Our Estate Planning Process for Pennsylvania & New Jersey Clients

We at Pile Law Firm know that setting out to create an estate plan is a big step. So we’ve designed our planning process to ensure your confidence in it every step of the way. We carefully review each decision with you, and yet the entire process doesn’t stretch beyond 8 weeks. In fact, within one month of meeting with E. Nego Pile, your family could be totally protected.

But then, that’s Nego’s goal for every client he serves throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. His approach is a perfect combination of personal warmth, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The First Meeting

It’s this first meeting with Nego that begins the Pile Law Firm estate planning process. At this meeting, you and Nego will get to know each other well enough for both of you to determine whether or not you and our firm are “a good fit.”

Nego will walk you through exactly what your loved ones would have to do and where your assets would go if something happened to you. His presentation is crafted to put you in a much better position to determine if there’s anything about your current plan (or the state’s plan for you) that you don’t like. And that should give you a clearer idea of what you’d want to happen in the event of your death or incapacity.

Assuming there is a good fit between you and our firm, Nego will help you choose the planning level and fee that’s right for your family. We have three different planning levels to accommodate your needs. Fees are all-inclusive, so there are never any surprises. Working together, you and Nego will establish an estate plan that gives you true peace of mind–the comfort of knowing your family will be taken care of no matter what the future brings.

The Follow-through

Sometimes, depending on the level of planning you choose and the complexity of your situation, we advise a second design meeting or a Whole Family Wealth Audit to review your more-complex financial issues.

Once you’ve designed a plan to your satisfaction, you’ll return to our offices about four to six weeks later to sign your planning documents. At that point, your family and your assets will be totally protected when you die or if you become incapacitated.

With most law firms, the relationship ends there.

But we see things differently; we see the signing of these documents as the beginning of our relationship with you and your family.

The Enduring Relationship

After you sign your legal documents, we don’t just send you on your way and wish you luck for the future. Instead, we create an electronic record of all of your legal documents so you can access them easily anytime you need them. Then we schedule a Legacy Meeting with you. This is one of the most important meetings of our process because it’s where we:

1. Ensure that all of your assets are owned in the right way (You can have the best set of legal documents, but if your assets aren’t owned in the right way, your planning has all been a waste);
2. Make sure everyone you’ve named to take care of your kids knows just what to do if and when something happens to you; then
3. Capture and plan for your intangible assets–the values, insights, stories, and experiences you would never want to be lost; the aspects of your life often referred to as your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets.

This is also where we make sure you understand everything we’ve put in place for you and your family so far.

But we still aren’t done! We’ll continue to meet with you at least every three years to review your plan and see that it stays up to date. If such a provision weren’t included in our planning process, the set of documents you’d get would very likely not be of any value when your family most needs them.

Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you. Contact Pile Law Firm, your Pennsylvania and New Jersey legal resource for every estate planning need, and get started on your own estate plan now.