Lessons on Updating Estate Plans
We hit the ground running on our Year of Updating for our clients who are in our CARePlan trust maintenance program. We had several clients come in for the January updating workshop and a number are already signed up for the February program.
All of the clients who attended the January workshop had changes they wanted to make to their planning documents. These amounted to what we call "word processing" changes because they could be expressed to us in a simple phone call or email. An example was the desire to change a Successor Health Care Agent from person A to person B.
Each of these clients found that their estate plan is it was executed only two years ago no longer suited their wishes. Yet I believe that if they had not been in our CARePlan program they would not have made the necessary changes to reflect their changed desires. Why not? For some people, it might be the cost. They might have hesitated to pay an attorney to change their documents.
But in the CARePlan these types of changes are always free and can be done any time. So that's not what kept these clients from making changes earlier. Instead, I think it was the distractions of everyday life that kept them from even considering whether their living trust and other documents still suited them. They needed the nudge from us to first, sign up for the updating workshop and second, review their current plan to see if it still fit.
Otherwise, they would have considered their current plan only when they "got around to it". And we all know how well that works.
It's gratifying to know that our services are really providing a value.
All of the clients who attended the January workshop had changes they wanted to make to their planning documents. These amounted to what we call "word processing" changes because they could be expressed to us in a simple phone call or email. An example was the desire to change a Successor Health Care Agent from person A to person B.
Each of these clients found that their estate plan is it was executed only two years ago no longer suited their wishes. Yet I believe that if they had not been in our CARePlan program they would not have made the necessary changes to reflect their changed desires. Why not? For some people, it might be the cost. They might have hesitated to pay an attorney to change their documents.
But in the CARePlan these types of changes are always free and can be done any time. So that's not what kept these clients from making changes earlier. Instead, I think it was the distractions of everyday life that kept them from even considering whether their living trust and other documents still suited them. They needed the nudge from us to first, sign up for the updating workshop and second, review their current plan to see if it still fit.
Otherwise, they would have considered their current plan only when they "got around to it". And we all know how well that works.
It's gratifying to know that our services are really providing a value.
Posted by Karen Brady at 1/16/2012 10:19 AM 
Categories: Estate Planning
Tags: estate planning living trusts update estate planning
Categories: Estate Planning
Tags: estate planning living trusts update estate planning
Comments