The Legacy Planning Team

     As an estate planning law firm, we work closely with other professional advisor, including Certified Financial Planner™ practitioners, Investment Advisors, Financial Consultants, Insurance Professionals, Certified Public Accountants and Tax Advisors. We believe the team approach provides our clients with the most sophisticated, comprehensive and effective legacy planning possible. To that end, we encourage our clients to invite their Professional Advisors into the estate planning process. Moreover, once involved, we strive to keep you informed and involved at all stages of the estate planning process.

The Legacy Planning Process

• Step One: The Initial Interview (Approximately 2 Hours)
       The initial interview is intended to provide all members of the estate planning team with the opportunity to meet together, with the prospective clients, to discuss the benefits of planning and the available options. At the conclusion of this meeting, Galbraith Associates will make a recommendation and quote a flat fee for design, implementing and strategically-funding the proposed plan.

• Step Two: The Design Meeting (Approximately 3 Hours)
       During the design meeting, specific planning options are presented to the clients in a logical and orderly fashion, and the plan is diagramed in detail for future reference. Also, clients are provided with checklists that enable them to further customize their plan with letters of instruction to trustees, guardians and/or health care representative. We also discuss and determine how to properly retitle the clients assets, we review legal funding issues, and we follow up on financial concerns and issues identified during our initial meeting.

• Step Three: Implementation Meeting (Approximately 1.5 Hours)
       Comprehensive planning documents are lengthy and must contain technical-legal language. To promote understanding, the attorney and the clients meet to review the estate plan. Additionally, the clients execute the forms and documentation necessary to "fund" the clients' estate plan.

The Legacy Management Program

• The First Year
       During the first year of the Legacy Management program cycle, we prepare a listing of trust assets. We request that the client update our records, indicating which assets have been sold or disposed of, whether they have purchased new assets, and whether the values we have recorded have changed.

• The Second Year
       In year two of the cycle, with the clients' help we prepare updated personal instruction letters, including health care instructions, trustee and/or guardian instructions for children and/or grandchildren, final arrangement instructions, and instructions as to whom should receive special distributions. 

• The Third Year
       Year three of the cycle requires a face-to-face meeting to review exactly what the clients' plan says. Then, based upon our discussions, we make any requested changes to the plan. Additionally, during that meeting we discuss new developments in estate planning and tax law, and incorporate the necessary language into the plan.

Resources

• Education
       Please visit our Resource Center or our online newsletter, Estate Planning Times, for a host of articles on issues relating to estate planning.

• Joint Marketing
       We are happy to work with you to speak to your clients or prospects on estate planning issues, including basic estate planning, charitable giving strategies, generation-skipping and other advanced topics, business succession, or asset protection. Please call the office at 317.578.1400 (in Indiana) or 239.593.0996 (in Florida) or you may complete our Referral Form if you would like to plan a workshop or if you would like our office to contact you about a client that you wish to refer.

• Referral Request Form

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