A typical initial consultation with an estate planning lawyer may look like this: you meet, you answer questions about your family and assets, and the lawyer tells you what documents you need - typically a will, trust, health care directive, and power of attorney - and what they will cost. This is a recipe for disaster because this means that the lawyer you are considering hiring is likely not versed in helping you make well-counseled decisions that you fully understand, and does not have a business model in place to support you in choosing what matters to you, and then pricing your planning accordingly. One-size fits all pricing (or hourly billing) for a set of documents is a red flag that you may not be working with the right lawyer on your estate plan. 

Our Life & Legacy Planning Process and the initial Life & Legacy Planning Session is the opposite. We don’t begin with a meet and greet style initial consultation. Instead, it’s a working meeting designed specifically to understand your family dynamics, your assets and how the law would apply in your unique situation, and then provide you with counseling frameworks for decision-making that leave you knowing you have made thoughtful, empowering choices for yourself and for the people you love. Importantly, it ensures your planning documents will work when your loved ones need them most. 

In this article, you’ll discover how the Life & Legacy Planning Process, and specifically our first Life & Legacy Planning Session, shifts estate planning from a transaction that may leave you with false security thinking “we did our estate planning” into a process of counseling and clarity that turns you into a wiser parent, better business leader and financial steward, and/or better citizen of your community with the confidence of knowing you’ve done right by yourself and the people you love. 

Clarity, Control, and Confidence in Every Decision

The most significant difference between a typical consultation and the Life & Legacy Planning Session is the purpose. 

In a traditional consultation, the lawyer’s focus is on telling you what you need. They’ll gather some facts, recommend a set of documents, and quote a fee. This approach often leaves huge gaps that could expose your family to unnecessary expenses, taxes, court, and conflict. 

You may leave the work with your lawyer a few weeks later with a binder of documents, but without a real understanding of whether your plan will work the way you want - and an increased possibility it could fail the people you love most, when it’s too late.

By contrast, the purpose of the Life & Legacy Planning Session is educating you and empowering you so you make choices with your eyes wide open. Instead of telling you what you need, I’ll guide you through real issues that could arise. For example, I may ask you questions like these:

• Who would step forward to take care of your children, or if your children are adults, could naming one child to make decisions cause conflict with your other children?
• How important is it to you to keep your family out of the court process?
• Is it important to you that your affairs are kept private, if you become incapacitated and when you die?
• What guidance would you want your children to hear from you if you weren’t there?
• Who would step forward to care for your loved ones and your assets if you became incapacitated or died today?
• How would your family access your accounts, find your passwords, or unlock your phone?

These questions open your eyes to the reality your loved ones could face. They also empower you to make informed choices that reflect your values, strengthen family relationships, and protect the people you love most.

And here’s where the Session goes even deeper. Life & Legacy Planning isn’t just about dividing assets. It’s about the guidance, wisdom, and personal values you want to leave behind. During the Session, we’ll help you begin thinking about how to capture those intangible assets, your stories, experiences, and life lessons, because for most families, those matter even more than financial inheritance. This makes your plan not just legally sound, but deeply personal.

What Happens in the Session

Your Life & Legacy Planning Session is designed to be an active, working meeting, not a passive conversation. During this time, we’ll discuss four core areas that ensure your plan is more than just paperwork:

1. Education about how the law applies to you.

Most people don’t realize that without a plan, or with an outdated one, state law - not their wishes - controls what happens to their assets, children, and health care. In the Session, I’ll walk you step-by-step through what the law says would happen if you died or became incapacitated today. This isn’t abstract. It’s a clear picture of exactly how your loved ones would be impacted. Most clients are surprised, sometimes even shocked, to see how different the outcome would be from what they intended. But this knowledge becomes the foundation for making wise choices.

2. A comprehensive review of your family dynamics and financial picture.

We’ll go far beyond listing bank accounts or property. Together, we’ll discuss your loved ones, their roles, and their needs. Who would care for your children? And would they have the resources and support they’ll need? How would your spouse manage financially without your income? Are there family relationships that could create tension or conflict? 

Before the Session, you’ll  inventory all your assets to ensure nothing is overlooked and we’ll review the inventory together. Even if you decide not to plan with me, this inventory will prevent the all-too-common problem of lost or forgotten assets because your loved ones will know what you have and where to look.

3. Clarifying your goals and priorities.

Despite the pervasive and traditional approach, estate planning is not one-size-fits-all - because everyone's priorities are different. Some people want to keep their spouse secure, others want to ensure children’s inheritances are protected from divorce or creditors. Others may care about keeping their affairs private and others want to avoid probate court entirely. In the Session, you’ll have space to talk through what matters most to you. Maybe your biggest concern is ensuring your children are raised the way you want if something happens to you. Maybe it’s making sure your business can keep running smoothly. Whatever your priorities, during your Session you’ll get clarity and then, if we decide to work together, we’ll design a plan with your values and goals at the forefront.

4. Choosing the right plan and path forward.

By the end of the Session, you won’t just hear, “You need a trust and here’s my fee.” Instead, you’ll make your own informed decision about what’s right for you and your family. I’ll show you the planning options available, how each one works in real life, and you’ll choose the plan and fee that fits your goals and your budget. You’ll leave knowing exactly what will be created, how much it will cost, and when it will be completed.

Bringing it All Together

The Life & Legacy Planning Session isn’t just about deciding on documents; it’s about making sure your planning actually works when life happens. Traditional consultations stop at “what” you need; our Session gives you the why and the how behind every decision. That difference changes everything.

When you leave the Session, you’ll have clarity about what would really happen to the people you love, confidence that your choices reflect your values, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing your plan will stand up in the real world.

Most importantly, your loved ones will have what they need most: a plan created with their reality in mind, not a set of papers that could fail them when they need it most. That’s why this first step matters. It’s the foundation for a plan that truly protects, supports, and honors the people you care about most.

Your Next Step

If you’ve been thinking of estate planning as a quick meeting and a stack of papers, now you know why that approach often fails. What your loved ones really need is a plan you understand and trust - one that reflects your values and makes things easier, not harder, when life changes.

If you’re ready to create a plan you know will work when you and your loved ones need it - and at a cost that fits your budget - your next step is to book your Life & Legacy Planning Session. In just two hours, you’ll gain clarity about your choices, confidence in your plan, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing the people you love will be cared for exactly the way you intend.