Estate Planning Resources for Financial Professionals

The Estate Planning Team at The Werner Law Firm • Southern California

At The Werner Law Firm, we work closely with other professional advisors, including Certified Financial Planner™ Practitioners, investment advisors, financial consultants, insurance professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and tax advisors as part of the estate planning team. We believe the team approach provides our mutual clients with the most comprehensive, realistic and effective estate plan.

Our Approach

We offer a free initial appointment. At the initial appointment, we provide the client with our general options and a fee quote for the services we will be providing. They will be provided with a retainer agreement which they may sign at the meeting, or take with them for review and signature.

Once retained, our approach is to provide our clients with a form questionnaire and a design call with one of our attorneys. We ask our clients to fill out this questionnaire and send it to us prior to this design call. This not only facilitates a more productive first meeting, but helps our clients focus on the issues and decisions they must make in order to develop the most effective plan to meet their goals.

During the implementation phase, there is ongoing communication with the client, which may involve obtaining additional documentation, clarifying goals and information, and discussing options and tradeoffs. We use all appropriate avenues of communication: phone, email, and meetings. We firmly believe that ongoing communication is an essential element of developing an effective plan, and building a life-long relationship with our clients.

We also believe that no client should sign any document without a comprehensive understanding of its content and the ramifications thereof. To that end, we dedicate a significant amount of time to the signing of documents. It allows us to explain each section of the plan, and answer any questions that have come up in the process.

Once documents are signed, we work directly with our clients, or with you, or both, to ensure funding. We also keep our clients informed on a regular basis through our newsletters and blog digests. Through these regular touch points we keep clients informed about changes in the law that might affect them, and remind them to monitor their plans with regard to major life events.

Your Approach

Every professional organization has different processes, and different methods for interacting with clients. We are happy to work within your processes, or blend our respective methodologies. Our primary goal is to serve the needs of clients and we welcome the opportunity to serve them within the team environment.

Resources

Joint Marketing

We are happy to work with you to speak to your clients or prospects on estate planning issues. Please contact our office if you would like to plan a workshop or a marketing event.