Productivity and the Grave – The Conversation (Part 1 – Legal People)

Productive people have systems for things and elements of their life set up. This series of articles is for everyone who will die someday. It's about leaving people with heartache and no headache. We started with Collecting a Record of Your Things. Now it's time to have The Conversation. The conversation that I'm referring to is with a lawyer. [Part 2 will be the conversation with your parents (benefactors) and/or kids (or other beneficiaries)]. By way of definition: Benefactors leave money & assets to someone or something such as a charity. Beneficiaries receive the benefit of assets left to them. Assets are things with value from a business to a ring.

Let's assume that you have this terrific (complete) list of your assets. Kudos, you've already saved yourself a lot of money in professional fees. Now you need to find a good lawyer. Then, you have to have the conversation about some major things namely your

• Power of Attorney for Health Care
• Power of Attorney for financial matters
• Living Will
• Will
• Trust

Let's start with finding a good lawyer. Go back to your pad of paper or spreadsheet, start a new sheet and write the characteristics and experience you want the lawyer to have. As a starting point, things I care about:

• Has done lots of wills and trusts

• Has been around long enough to see the impact of previous wills and trusts
• Is a good conversationalist – listens, asks insightful questions, and gives information and stays on the topic!
• Is available. If I have to wait 24 hours for a call back every time I call, that's not fast enough. The occasional wait is ok, but not every time.
• Knows the tax and money impacts of your decisions
• Knows the human and personal impacts of your decisions (we want them to keep peace with your beneficiaries but the exact opposite sometimes happens)
• Fee must be reasonable. I don't believe the more you pay the more you get – my real-life experience shows that value comes in many varying priced packages!

Complete this list with things you care about. Talk to people you know about their lawyers and seek a referral to two or three lawyers who meet your criteria.

Make appointments with the lawyers.

Prepare a list of questions to qualify her. These questions should ferret out whether she meets your criteria for a 'good lawyer'.

Yes, this seems like a lot of work. It's really a blink of time related to the years that you spend earning your money. You want to keep it and deliver it to your choice of recipients when you die and this is almost no time at all compared to what you invested in time & energy to earn it. Keep at it! [Things you'll avoid paying by having done your work here: excessive probate fees, piles of taxes to the IRS, estate taxes to your state, lawyer fees, contest proceeding and a whole mess of expensive, time consuming, and bothersome things.]

Have your interview meetings with the lawyers where you decide which one you'll be working with.

Now the day comes… you have your meeting with the lawyer of choice to begin laying out your estate plan. I leave you with the professional here and pick up in the next article Productivity & The Grave - The Conversation Part 2 (Benefactors & Beneficiaries).