What should I look for in hiring an estate planning lawyer? Attorney in Menlo Park, California
What should I look for in hiring an estate planning lawyer?
What should I look for in hiring an estate planning lawyer?
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estate planning lawyers are an
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interesting breed and one thing about
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estate planning is you can get people
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that have just filled in documents and
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can turn out thousands of documents a
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year at a very reduced cost and those
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people can say they’ve had a lot of
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experience because they’ve done
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thousands of documents but the reality
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is they’re not planning they’re filling
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names in blanks or their paralegals are
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and so when you interview an estate
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planning lawyer you want to know the
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actual experience when they get up in
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the morning every day are they doing
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just estate planning are they doing a
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state and Trust Administration because
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if they’re doing general practice or
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real estate or other things they’re not
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focused on estate planning and all the
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issues related to it you know trusts or
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documents that people look at and they
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all kind of look the same they’re
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usually thick and people don’t approach
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them with the idea of reading through
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and finding in there what they told the
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lawyer that they wanted to happen when
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they died or when they made the gift or
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whatever the Trust is for and so the
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only way that you can really know that
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you’ve you’ve got a good document is to
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go to someone experienced some people
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try to do it themselves you know and
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that’s like the worst because you you’re
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never gonna know if it really worked
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because you’re gonna be dead and then
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the family has to clean up what you
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didn’t do in an organized fashion so
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experience number one number two is
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confidence and in California were very
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lucky we have certifications for estate
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planning lawyers so you can check that
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very easily that the person is competent
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at what they do in addition to being
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experienced drafters and I think the
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third most important thing to ask an
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attorney as doing estate planning is how
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many trusts they’ve actually
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administered are they working through
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the document when someone actually dies
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or are they just selling documents and
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selling documents and selling documents
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but at the time of the death are they
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actually administering it that’s a key
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that’s very important and so experienced
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competence and
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how many estates they’re actually
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administering on an annual basis
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Contact Mary White
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Menlo Park, CA estates and probate lawyer Mary White explains what you should look for in hiring an estate planning lawyer.
