At Lawyers With Purpose, we put a tremendous amount of time and expertise into developing tools for estate planning attorneys to help them day in and day out, in their practice and with their clients. One tool for example is the "Estate Plan Audit."
The Estate Plan Audit is a checklist of 15 questions to tap into the client’s needs. The goal of the Audit is to find out where they are currently, and where they want to be. And we can do that by asking them just 15 very important questions that address what their estate planning goals are. Then ask them to rate them each, on a scale of 1 to 10, one being not very important and ten being very important. What they’re really doing is showing us what's important in their world.
When you use the Estate Plan Audit, the best part about it is, that it becomes a non-sales process. This completely focuses on the client, without the attorney pushing any particular agenda. We’re not pushing any particular trust or plan on the client. They’re really looking at where they are now, what their needs are and what they might want.
If your an LWP members you can review our 2012 Enhancement Retreat, where members Jeff Bellomo and Susan Hunter discuss in much greater detail the Estate Plan Audit, how to connect it to the workshop and the stories told in The 7 Threats Workshop. All you've got to do is log into the members website and hover over the “LWP Process” tab, choose the “LWP Program Modules Folder,“ then scroll all the way down to a folder titled "2012 Annual Enhancement Retreat." You’re looking for the November 14, 2012, Day 1, Video 4. Start listening right about the 27 minute mark!
We hope you put the Estate Plan Audit to good use. It's a great tool for distilling all of the pieces of an estate plan into what really matters to the client, in a way that won't feel like a sales job. If you aren't a Lawyers With Purpose member, contact Molly Hall at mhall@lawyerswithpurpose.com for more information.
David J. Zumpano, Esq, CPA, Co-founder Lawyers With Purpose, Founder and Senior Partner of Estate Planning Law Center
