Helping a Loved One With Their Estate Plan: How We Work With Family and Friends

Many of our clients get help from someone they trust, such as an adult child, a relative or a close friend, when creating their estate plan. We welcome that help. This article explains how we work with facilitators, the people who help someone else create their estate plan, and why we do it this way.

Why we have this policy

An estate plan is only as strong as the proof that it reflects what the person who signed it actually wanted. When one person helps another create an estate plan, the estate plan can more easily be challenged later, often by a family member who claims the plan reflects the facilitator’s wishes rather than the client’s.

That’s why every Summerall Law client who is being helped by a facilitator follows the same clear process. It helps make sure each estate plan clearly expresses our client’s own wishes. If one of our estate plans is ever challenged, we can point to a consistent policy designed to protect our clients. We believe this makes every estate plan drafted by Summerall Law more valuable, because it can make the plan more likely to be upheld.

Who our client is

Our client is the person (or couple) who will sign the estate plan.

Facilitators play an important role, but our job is to carry out the client’s wishes. We make sure the client is front and center throughout the process and limit facilitator involvement when necessary to protect the estate plan.

• The client must attend every call or meeting with Summerall Law. (For couples, at least one client must be on every call.)
• We only create estate plans for clients who can clearly tell us, in their own words, their assets, who’s in their family, who will be the trustee, and who should inherit. This needs to remain true from the time of intake through signing. If at any point it no longer is, we may need to stop work on the estate plan. If the client can’t do this, you’ll likely need to find an attorney who can help with a conservatorship.

How the process works

1. Booking for another person

When you book for someone else, we want to make sure we are the right firm to help, so we first ask you to confirm the person signing the plan can clearly state their wishes without help. To create a valid estate plan, we need them to tell us these things themselves, in their own words:

• their assets
• who’s in their family
• who will be the trustee
• who should inherit

We also ask if the client has been diagnosed with dementia. A diagnosis such as dementia doesn’t rule anyone out as long as they can tell us these things, but we do need to know so we can use a more careful process.

2. Calls with our firm

Before the first call, the client completes an intake form in Essential Estates, the software we use to make creating and reviewing a plan easy. It’s fine for a facilitator to help fill it out beforehand. We’ll review the intake form together on the first call. After the first call, we prepare a draft of the documents and a summary of all the key choices, both available in Essential Estates.

During the call, the client leads the conversation. Facilitators are welcome to join when the client invites them, to support the client and to ask a couple of questions. The questions and decisions should come from the client. If the client has been diagnosed with dementia, however, only the client can be on the call (a co-client also signing the estate plan can also join) and during that call we will ask them the intake form questions independently to make sure everything is accurate.

3. Changes and questions

Essential Estates makes it easy to update a plan draft, for example changing the order of trustees, updating health care decisions, or adding wishes about cremation or burial. Clients and facilitators can both make these changes there.

Any other changes or questions need to come from the client, by call, text, email or Essential Estates. It’s okay for a facilitator to help by collecting the client’s questions in an email and sending it to us. The facilitator will also need to schedule a call between us and the client, and we’ll answer those questions for the client on that call. If a bigger change is needed and the client can’t easily explain it in writing, the client can book a call with us.

If a facilitator has their own questions about the wording of the estate plan, what it means to be a trustee, or how the documents are used, we recommend they speak with their own attorney. Creating an estate plan is about answering the client’s questions, and it can create a conflict of interest if someone else is seeking legal advice. (Giving advice to someone else also isn’t covered by our fixed-fee estate planning.)

4. Signing day

The review and sign appointment has two parts:

• Signing: Only the client is in the room. We will confirm the key decisions with the client as necessary and make sure they have a chance to ask any private questions.
  • If the client has never logged into Essential Estates, we will confirm any changes or key decisions with them during signing.
• Funding discussion: After signing, family members and facilitators are welcome to join if the client would like them there. At that point, we cover any questions about how the client should complete trust funding, which means linking their assets to the trust. Much of this can often be completed by updating beneficiary forms. We will have provided a clear and concise checklist in advance.

If the client needs a translator

Thank you for helping

Helping someone you care about plan for the future is a meaningful thing to do. Following this process helps make sure the plan you help create is truly theirs, and that it will be more likely to hold up if it’s ever questioned.