Writing Your Tulsa Estate Planning Blog

We’ve had several questions about who should come to the initial consultation. Let me answer that. At RTY LAW we construct family estate plans. That means if you are with spouse, your spouse should come. Come alone if you are single or a widow, or you may bring one of your children. At the initial consultation we will ask you about your hopes, dreams and fears so that we can carefully develop your Tulsa, Oklahoma Estate Plan. It always helps to have the important people in your life available so that we can learn as much as possible about you and your family.

We’ve had a lot of people ask what estate planning entails. They want to know what information is required, how long it takes and how many meetings are included. This post will explain how full-service family estate planning is handled at RTY LAW.

• You call us or we call you. Almost all of our clients come from referrals. Most of those referrals stem from happy clients telling friends and family. Other referrals come from professionals who trust us, like accountants, financial planners, and insurance men and women. Most of the time you call us, but sometimes our past clients or trusted professionals will ask us to call you.
• We set an appointment and send you an Estate Planning Intake Form. This form looks daunting, but it isn’t that bad. It covers basic information that we must have to create a firm foundation for your family estate plan. The form covers family history, banking, credit, loans, property, stocks, and other assets. If you have any trouble with this form, we are always here to help. We do ask that you complete it to the best of your ability before the initial consultation.
• The first consultation lasts about an hour. An attorney, like myself, will ask you questions and listen. We need to hear your feelings, stances and opinions on family and finances. We get to know you and expose important information that allows us to draft well informed documents regarding your estate. At the end of the first meeting if you trust us and want us to handle your estate plan, and if we want to handle your estate plan, we will quote you a flat fee and present you with an agreement. If you don’t want to work with us, all you owe us is a handshake. If you do want to work with us, you sign the agreement and pay the full fee and we get started on your family estate plan. The fee will go into our trust account, and we will draw down on it as we finish stages of the plan.
• The drafting and funding of the plan takes about 60 days. During that time you will meet with an attorney in person or over the phone three to four more times. Sometimes you will have to provide documents like insurance policies and retirement plans. Sometimes if you want us to, we will meet with your extended family. Once a draft of your estate plan is completed, we will meet with you to go over it and to give you a copy. We ask that you look over the copy entirely to make sure that the plan meets your requirements.
• The final meeting is the signing. At this meeting you will be presented with two copies of your family estate plan. We will have you sign all the associated documents and they will be witnessed and notarized. You will leave with a nicely bound estate plan, and we will keep one signed copy. A few days later you will receive an electronic copy of all documents on a CD so you can make copies and distribute your plan to family as you see fit.
• At this point many other firms would send you on your way with instructions on how to “fund” your plan. We do not do that. We take care of all funding of estate plans, including transferring real estate into the name of trusts, changing beneficiary designations on annuities, insurance policies, retirement accounts and all other necessary accounts.
• You will not be asked to pay any additional fees associated with your estate plan. Many firms charge filing fees, copy fees, accounting fees and any number of other fees. Once you pay your flat fee with us, you will not be asked to pay additional fees.

If you are interested in estate planning contact your Tulsa, Oklahoma Estate Planning Law Firm for the highest level of professional service.

Many clients come to us wanting to make sure that there estate avoids Probate. Probate is the legal process that handles the administration of wills and decedents who die intestate (without a will). When talking to these clients about why they want to to avoid Oklahoma probate with an estate plan, three main reasons continually come up, and they are all good reasons.

1. It is expensive. Oklahoma probate can cost 6% to 8% of the total value of the estate and even more. That means if you own a $200,000 house and no other assets, which is unlikely, probating your estate could cost your family $16,000. There are court fees, attorney fees, accounting fees, personal representative fees and potential litigation costs. Probate can get expensive quick! By comparison, a professionally developed family estate plan by the best attorney you can find will cost around one third of that.
2. It takes forever! It is not uncommon for an Oklahoma Probate preceding to take 12 months. That means it could take your loved ones up to a year to get the assets you’ve worked so hard for and want to leave them. In some cases your family can’t afford to wait that long, they need the money to survive. If that applies to you, you need to talk to a qualified estate planning attorney. If you are here because you need an estate probated, we can probably do better than 12 months. We have expert knowledge of the Oklahoma Probate code and know how to probate an Oklahoma estate fast and efficiently.
3. It is public. Oklahoma probate files are publicly accessible. That means that anyone who wants to know has access to your personal information. That includes assets, account balances, debt and family information. That makes our clients uncomfortable.

We are excited to be located at the fantastic Riverpark Building. This building has a long history in Tulsa. Less than four years ago it looked completely different and it was an abandoned diner! After bringing in a renowned architect and a lot of construction, the Riverpark is a modern jewel on the edge of downtown Tulsa.

It is great for our clients because it is conveniently located near Riverside Drive, the Broken Arrow Expressway and Highway 75. Unlike other downtown locations, there is always free parking ten feet from the front door.

I’ve been interviewing clients, trying to improve my practice as a Tulsa estate planning attorney, and I’ve identified the top three reasons why most of my clients seek my estate planning services.

Avoid Probate
Oklahoma Probate is a long, expensive and tedious process. It can take a year or more to fully probate even a minimal estate. There are attorney’s fees, filing fees, fees for notice and copy fees, just to name a few. Probate generally costs 6% to 8% of the total value of the estate. It is expensive because it is a complex procedure that requires the help of a knowledgeable attorney.

Minimize Estate Taxes
Nobody likes to pay taxes. Estate taxes, or death taxes, as they are frequently called, are the most unpopular of all taxes. It is no wonder that clients want to avoid them.

Protect Family
When a loved one is lost without a plan it complicates an already stressful time. Family members are forced to make important decisions without proper direction. Often those decisions involve money, and we know how that can make people act self-interested. Clients know this and want to help their family avoid this potential chaos.

If you would like to talk to an attorney at our firm to discuss your family’s legacy estate plan, mention this blog and your initial hour consultation will be at no-cost. Call 918-200-9094 and let us help you avoid probate, minimize estate taxes, and give you family the plan it deserves.

After a few weeks the new office is officially set up. There are a few needs here and there, but for the most part we are cruising. Pictures will follow.

The office of the Your Tulsa Estate Planning Law Firm moved into new offices. Well, we haven’t moved in yet, but the lease is inked. We’re excited to have the space to serve our clients exceptionally.

We’ll be located at the Riverpark Building at 1874 S. Boulder Tulsa, OK. 74119.

We are super excited to move into a state of the art facility. At RTY LAW we are focused on utilizing technology to enhance our ability to solve our client’s legal problems. The Riverpark building is fully wired for ultra high-speed internet and voip phones. All with modern design! Pictures to follow.

Today I’m attending a seminar at the Tulsa County Bar Association organized by Jim Calloway the Oklahoma Bar’s practice management guru.

This has been a day well spent learning how to organize and optimize my firm’s processes and procedures. It is all about serving clients well.

If your attorney isn’t returning your calls within one business day, if you attorney doesn’t send you a copy of all relevant correspondence, if your attorney doesn’t quote you a reasonable rate upfront for services provide, your attorney isn’t an efficient attorney.

1. Develop a warm, and confidential relationship with an attorney.

2. Collect and deliver family and financial information to your attorney. Remember, it will always be held confidentially. Good attorneys will work with your financial planner and accountant to help locate and obtain information. Family information is perhaps the most important part of an estate plan. Your attorney will need to know not only your family tree, but also what are the relationships like, what concerns do you have, and whether there are any special needs. A good attorney will offer a no obligation consultation to talk to you about this information and determine if you need an estate plan.

3. Think about your transfer objectives. This is can be difficult, because you need to think about what will happen after your death. Who will get what and under what terms? Do you what to minimize taxes at all costs? Do you want to help your family avoid probate? You may what to consider trusts that pay out over time, or you may want you heirs to get your estate immediately. There are many issues to discuss, and your attorney should walk you through all of them.

4. Retain an Oklahoma attorney to draft your estate planning documents. A good attorney can tell you exactly what this will cost before the work starts.

I was having a conversation with a client who is a dentist. We were discussing how people who work jobs that are high risk for lawsuits, like dentistry, should have an estate plan strategy that seeks to shield assets. I wasn’t surprised when he told me how many of his colleagues procrastinate on this. They know they need to do it, but they think that for the time being mal-practice insurance will be enough.

We were talking about how easy it is to put things like that off, things you know you need to do, but aren’t “fun”. Then he said something that is so true: if you let too many of those things pile up, it is hard to have fun, because you are so worried about the things you need to do. So, so true.