Westerville Power of Attorney Lawyer

Life is unpredictable, and unforeseen circumstances can render you temporarily or permanently incapacitated. A power of attorney ensures the continuity of your financial and healthcare decisions by allowing a trusted agent to step in and act on your behalf promptly. 

Hiring an estate planning attorney requires research, understanding, and sometimes some luck to find the right fit. We strongly encourage that the selection process includes a preliminary telephone interview with the prospective firm or attorney.

During that interview, we suggest asking questions that help you understand their process and their services. 

While it may be tempting to use generic forms or templates found online, there are compelling reasons why working with our Westerville estate planning attorneys at the Law Office of David Bale is crucial when creating a POA. Below are five questions that we think get you the information you need in making your decision.

(1) How much do you focus your practice on Estate Planning matters?

This is an important and often unasked question. The answer to this question may give insight into how experienced the attorney is in estate planning matters. Arguably the best indicator of experience in a practice area is to regularly practice in that area of law. This question gives you a gauge for how often the attorney deals with estate planning. It also gives you a preliminary answer into how well the attorney can deal with more complex issues of estate planning.

The goal of this question is to determine whether it sounds like the practitioner works in estate planning regularly. Having that information is crucial to process because you want someone who will understand your goals and be able to come up with a plan to achieve them.

(2) What experience do you have with situations similar to mine?

No one situation is the exact same and it is important to understand your unique goals and objectives. Not all planning issues are “typical.” Often, there are differences between plans based on personal information and life situations. My goal is to be able to tell you that I have experience handling situations similar to yours or to see that you get to someone who can. In this way, I anticipate that we are serving you either way, either by doing the work or by referring the work to someone well-versed in an area that can better assist you. 

You don’t want to waste time needlessly searching for answers, and we don’t want you to have to do that either. Since I have extensive experience with many different types of estate planning issues, I also know who else is working in these areas and I can help shorten your search.

Additionally, some potential clients call in and say, this is what I want to be done. That’s great

(3) How much would estate planning cost?

Cost is an important factor; however, it is not always the cost of doing the work that is most important, so long as costs for estate planning seem reasonable for the work performed. Also, the actual cost of estate planning varies based on what options or choices you make, and these choices cannot be made without first exploring and understanding your options. I seldom talk with clients who are already completely informed on their options and needs in estate planning goals when they call.

My firm generally provides an idea about costs in advance, but I cannot provide complete information about the type of plan before meeting with the client. Unfortunately, a 10-minute telephone call isn’t enough time to provide a definitive answer. But that is also why I offer a free consultation for estate planning clients before entering into a contract, so I better understand the client’s needs before there is an agreement for service.

One final note regarding costs: always remember that most of the time the cost of not doing the work or doing inappropriate work is more expensive than the initial costs of appropriate estate planning.

(4) What services are provided?

This is the flip side of the cost question above. You have to know what is included in the service. This, again, requires that you know your options. However, if someone provides a price for a ‘simple will’, and stops there, you can be pretty sure this is not their specific area of practice. They are not evaluating your needs, and as such, they are not helping you plan your estate even though they may produce a Will.

An important part of the estate planning process is your conversation with your lawyer. The documents are important too, but these documents do not in themselves constitute your estate plan; much of your plan is based on how you hold property and how you direct the transfer of property inside and outside of estate planning documents. Sometimes the most important part of your plan is not financial, but based on your relationships and responsibility for others.

(5) What can we expect in the future?

My goal is to build a relationship with you through life. I don’t just focus on your current estate planning needs; I also pay attention to your future needs. Goals change as life changes and I want to help with those changes.

I strongly recommend you “audit” your estate planning documents every 2 years, in the absence of special circumstances, or even more often if there are special events or life-changing experiences occur.

Every 3-5 years, you should sit down with an attorney and review your documents and your goals. I am implementing a process to help facilitate this review by sending letters and reaching out to remind clients of these targets.

Some firms may view estate planning as transactional deals, as a one-time thing – if you’re interested in updating it, give me a call. While that approach isn’t irresponsible or bad, my experience is that this type of work is often outdated when it is used unless it is disciplined by the counsel’s active participation.