ambulance (for my child or someone else). I can count the number of times this has happened on one hand, but I remember each situation vividly.

Just so we are all clear, I am horrible in a crisis when it involves my own family. I am a bumbling mess of tears. If it were your crisis, I would be calm, cool and collected and I would know exactly what to do. I’m going to need to take some of my own advice here.

So, do you know what you need to do in an emergency?

First of all, if you are calling 911 and emergency personnel needs to get to your house, can you give directions? What side of the street is your house on? Are the numbers visible? I have lived in rural areas for most of my adult life and it is not necessarily easy to get to where I have lived.

I remember saying one time when I called an ambulance because my daughter had a febrile seizure and had turned blue, “well, I think there is a tree in front of the sign where you turn onto our street, but it is the first right.” Um, not necessarily helpful but at least I had it together enough to remember that. Being able to give detailed directions on how to locate your house can save valuable time when emergency personnel are trying to get to you.

Think about how to get to your house and how to give accurate instructions, and make sure you know the answers. Also, if you ever have a baby sitter or house sitter, make sure they know your address and, ideally, proper instructions on how to get there.

Also, if you call 911 and are giving first aid to someone, make sure the door is unlocked so emergency personnel can get in. If extra people are around, have them wait at the end of the driveway (or road) to signal emergency vehicles.

If your spouse, partner or child had to go to the hospital, would you be able to tell medical personnel what medications they are on and in what dosage, who their family doctor is, what medical conditions they have, any allergies, and what surgeries they have had? Sounds easy enough, but I have been asked all of those questions and have not known the exact answer for all of them.

And what if you were injured? Do the people who would be caring for you know the answers to those questions about you? What about the people who might care for your children if something happens to you? Would they know the answers? At Allinotte Law Office, as part of my process when doing estate planning for parents, we prepare a document with parents that contains all this important information for the potential caregivers of their child(ren).

This isn’t just about people either. If your pet had an emergency, you would need to know when they were born, what shots they have had and when, and the date of any surgeries they have had.

Some things in general to remember in an emergency:

1.  Take deep breaths to calm down and make sure you are getting enough oxygen. If you can’t calm down, get help immediately.

2.    2. Figure out what you need to do and do it. Take a moment to look at the options and make a plan and then do it.

3.    3. Call 911 or your local emergency as soon as you have done what you can do. If you are not alone, someone should call the emergency number immediately, before you go through items 1 and 2.

4.    4. Relax. There is not much else you can do after you have called 911. Keep breathing deeply so you don’t freak out.

Of course, emergency first aid training will always be helpful in an emergency situation. Consider getting some basic first aid and CPR training to help be more prepared.

What is in your glove compartment?

Last Wednesday night, my husband had picked up our children so I was enjoying a rare quiet drive home by myself when I noticed a police cruiser following me. I made a mental note not to pull anything out of my purse, lest the officer think I was violating Ontario’s new anti-cellphone law. Other than that, I checked my speed and distance and, knowing that I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I settled in to my seat.

And then the lights went on. I pulled over and looked for my license and ownership, wondering why the heck I was pulled over. The officer’s introduction was “Your sticker is expired. It says December 2009.”. I explained that would be my husband’s job and that I was sure he had renewed the sticker, but maybe just hadn’t put the new one on. He asked for my ownership and insurance so he could run the vehicle.

And this is where it gets embarrassing. Do you think I could find the documents I needed? I rifled through the glove compartment, throwing Tim Horton’s napkins and ketchup packets all over the place. When the contents had all been dumped in the front seat and on the floor, I found the ownership for the vehicle. Then the officer asked for a current insurance certificate, since the one I gave him was from 2006. I didn’t even own the car in 2006, how did that get in there? I rifled through all the stuff I had emptied out of the glove compartment, looking at all the little pink insurance slips that my husband must have shoved in there as we received each policy renewal. I finally found the current one and gave it to the officer.

When all was said and done, the officer found that yes, the plates had been renewed. He cautioned me to put on the current sticker and I was on my way.

You are probably asking right now what is the point of this whole story, right? Well, the point is that although I have no burning desire to organize the contents of my glove compartment, it is something that needs to be done. If I wouldn’t have been able to find the documents the officer needed, I would have gotten a ticket (or two), for no other reason than not being organized and not being prepared.

It is the same thing with doing an estate plan. No one really wants to come and see me to talk about what will happen after they die, but it is something that needs to be done. Part of the process I bring clients through is a review of their financial picture which requires them to gather and organize their information. I do this using our Legal Needs Questionnaire and by providing clients with the Peace of Mind Personal Inventory, which I have previously discussed here.

But now I’m going even further. I will soon be offering a Whole Family Wealth Audit, where you can meet with me to get your legal and financial affairs and documents organized once and for all. You will walk away from the meeting with a FREE Family Financial Freedom Notebook with all of your important documents and information stored inside.

Watch for more information, but if you are interested in attending a complimentary Whole Family Wealth Audit, or if you would like a copy of our Peace of Mind Personal Inventory, call our office at 613-933-7720 to speak with Erin, the Client Services Director for Allinotte Law Office.

Time To Straighten Up Your Financial Accounts

It’s not uncommon to accumulate things over the years, without taking time to straighten them out periodically. That applies to our finances as well as to our possessions. How many credit cards do you carry? How many stocks and bonds, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, and RRSPs or RRIFs do you own? It’s not just a matter of finding time to keep track of all these different financial assets. Often, these assets are acquired without a clear-cut strategy, so you may own assets with similar investment objectives or that are not compatible with your financial goals. If you feel it’s time to straighten out your finances, consider these steps:

• Make a list of all your assets and debts. List each one individually, so you have a sense of how many different accounts you’re dealing with.
• Go through each one of your investments. Make sure you understand why you own each one. Are you really adding diversification to your portfolio or do you have overlapping investments? Assess the prospects of each investment and decide whether you should continue to own it.
• Look for ways to consolidate accounts. Try to get down to one bank account, one brokerage account, and one RRSP. This can significantly reduce the time needed to review and reconcile accounts.
• Assess your outstanding debts. Do you really need all those credit cards? Consider keeping only one or two cards, so it’ll be easier to monitor balances. Look for ways to reduce the cost of your borrowing. Is it time to take another look at refinancing your mortgage?

Modified from a post from financial-topics.com. For the original post, click here http://www.financial-topics.com/37020/e_article001557073.cfm?x=bg90W4s,bgjH7Mb7.

5 Things to Know Before Hiring a Personal or Business Lawyer

Before hiring a personal or business lawyer to guide you, your family or your business, ask these 5 questions to ensure that you don’t end up paying a whole lot of money for services that are not what you need, expect or want.  Hiring an attorney does not have to be a fearful experience.  Instead, it can be the most empowered decision you ever make for yourself.

1. How do you bill for your services?

There is no need to be afraid to talk with your lawyer about how he/she bills for the work they will do on your behalf.  In fact, when you first call a lawyer’s office, this is one of the very first questions you should ask.  No one wants surprises!

If when you call the attorney’s office, they will not give you any information about how they charge for their services or any expectation of what things will cost, beware you could be in for some big surprises about what things cost down the road.

Look for a lawyer who bills all of their services on a flat-fee, project basis and never on an hourly basis, unless required to by the Court for limited purposes.  In every event, be sure the lawyer you choose promises to never send you an unexpected bill in the mail for quick phone calls or emails.

2. How are you able to be responsive to my needs on an ongoing basis?

One of the biggest complaints people have about working with a lawyer is that lawyers are notorious for not being responsive.  In fact, I’ve heard of situations in which clients have gone weeks without getting a call back from their lawyer.

This generally happens when a lawyer does not have enough administrative support in his or her office.  Far too many lawyers believe they can take care of everything in and around their office themselves, from paperwork to client meetings to calendaring to returning phone calls to connecting with their clients other advisors, the list goes on and on.  Truth is, a lawyer who is a true solo practitioner without administrative support or in a firm without adequate support will become overwhelmed and non-responsive to your needs.

You can and should ask your lawyer how he or she will respond to your ongoing needs, how quickly calls are returned in the office, if there is someone on hand to answer quick questions and if you should expect to get right through to your lawyer when you call the office.

A great way to test this is to call your prospective lawyer’s office and ask for him or her.  If you get put right through or even worse sent to a voicemail, think twice about hiring this lawyer because it means they do not have effective systems in place for managing and responding to calls or answering your quick questions.  Instead, what you want is for the person answering the phone or another team member to offer to help you and if he or she cannot then to schedule a call for you to talk with your lawyer at a future date and time when he or she will be ready to focus on your matter.

Your lawyer cannot be effective and efficient if he or she is taking every call that comes through to him or her – all calls should be pre-scheduled when you are both ready and your lawyer can focus on your specific needs.

3. How will you proactively communicate with me on an ongoing basis?

Unfortunately, most lawyers do a horrible job of proactively communicating with their clients on an ongoing basis.  The general thinking in the legal industry is that legal work is transactional in nature and clients will call when something changes.  But, this is faulty thinking and in my opinion just pure laziness on the part of lawyers.

You want to look for a lawyer who will proactively communicate with you at least quarterly by mail via an informative, easy to read newsletter and monthly by email.  I prefer to hear from the professionals I work with monthly by mail and weekly by email, but progress can only happen so fast.

If you are considering hiring a lawyer who does not proactively communicate with his or her clients, think again.  This lawyer might be stuck in an old, outdated mindset that won’t serve your needs in the best possible way.

4. Can I call about any legal problem I have or just about matters within your specialty?

In today’s complex world, lawyers must have specialized training in one or more specific practice areas, such as divorce, bankruptcy, wills & trusts, estates, personal injury, business, criminal matters or employment.  You definitely do NOT want to be working with a lawyer who professes to be an expert in whatever walks through the door.   However, you do want your personal lawyer and/or business lawyer to have a broad enough expertise that you can consult with your lawyer on all sorts of legal or financial issues that come up in your life and he or she will be able to guide you right.

Trust me, you probably don’t want the lawyer who designed your estate plan to also handle your personal injury claim, your dispute with your landlord and advise you on your divorce, but you do want him or her to be there to hear your story, find you the exact right lawyer and be available as a consultant to you. That way, you can call you personal lawyer before signing legal documents (even loan documents), any time you have a legal or financial issue, or whenever anything that could affect your family or business adversely comes up and know you’ll get great guidance.

Look for a lawyer who has an ongoing service program or membership program in place so that you can pay a low monthly fee and be able to call with all of your legal and financial questions without being charged hourly for the consultation.  And be sure that when you call, you’ll get to schedule time to talk with your own personal lawyer who you know and trust and not get passed off to one of any number of lawyers who happen to work in the office and may not know who you are or what’s important to you.

5. What happens if you die or retire?

This is a critically important question to ask any service professional when beginning a relationship and a question that is far too often overlooked.  Sure, it may feel uncomfortable to ask, but a truly excellent, client-centered service provider will have in place a plan to ensure their clients are taken care of no matter what happens to the lawyer in the future.

Answers you want to look for here are that your lawyer has a clear plan in place for someone warm and caring to take over your matter without providing any interruption of service to you. If your lawyer prepared a Will, Trust and other estate planning documents for you, or you are in the middle of a divorce or lawsuit, you want to ensure your lawyer has a plan in place so you won’t need to start everything over from scratch.  And, if you are on a membership program with your lawyer, you’ll want to make sure he or she has a relationship with a lawyer or network of lawyers who can continue to service you under that program.

When you ask these 5 questions before hiring a lawyer for any type of legal matter, you will know you are engaging a trusted advisor who will help you to make the very best decisions for you, your family and your business for the rest of your lifetime.

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