An excellent way for your clients to save money (perhaps a lot of money) on their estate planning engagement is to have much of the preliminary work done ahead of time. In other words, much of the cost of having an estate plan prepared is caused by the time and effort it takes for the attorney to educate the client about the options available, gather and sort the various documents which are needed to develop the plan, and then discuss your clients’ goals and objectives. Many run estate planning practices by sending clients to financial planners who can spend time with the client at a lower cost than the owner can. The client and financial advisor then can come back to mwith a fully developed fact finder and asset allocation questionnaire; a description of the clients’ family situation, and a description of their estate planning goals and objectives.

In the alternative, and this is something which you can do as well. There are a number of estate planning booklets available to purchase as well. These systems are a series of educational and practical tools which allow your clients to learn for themselves what “estate planning” really means, and helps them organize their important documents and think about what they want to achieve with their estate plan. This system can save thousands of dollars in legal fees, depending, of course, on how complex a client’s estate planning needs are. Otherwise, a client may have to spend hours in an office while hearing explained what estate planning is all about, and go item by item through their documents. While practiocioners often prefer face-to-face work, this is an option but is an option many have now added to their practice.

Be ware of ‘affiliate resellers’ of any program, which means that they earn money when their clients purchase the program. The cost of the program is less than one hour of a typical $310.00 per hour rate, but don’t be fooled by price. Choose something simple that will save you thousands of dollars, and it will save you time and aggravation too.