All of the Estate Planning we do is billed on an upfront flat fee basis. We Agree to it in advance so there are no surprises. Our clients really like it and we do too. We build strong relationships and exceptional files when we don’t have track every 6 minutes.
Additionally, we attempt to respond to our clients’ questions within 48 hours. Building our relationship with you is important, and we strive to exceed your expectations.
We do not leave the ownership of your assets to chance. We work with you to ensure your assets are properly titled in the name of the trust. We take responsibility to supervise the funding. We also have an established process in place to ensure that your assets remain titled correctly, and newly acquired assets are titled properly.
We see planning as just the beginning of the relationship whereas in the past the plan was viewed as a one time transactional event. Once you sign your planning documents, that is when the relationship really begins. At no additional charge, we review your plan at least every three years. Additionally, we have two levels of membership programs that almost all of our clients participate in — either the gold program which provides you with a yearly plan review and unlimited changes to your plan or the gold plus program that includes an annual meeting with your attorney, CPA and financial advisor, plus ongoing legal guidance throughout the year.
You will not experience a lot of what we plan, but we strive to ensure the people you love the most, are taken care of and your wishes and plans are fulfilled.
Explaining to you how we’re different requires an explanation of what the “traditional” experience. If you’ve worked with a lawyer to prepare a Will, Trust, S-Corporation, LLC or any other legal documents for you in the past, this will sound familiar.
During the traditional experience, you’ll go in and meet with a lawyer who will oftentimes make things seem very complicated and confusing.
You’ll have a good idea your lawyer is smart and seems to know what he or she is doing, so you’ll nod and answer questions, as if you understand everything. Because you want to do the right thing for your family and for your business, you’ll have the lawyer prepare documents for you and you’ll sign the documents, feeling relieved you got THAT taken care of.
You’ll take your fancy estate planning binder full of documents home, stick them on a shelf or in a drawer, mark estate planning off your checklist as DONE, feel good and never think about it again.
Several years later, you’ll refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust.
Your children will get older, making your guardianship choices outdated, but you don’t want to call your lawyer because you know you’ll get a bill in the mail two weeks later.
You’ll hear something about a change in the tax law, but you figure you’d surely get a letter in the mail from your lawyer if it was something that affected you, so you don’t worry about it. And, you’d have to dig through boxes to find your trust documents so you could remember your lawyer’s name and find her contact information. Who has time for that?
It’s not until you become incapacitated or die and your family finds the binder you stuck up on a shelf several years before and never looked at again, that they’ll realize your plan is so outdated that it has nothing to do with your life, your assets and the law.
Your family is at a loss. They don’t know where to turn or what to do, so they contact the same lawyer you used to prepare the documents, who is as happy as can be to probate your assets, which never made it into the trust.
What makes our firm different is that we were built with the needs of growing families in mind. We understand you are BUSY, you are growing, you are planning for a life of prosperity and you value ease, convenience and efficiency. You want to know you’ve made the best decisions for your family and that your plan will work when your loved ones need it most. You want to make sure your children would be taken care of in the best way possible and will be prepared to receive your wealth if anything happens to you.
That is our focus! We’ve developed unique systems so you can have the guidance you need to build and maintain a life of prosperity and wealth.
We encourage communication with our clients. In fact, we’ve thrown out the time clocks so you never have to be afraid to call with a quick question. Everything we do is billed on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance, so there are never any surprises.
We ensure the most important details of your planning are followed through on and your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime.
We’ve created unique membership programs to keep your plan up to give you access to our Trusted Team for guidance on any legal or financial matter. One day you will need a lawyer. I don’t know why and I don’t know when, but when you do, you will be grateful you can call on us and we’ll be here to advise you or get you out of a jam.
Lastly, we believe your financial wealth is only a small part of your overall “Family Wealth” which is made up of your far more valuable, Intellectual, Spiritual and Human assets – who you are and what’s important to you.
Most estate plans are only able to transfer your financial wealth onto the next generation. The intangible nature of your much greater wealth has made it difficult to capture and it is most often lost when someone passes. How much do you know about your grandparents values? Their most prized personal possessions? How they felt about you? What they had learned during their lifetime?
If you are like most people, you know very little. But, the wealthiest families capture these assets and pass them along right with their financial wealth. And, that’s part of the reason the rich keep getting richer. It’s your turn now.
We’ve developed a tool that allows us to pass on far more than just your money — your whole family wealth, including your Intellectual, Spiritual and Human assets. I can’t go into all of the details here, but we’ll definitely talk about when you come into meet with your Family Business Lawyer™.
We look forward to seeing you and caring for your family soon!
Phil Reed
PS – if you think this all sounds expensive, well, you are right and you’re wrong. I can guarantee you that if you qualify to meet if our team that your planning is substantially less costly than it would be for your family if you died with a plan that didn’t work or if you didn’t have a plan in place at all. And, I’ve never had a single family who believed in this kind of planning and wanted to put it in place for their loved ones leave my office because they couldn’t afford it. We’ve made creative financing available to our clients because we know that this planning is the foundation for a life of success!
Our process begins with a Family Wealth Planning Session. Before the Session you will complete homework that will have you feeling more organized and put together than you have in a long time. Maybe ever.
During the Session, we will look at what would happen to all of what you have and everyone you love, if anything were to happen to you.
Then, we’ll determine a plan together to make sure everything goes the way you want it to so you are always in control. And so your family always knows just how much you care.
Should we decide there are things we can do to take care of your family better than they are taken care of now, we will present you with planning options that allow you to decide on your fee and the level of service that is right for you and your family.
Estate planning at Murphy Reed Law is not one size fits all. We offer 3 levels of planning to suit your varying needs. From starter plans primarily for families with young children and little in the way of financial wealth to more robust plans for well established families concerned with matters of asset protection, preservation and increased growth, we’ve got you covered.
Generally, our fees range between $650.00 to $3500.00 with more extensive plans based on custom pricing and design. It’s our opinion that if you are looking for less expensive planning, you may as well read up and do it yourself because you’ll get the same quality of planning online as you will with any lawyer charging fees that are less. x Our plans are focused on ensuring your family has somewhere to turn if and when something happens to you, that your plan will work and you have real security, not the false security that comes with a cheap set of estate planning documents.
Personal Service from a true counselor
We believe in personalized service for each and every client. Our approach is educational and proactive – we first determine your individual needs, desires and values, and then tailor your plan to best fulfill your dreams.
We represent families throughout varying stages of life:
We often serve the whole family and multiple generations of the same family. From free estate checkups for elderly parents to basic planning documents for young adult children, become part of our client family and feel how much we care.
At most estate planning law firms the relationship ends when you sign your documents. At Murphy Reed, we see the signing of your estate planning documents as just the beginning of our relationship with your family.
Over time, your assets will change, your family will change, the law will change and your life will change.
Your plan must accommodate all of these changes in order to make sure your plan works when your family needs it the most. If your plan is not properly updated over time, your documents become worthless — worth no more than the paper they were printed on. And the costs of failing to update are typically far greater than keeping your plan current.
In addition, we ensure your assets are owned in the right way throughout your lifetime. There are currently billions of dollars sitting in State Unclaimed Property depots and we never want to see a penny of your assets there. Or for your family to be stuck dealing with the Court when you’ve worked so diligently to make things as easy as possible. That’s why we prepare a Personal Wealth Inventory of your assets and keep it up to date year in and year out. So your loved ones can always locate what you own and how you own it, if and when necessary.
With each of our estate plans we include a no-charge three-year review to ensure that as your life changes, so does your estate plan and to confirm your assets are held properly for maximum protection.
For more information about our unique membership programs, please contact us.
After you are gone, your loved ones will miss you deeply. They will long for your words of counsel and concern. Hearing your voice again would be a tremendous gift.
Through our unique legacy process, you can give your loved ones the most precious gift – a lasting expression of your love. What could be more valuable?
At Murphy Reed we believe estate planning is not just about transferring your financial assets and personal belongings. It’s also about capturing and transferring your valuable intangible gifts: who you are and what’s important to you — your values, insights, stories and experience.
Can you picture someone who’s passed away, someone you love and miss deeply? Can you recall a conversation you had with them? Can you remember the sound of their voice and what they told you? What if you could hear their voice again?
What if they could speak to you—heart to heart—and share their wisdom and advice? What would it be worth to you to hear their words one more time?
What is it worth to you to know that they’ll always know exactly how much you love them? It’s worth a lot to us and we are honored to be able to provide you and your family with this gift.
That’s why at Murphy Reed we make it part of our planning for every client to help you capture and pass on more than just your money: your intellectual, spiritual and human assets, who you are and what’s important to you.
For more information about how we help you pass on your most valuable assets — your values, insights, stories and experience — to your loved ones, or about our resources for leaving your family with a true legacy, please contact us.
Having a Will Alone Simply Does Not Ensure the Care of Your Kids If the Unthinkable Happens to You!
If you are a parent of minor children (or those with special needs) who are counting on you, your estate plan must begin with ensuring your children would always be taken care of by the people you want, in the way you want, no matter what happens.
At Murphy Reed one of our areas of greatest expertise is in planning for the well-being and care of the children you love.
Without advance legal planning for the care of your children, if the unthinkable happens to you, here’s what could happen:
Yes, these things scare us too. That’s why we offer a Guardian Angel Protection Program with every estate plan we do for families with young children.
A Guardian Angel Protection Program® is a set of instructions, legal documents and an ID card for your wallet, which you need to have if you have kids at home who count on you for their well-being and care.
If you are in an accident, your Guardian Angel Protection Program® will make sure your children are never taken into the custody of Child Protective Services, strangers or the care of anyone you wouldn’t want because the authorities don’t have clear instructions from you. And your Guardian Protection Program® will ensure your children are raised by people you choose, not someone chosen by a Judge who doesn’t know you.
To get started with your Guardian Angel Protection Program®, contact us.
