What questions should I ask when doing my Estate Planning?
What Questions Should I Ask When Doing My Estate Planning? The strange thing is that most people do not know what questions to ask… and the reality is that it should not be their responsibility to know either… we discuss the various questions that need to be asked.
A lot of times clients tell me when we’re about halfway through the process of their estate planning that they wish they’d come to me sooner. I was surprised when they started telling me the reason why they didn’t come to me sooner. You know what the funny part is?
The funny thing is that they were so worried about coming in to speak with me because they didn’t know the right questions to ask before we started.
We have been trained to know the right questions to ask
But the thing is it’s not their responsibility to know. I have been trained as well as all of the other estate planning attorneys, we’ve been trained, or we should have been trained, to know the right questions to ask you. Why? Everyone is different. Everyone has different people in their lives, everyone has different circumstances, so it’s not your responsibility to know what questions you should be asking me or one of my colleagues.
Your responsibility is to show up and to be ready and to be prepared and open minded to find out what would happen to you and your loved ones and your assets when you end up in the hospital or when you die.
That’s the piece, a lot of people are really, really uncomfortable thinking about that. Death is scary, death is uncomfortable and it’s something that we spend so much time running away from and avoiding, but once we start addressing it, once we started looking at it head on, it loses a lot of that fear.
You are going to have different things to worry about
So, if you are a parent, you’re going to have different things that you’re worried about and concerned about. If you’re a business owner, you’re going to have different things that you’re worried about and you’re thinking about. If you are a college student who’s about to go to… You’re 18, you’re about to leave home for the first time and go to college, yes, you need estate planning to.
If you are going through a divorce, if you’re in a same sex marriage, everyone is going to have particular needs that are going to need to be addressed. It’s our job, the lawyers job, to walk you through, to hold your hand throughout the entire process.
Don’t worry, please don’t use that as an excuse not to see an attorney, not to start your estate planning. This is something we all need. That’s a good thing that if you show up to an attorney’s office and you’re just sitting there and the attorney is sitting there not asking you questions, that’s a bad sign.
Get out of that office because you’re going to want to work with someone who knows the right questions to be asking you.
My name is Pantea Fozouni with Palm Desert Law Group, and I would be more than happy to walk you through the process, answer all of your questions, and make sure that we come up with a plan that’s going to work for you and your family when you need it. Regardless of where you are in your life, who you are, what’s going on, it’s my job to know the right questions to ask and I’m here and I’m ready to help you whenever you’re ready.
This article is a service of Pantea I. Fozouni, Family Business Lawyer®. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. Go online today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.
