FOUNDATIONAL FAMILY PROTECTION PACKAGES AND FEES

Because each plan is highly customized to meet unique family situations, assets, and personal goals and values, it is impossible to detail your unique plan. Below, however, is a description of a typically comprehensive package with some example package fees.

While it is customary to describe an estate plan as a list of documents, in choosing an attorney you are not just "buying paper." When you retain an Estate Planning Specialist*, you are choosing the counselor who will craft a plan that your family must live with after you are gone; you are choosing the advisor upon whom your loved ones will depend at their most difficult times; and you are creating a relationship with your attorney that should last for life.

Family Protection Packages Typically Include:

• Personalized service with Diedre Wachbrit so that all questions are answered and help is provided, with no additional cost. Diedre explores your unique concerns to craft a solution that addresses them.


• A Revocable Living Trust Agreement, which eliminates probate and the need for conservatorship proceedings in regard to all assets transferred into the trust. This trust directs the disposition of your assets to your chosen beneficiaries.


• For married couples who want to minimize estate tax or provide asset protection to each other, our carefully drafted Credit Shelter Trusts can do more than just meet the minimum legal requirements to reduce tax; we can build a fortress that ensures your children and spouse will be protected from lawsuits and unintentional disinheritance (this can happen in remarriages).


• A Common Trust and/or Separate Trusts to ensure that your assets are protected for your children. These trusts may include asset protection from lawsuits or children's divorces. For clients who seek to maximize protection, we can craft trust solutions that preserve assets for generations.


• Up to one year of membership in our ClientCare Maintenance Program. This innovative program provides legal and personal updates, at no additional fee, on a regular basis, unlimited access to "your law office" for questions or help regarding your plan, and members-only educational events quarterly. This includes our very popular Trustee Training Workshop where you and your trusted family or friends can learn about how to be a Trustee.


• Will(s) that ensure that all property is transferred to the chosen beneficiaries, even if an asset is not transferred to your revocable living trust during lifetime.


• Comprehensive Nomination of Guardians for minor children that is effective during your lifetime (in case you become incapacitated) and not just upon your death.


• "Anti-nomination" of guardians to protect your children from relatives who would be poor or dangerous guardians.


• Comprehensive Attorney-drafted and Statutory Durable Powers of Attorney, that allow your spouse or another trusted person to sign documents and handle financial matters for you. This document is particularly helpful if mental disability prevents you from managing your own affairs.


• Advance health care directive(s), which give directions to physicians and family members regarding continuation of life support systems and other medical treatment preferences.


• A five-year membership in Docubank, an innovative service that ensures your healthcare directive is always available when and where it's needed (they fax it in seconds). For parents, your Docubank membership is also designed to activate your emergency response plan to ensure your kids are cared for by the right people.


• Thoughtful incapacity planning to ensure that you are protected in the event you become unable to manage your affairs for any period of time (incapacity is a major risk for everyone, regardless of age).


• A deed transferring your home into your revocable living trust (it won't work if it doesn't have your assets inside of it), preliminary change of ownership form to avoid tax reassessment of your property, and letters to your homeowners and title insurance companies to ensure that your trust is covered under your policies.


• Invitations to our innovative and interactive Funding Workshops as well as unlimited phone and in-person support from Bob Wachbrit, Funding Director. Includes instructions that provide all necessary information for transferring accounts at your bank, stockbroker, insurance agent or other institutions where assets are located.


• A handy wallet card enables you to get assets transferred into your trust by simply filling the institution's forms with your trust's information on the card, and delivering the form to appropriate institutions.


• Community property agreements can classify all property as community, to ensure complete avoidance of capital gains tax upon the death of one spouse.


• Fill in the blank Instructions to Guardian form where you can provide essential information about your child's needs.


• Fill in the blank Memorial Instruction forms to express your preferences and protect your family from over-spending or suffering from uncertainty about your wishes after your death.


• An Authorization for Custodian to Consent to Minor's Healthcare so that all trusted caregivers can authorize healthcare for your minor child if you are unavailable.


• Fingerprint kits for all kids in the family to ensure that you have the information the authorities need to act quickly if a child is ever missing.


• Letters to all of the people you named as guardians, trustees, or other key positions explaining to them the honor, responsibility and definition of their role in your plan. The letters also share where to find the documents when they're needed. A Trustee Manual and any further explanation by phone to help them understand what your plan means and what you need from them is included upon request.


• Letters to people who care about your child with special needs advising them of the creation of your child's Special Needs Trust and how to avoid inadvertently harming the child in their own estate plan.


• Free lifetime storage of your original signed estate planning documents in our high-security fire-protected off-site storage facility. To ensure your estate plan works, we also save scanned copies of your signed plan in our computer system, which is well-protected and regularly backed-up.


• Your three-ring Family Protection Plan Binder contains copies of all of your planning documents as well as informational documents and forms which can be completed regarding where assets are located, wishes for memorial services, and any other information which you consider to be pertinent. Your Binder is information central should your family face a crisis.


• Lifetime Peace of Mind Meetings. Any time you experience a major life event or feel the need to talk to an Attorney about a major and unexpected issue, you can call us and schedule a Peace of Mind meeting at no charge. For life.

See our Three Levels of Planning Handout for Fee Ranges (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

*Diedre is an Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law Specialist, Certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization