Have you seen or spoken to ALL of your clients in the last few years? If not, you may want to consider doing so. Periodic client review meetings are valuable for both the client and the attorney. For clients, there are many reasons to keep their estate plans updated to incorporate the changing landscape of their family unit and life events:
- Marriages or divorces
- Remarriage of a surviving spouse
- Birth or adoption of children or grandchildren
- Death of a spouse or someone named in the estate plan
- Illness or injury
- Change in relationships, distributions or goals
- Change in estate and tax laws
- Change in assets or new assets purchased
- Change in residence – value or location
For attorneys, client review meetings are a way to ensure all necessary changes are incorporated into your client’s estate planning documents to meet their goals. There are also other bonuses when you reconnect with your clients:
- Create a stronger relationship with your clients
- Connect to clients’ family members for second generation planning
- Amendment or restatement work if needed
- Change document language to keep up with state and federal laws
- Referrals to the firm
- Leads for private speaking engagements
- Financial advisors’ names to build up a networking database
- Promote a new service or practice area of the firm
- New Trust Administration or probate cases
Creating a comprehensive estate plan is just the first step in the estate planning process. The next step is to create a systematic program that occurs every year or month (depending on your system) to touch base with your clients. A system is an activity or function that happens the same way every time with a follow up system to remind you to execute it. Once you connect with your clients, bring them in to review their plan to make sure it accurately reflects their current personal and financial goals.
Clients are a precious resource. By touching base with them on a regular basis, you can make sure the estate plan you created for them years ago is keeping pace with their evolving needs and serving them the way you intended.
Susan Russel
Director of Member Services
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com
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Thanks for the checklist of events that make a client review necessary and sharing why they are so important.