How to Start Estate Planning in Pennsylvania or New Jersey

Your family, your assets, and your legacy deserve the exceptional care and protection we provide here at Pile Law Firm. When you seek our help with your estate planning–the process by which that care and protection are secured–you’ll find we do things a bit differently than other law firms. Of course, that’s what makes our estate plans, so effective… and our clients all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey love us so much.

If you’re ready to begin creating your own estate plan and would like our help, here’s how to get the ball rolling with us and what you can expect. You’ll see that, once we engage with you, the steps we take to help you achieve your goals really are unique.

Schedule Your Personal Family Wealth Planning Session

All you have to do is call our office at 610-718-6368. We’ll schedule an appointment time that works best for both you and E. Nego Pile, who’ll be your family lawyer. He sees clients Monday through Friday, and he even offers evening or weekend appointments to make planning as convenient for you as possible.

When you schedule your personal Family Wealth Planning Session, we block two hours on our calendar so Nego and our team can focus entirely on you and your family during this time. We’ll send you a package of information with forms to fill out before we meet. Don’t fret: The forms are simple. Look upon them as gateways to getting your legal affairs and finances in order.

We charge a $750 planning fee for our Family Wealth Planning Session, and if we end up creating a comprehensive estate plan for you, that fee is applied to your legal fees for the lifetime of the plan.

In some circumstances, we waive the planning session fee and let clients secure their appointment times with a credit card number instead. If you’d like more information on how this works, please call us at 610-718-6368.

We understand that this policy of securing your appointment with a credit card may seem unique. But why shouldn’t it be? As we said, our law firm is unique. We provide the very best service to families looking for a long-term relationship with someone they’d like to regard as a trusted advisor.

Most of our energy is spent providing an exceedingly high degree of service to those we take on as clients. This has prompted us to limit the number of new clients we see each week so we can focus on the clients we already have. We take referrals only from trusted professional planning partners, too. As a result, we must secure your appointment time, so if something comes up and you can’t keep it, we have enough advance notice to open the slot to a waiting family.

How to Prepare for Your Planning Session

About three days after scheduling your appointment, you’ll receive a mailer containing your Family Wealth Inventory & Assessment Worksheet and other important information.

You’ll need to review this material carefully, fill out the worksheet, and return the worksheet to us at least three days prior to your planning session. Feel free to call our office at any time if you have questions or need assistance completing the worksheet.

If you have existing estate planning documents, please make sure we have them in our office at least a week before your planning session so we can review them in advance.

What to Expect on the Day of Your Planning Session

You’ll spend anywhere up to two hours meeting with Attorney E. Nego Pile. This meeting has two purposes:

• To identify whether or not there’s a good fit between you and Nego, who, if you sign on with us, will become your personal family lawyer, and
• To educate you about the law and what would happen if you died with your current plan or no plan in place.

By looking at what likely would happen under your current plan, you can better identify what you would want to happen instead. Nego can then guide you in making the kind of decisions that stand the best chance of bringing your desired scenario about.

Assuming you and Nego feel you’re a good fit with our firm, he’ll document the decisions you’ve agreed upon, and you’ll have the peace of mind that comes from knowing your family will be cared for the way you want them cared for after you die or if you become incapacitated.

What Happens After Your Planning Session

With the design of your estate plan completed, you’ll meet with our Plan Coordinator, who’ll review your assets to ensure that everything you own is titled for maximum protection. Then our Plan Coordinator will schedule you for another meeting to be conducted approximately four weeks later. This is when you’ll sign your planning documents.

The process we follow to review your documents with you is one we know from experience that will give you confidence in the plan you’ve created. You’ll know that when you sign those documents, your assets and your family will be protected exactly as discussed in your planning session.

But what if new concerns arise after you’ve signed? No problem! You can make changes to your planning documents at no charge for up to 90 days after you’ve affixed your signature to them.

During the signing meeting, we’ll verify that all of your asset transfers are moving forward as necessary, whether we’re taking the lead or you’re taking the lead with our guidance. We’ll review your asset spreadsheet with you and see that all of your questions are answered. If they aren’t, or if the answers become cloudy later on, rest assured we’re available to provide answers or refresh your memory at any time in the future. And there’s no charge for that.

What Happens After You Sign Your Planning Documents

As far as we’re concerned, the signing of your estate plan is only the beginning of our relationship with you.

Next comes the maintenance phase of your plan. At no additional charge, we’ll review your plan at least every three years, inform you of changes in the law, and advise you on any other issues that may affect your family or your assets.

If you participate in one of our Family Wealth VIP Membership programs, you’ll have an opportunity to review your plan on an annual basis–and enjoy a number of other valuable membership services we provide. Call us today to learn more about these programs.

Remember: Whether you’re participating in a membership program or not, as a client of Pile Law Firm, you’re considered a part of our family. We’re always here for you. And we never charge you for phone calls, faxes, or emails. We welcome your communications!

Contact Pile Law Firm today. You and your family will be amazed at how painless our planning process is. Clients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey routinely tell us after meeting with us, “Wow, if we had known how easy this would be, we would have done it years ago!”