Our Process

Estate Planning

Initial Contact

During your first conversation with Grant Estate Law we will gather your contact information as well as some basic information about you, your family, and your goals. The next step will be setting an appointment to discuss the information provided and the options available to you.

Educational Consult

At this appointment Grant Estate Law will list and discuss the various options available to you based on the information you have provided. This meeting also provides time for our clients to ask any questions they have before any financial commitment is made. At the end of this appointment the client will be provided with a Representation Agreement detailing the scope of the services to be provided. When the client is ready to move forward, they will return a signed Representation Agreement and schedule the Design Meeting.

Design Meeting

The Design Meeting is where the client and Grant Estate Law work together to detail who will serve in important roles in the Estate Plan including the Trustees, Financial Power of Attorney holder, Medical Power of Attorney holder, Personal Representative, and Guardian for Minor Children (if applicable). The plan for the distribution of property is also designed during this meeting. Decisions about which beneficiaries will receive which portions of the estate are discussed. This portion of the meeting is highly dependent on the type of assets in the estate as well as the beneficiaries they are intended to provide for.

Drafting

After the Design Meeting, the Attorney will begin drafting your Estate Plan documents. Client and Attorney will be in touch during this time period to clarify goals and make necessary changes.

Review Meeting

The Attorney will prepare a Summary Sheet detailing the people named to serve in important roles in your Estate Plan and the distributions desired by the Client. The Summary Sheet is provided to focus the Client and Attorney on the most important areas of the plan. The Attorney and Client will set an appointment to review the Estate Plan in detail together.

Signing Appointment

While this step feels like the end of the road, it will not be the last step in the process. At this appointment, Grant Estate Law will discuss the Estate Plan with the Client before Client signs. The final step in creating your estate plan is funding it.

Funding

Funding is exactly what it sounds like. The Trust must own property for it to be a valid entity, otherwise, what are the Trustees administering? Grant Estate Law will prepare any deeds required to transfer real property and record them in the appropriate county. The Client will be given letters instructing their financial institutions to re-title accounts or change a beneficiary into the appropriate name of the Trust.