Located in Roland, Oklahoma, and serving communities in both Oklahoma and neighboring Arkansas, the Law Offices of Flynn, Edwards, & O’Neal, PLLC has been a member of LWP since January 2018. The firm provides legal services in the areas of Elder Law, Special Needs,Transportation Law, Bankruptcy, and Personal Injury litigation.
Jeff Edwards, who has 27 years of legal experience as inside corporate counsel for large fortune 500 companies and as outside private counsel for multiple large publicly traded companies, handles the elder law and special needs services for the firm.
LWP sat down with Jeff Edwards to discuss his firm’s mission as well as the impact they’re making in their market.
What brought you to estate planning and elder law?
I was in private practice for five years, and then I worked for a college, and then in-house for trucking companies—all in the legal capacity. Then, around 1998, while I was working at the college, I had the experience of having relatives who needed Medicaid and had to spend their life savings in order to get it. This experience led my reading one of Alexander Bove’s books about Medicaid planning; it was very enlightening. I then began teaching some classes and seminars on Medicaid planning strategies and built a name for myself as one of the very few people in the area who knew anything about Medicaid. Then, a law change made it illegal for attorneys to advise clients on certain Medicaid planning strategies. When I reopened a private practice in 2014, I found that the legal risks of advising clients about Medicaid planning were no longer an issue. So, I began re-educating myself in the areas of elder law including Medicaid planning.
What brought you to Lawyers With Purpose?
I had actually first joined another organization, but there wasn’t software, and the support wasn’t good. I then joined another organization which had great software, but it didn’t have a comprehensive business process. I then joined the local chapter of NAELA, and it was there that I heard about LWP. Since joining, I have enjoyed everything about LWP; it’s a good training system. But, I’ve been implementing it more slowly than I’d like. It’s been difficult to limit my practice to Elder Law, and I am still handling court cases.
How tightly are you following LWP’s systems and processes?
I have had to customize some things, but I’m moving more toward the model and am using most of the system. I did do workshops, but I got overloaded and had to stall. I use the software 80% of the time. I have to use something different about 20% of the time due to certain issues that pertain specifically to Oklahoma, but Amanda Smith (LWP Director of Education) is working on that.
What was your greatest LWP win?
The biggest thing that made me comfortable using LWP was the different kinds of trusts. There are LWP plans to meet the needs of everyone. It makes it easier for attorneys who are not experienced in estate planning and who are not CPAs to feel comfortable that the trust templates can meet the needs of all potential clients. I’m now comfortable talking to high-wealth folks. Another win was that 90% of people in our workshops wanted the work done. I expected to engage 2-3 people out of 10, but I have ended up getting engagements closer to 9 out of 10.
What was one of your greatest TAPER learnings?
At my first TAPER, it was the goal setting and coming up with a game plan about how to set up the office and implement Actionstep. Atmy second TAPER, it was the in-marriage QDRO and the use of funding coordinators. What is your favorite LWP tool? I use the Medicaid Qualification worksheet quite a bit.
What is your market like in Roland?
In my area, about 70% of the business is general estate planning; 10% is crisis planning, and the remainder is asset protection. There is not as much special needs planning or VA planning. Also, although Roland is a low income area, there are quite a few people with sizeable 401Ks and real estate assets. A lot of factory workers and farmers are deceptively wealthy—having a million dollars saved from working.
What is your competition like?
No one else in my geographic area of Oklahoma practices elder law, so I can get overwhelmed with clients within my territory, which is about a 100-mile radius. The only other person in the area is in Arkansas and does not belong to LWP. I also get a fair amount of Arkansas clients. I have plans to open a second office next month in an adjoining county so people don’t have to drive as far.
What kinds of trends/changes are you seeing in your area?
I am seeing new clients with old trusts that were done years ago, which need revision. I am also seeing people coming from other states with trusts which need revisions as the trusts are antiquated trusts that need to be redone. I’m also seeing a lot of requests for pet trusts.
Could you share a client success story?
A client came in— they were an elderly couple. We were able to maximize the amount of money that could be saved through an annuity. I got them qualified for Medicaid, saved $100K, and needless to say, the family was exceedingly happy. Of the crisis plans we’ve done, we’ve been able to get people approved for Medicaid and save their hard earned money.
What is something that people may not know about you?
I have a special needs child. My wife of 34 years and I, together with one other person, started a special needs non-profit organization called Developmental Wings, Inc. Developmental Wings provides free and fun, therapeutic, social events for children and adults with developmental disabilities. We do field trips, horseback riding, bowling, and different social activities. There is no paid staff; it’s staffed completely with volunteers.
What is your favorite book, and what is the impact that it’s had on your life?
Alexander Bove’s The Medicaid Planning Handbook. It came out in 1996, but a lot of it still pertains. I’ve used it to teach and to do corporate training on aging.
