GET STARTED

How to Get Started

I am so glad that you are here and you are ready to get started with planning your estate to ensure that you, your loved ones and your assets are taken care of in the best way possible. By now you’ve seen that we are different than your typical lawyer and because you love your family, and want to keep them out of court and out of conflict when something happens to you, you are ready to take the first steps to get a plan in place.

You know your family deserves the kind of protection, guidance and love we provide for a lifetime.

Now, as you get started, it’s important that you know how we work because we do things a bit differently here at Jill Gregory Law than at other law firms. That’s just one of the reasons why our clients love us so much.

We know that beginning your estate planning is a big step. So, our process is designed to ensure your confidence in the planning process each step of the way.

The Life and Legacy Planning Session

The estate planning process itself begins with an initial meeting, a Life and Legacy Planning Session, or a Life and Legacy Planning Session + Review if you already have a plan in place.

Most law firms schedule a one hour appointment to meet with you. Here at Jill Gregory Law, we reserve 2 hours to meet with you so we can focus entirely on you and your family during this time. Some families find that they don’t need the full 2 hours. Even if you find that you do not need the full two hours, our clients appreciate that they do not feel rushed through this process.

In advance of your meeting, we will send you a package of information to review and complete before our time together, which will help you begin the process of getting your legal and financial life in order. 

During our meeting together, we will guide you to gently look at what would happen for your loved ones and with your assets if something were to happen to you. And then, we’ll look at what you want to happen and help you create a roadmap to get that plan in place as easily as possible.

After meeting with us, clients routinely say “Wow, if we had known how easy this would be, we would have done it years ago!”

How Much Does the Life and Legacy Planning Session Cost?

Our Life and Legacy Planning Session is valued at $750, or if you have existing estate planning documents that you are wanting us to review and potentially incorporate, our Life and Legacy Planning Session + Review is valued at $950.

If during your Planning Session you choose to move forward and we help you design a comprehensive plan, your session fee is applied to the legal fee to create or update your estate plan. In some circumstances we will waive the planning session fee and instead you can secure your appointment time with a credit card number to hold your appointment time to the exclusion of others. 

So long as you keep your appointment time as scheduled, nothing will be charged to your card. If you must cancel your appointment, we ask that you do so at least one week ahead of time so that we may open our calendars to other waiting families. The full fee will be charged to your credit card should you cancel your appointment less than 7 days prior to your appointment.  

We understand that this policy of securing your appointment with a credit card may seem unique. So is our law firm.

We provide our very best service to those families who are looking for a long-term relationship with their trusted advisor. We expend most of our energy providing an exceedingly high degree of service to our existing clients and we limit the number of new clients we see each week.

How to Secure a Free Life and Legacy Planning Session

We can waive the normal Planning Session fee of $750 or $950 if you commit to completing and submitting your homework at least 3 days in advance of your appointment; if you are married or planning with your life partner, you attend the appointment together (unless you have the information and authority to handle the planning alone); and you secure your appointment with a credit card. Nothing will be charged as long as you complete the homework and you keep your appointment.

Note that we do not waive the Planning Session fees for in-person appointments.

What to Do Prior to Your Life and Legacy Planning Session

After scheduling your appointment, you will receive your Family Wealth Inventory & Assessment and other important information that you will want to review and complete prior to your personal Life and Legacy Planning Session.

Your Family Wealth Inventory & Assessment is your pre-session “homework.”

We ask that you complete and submit your homework along with copies of any existing estate planning documents to our office at least three days prior to your Planning Session so that we have time to review your information and provide the most valuable counsel we can during your Planning Session.

Feel free to contact us at any time if you need assistance completing your homework or have any questions at all.

What to Expect the Day of Your Life and Legacy Planning Session

On the day of your meeting, please expect to spend up to 2 hours with us.

The initial meeting with us has two purposes:

1. Identify whether there is a good fit between you and Jill Gregory Law.

2. Educate you about what would happen today if something happened to you so that you know how you can design a different plan if desired.

By looking at what would happen under your current plan, you can identify what you would want to happen differently. Then together with our guidance you can make the decisions necessary (including choosing your own fee) to give you the peace of mind of knowing your family would stay out of court and out of conflict when something happens to you.

Assuming there is a good fit between our firm and your family AND that you identify specific ways you would want things to happen that are different than what would currently happen if something happened to you, we can design a plan for your family right away.

What Happens Next?

Once we have completed the design of your plan, we will review your assets for the purpose of ensuring that everything you own will be titled for maximum protection.

We will then schedule your Signing Ceremony  (or a Pre-Signing Session if we are working together virtually) for about a month later where you can sign your complete estate plan.

At your Signing Ceremony or Pre-Signing Session, we have a process of reviewing your documents with you that makes your plan so easy to understand that you will know for certain that we understood exactly the way you want things to happen when something happens to you and that your loved ones will be in excellent hands with our firm.

Once you sign your estate plan, your assets and your family are protected.

And we see this as only the beginning of our relationship.

Then at the final meeting during the planning phase of our relationship, we verify that all of your asset transfers are moving forward on track, whether we are taking the lead or you are taking the lead with our guidance.

We review your asset spreadsheet with you and ensure all of your questions are answered.

 Of course, if they aren’t or they become cloudy later on, we are always available to answer your questions at any time in the future. And, there’s no charge for that.

What Happens After I Take My Estate Planning Binder Home?

After you take your estate planning binder home with you, the maintenance phase of your plan will begin.

At no additional charge we will review your plan at least every three years and keep you informed about changes in the law and other issues that affect your family and your wealth.

If you participate in our VIP Program, you will have an opportunity to review your plan every single year and enjoy a host of other amazing benefits like online access to your scanned estate planning documents, discounted or complimentary updates to your estate plan, and so much more.

Finally, we are always here for you, and we do not charge you for phone calls or emails.

You’ll be amazed at how easy and painless the entire planning process will be for your family.