The Initial Conference with the Attorney

If you have been thinking about seeing an attorney, or if the need for an attorney has been thrust upon you by having papers handed to you by the sheriff’s deputy, you need to plan your visit. It will only take you a few minutes, but it will save you and the attorney a lot of time, and save you a lot of money in the process, since the attorney usually charges by the hour.

Let’s say you are planning to make a will. You should prepare a general summary of your holdings, with general categories such as house, household goods and contents, bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts and life insurance. And don’t forget those other things, such as that camp you own up north, or that lot you own down south.

You should also bring a list of the names, ages and addresses of the people who are going to inherit from you, as well as the name of your selection for executor, and your choice for a back-up executor. Appointments for wills always lead to a discussion of Healthcare Powers of Attorney (Living Wills) and Durable Financial Powers of Attorney, so you should bring your agent’s name and address, too, unless you are going to select the same person as the one you chose as executor.

I cannot tell you how many times a week I sit down with people who come in empty-handed and unprepared, and it takes half an hour or more of billable time to get this information out of them. It would make our lives so easy if they would just prepare a couple of simple lists.

If you know that you are planning to write your will, and if you go to the trouble of locating and calling an attorney, then you are aware that your will is going to lay the groundwork for what happens to your possessions after you die. As important as that is, you should take it seriously.

Take a minute and jot down your ideas and questions, and we will work on the planning portion at our meeting, which is far more important than making lists and looking in the telephone book for your son’s street address. It always cracks me up when people do not know their children’s addresses or telephone numbers. If you don’t know these people well enough to know that basic information, do you really want to leave them your money? You probably know the pizza guy’s name and number better, so why not leave your estate to him? But I digress.

Keep this idea in mind: the assets that you own in a retirement plan, which are designated to go to a beneficiary, are not controlled by your will. The same holds true for life insurance, so be sure to check who your beneficiaries are before you write your will, so everything can be consistent. It is not surprising to meet up with a veteran who has been married 50 years, who finds out that his VA life insurance, which he bought when he signed up for the military after high school, is still payable to his mother, who has been dead for decades.

If you are buying or selling a home and need legal counsel or advice, make a list of the following information before you call or come in to the attorney’s office: the names of the buyers (not ‘Jimmy and Dolly,’ but James P. Landbuyer and Dolores G. Landbuyer), their address, their telephone number, their attorney’s name and number, the real estate agents’ names and numbers, the purchase price of the property, the amount the buyers are borrowing for their mortgage and whether there is to be a home inspection. Bring a copy of the deed, the survey and the Agreement of Sale, if there is one.

If you are planning to sue a contractor because of his faulty construction of a retaining wall that failed after only a year or so, bring the contract. Seems obvious, doesn’t it, but people get all excited about coming to see an attorney and they forget why they are there. Before you leave the house, take a deep, cleansing breath and think about what you are going to do. If the problem relates to a contract, bring the contract.

Bring the cancelled checks you used to pay the contractor, his initial proposal and drawings, if available, an opinion letter from the engineer who looked at the retaining wall and determined that it had failed, the estimate for the repair of the problem that the contractor created, and any written correspondence between you and the contractor. Sometimes a contractor will say or write something that can later be used to enforce a warranty claim.

Being prepared for your meeting with the attorney will ultimately save you a lot of time and therefore, a lot of money. It also shows the attorney that you are sincere, and not just out for a vendetta suit that will usually result in disappointment for everyone. One last thing to always remember to take to the attorney’s office: your checkbook. When prospective clients tell me they cannot pay a retainer today because they left their checkbook at home, my ‘paydar’ goes off and I immediately assume that there is going to be a collection problem later on with this client. My paydar is seldom wrong.