Like many estate planning attorneys, our office offers a free initial consultation that provides you an opportunity to meet with attorney Chris Cox and ask specific questions for your unique situation. We offer three convenient options for this free meeting:
- In-person at our Chesterfield, Missouri location near I-64 and Mason
- Via phone call
- Via Zoom video call
During the initial consultation, we make every effort to learn about you, your goals and answer your questions specifically as well offer recommendations and layout a general roadmap for the estate planning process. Most clients find this free consultation incredibly valuable and far exceeds their expectations for a free consultation.
After the free initial consultation, if you wish to proceed, we will provide you with a questionnaire to complete, and schedule a follow-up meeting (either in-person or via Zoom) to gather information and discuss how you'd like to set up your documents. The questionnaire is designed to gather basic, straight-forward information as well as generate discussion with your loved ones about your wishes in terms of assets, finances, healthcare, guardianship and other related topics. Many clients find the questionnaire helpful in discussing topics they many never have considered.
At the follow-up meeting, we go through each document in detail and discuss all possible options. This meeting uncovers the nuanced details needed to create a customized and comprehensive estate plan to meet your specific needs. We never use template forms or documents for your estate plan. Approximately 7-10 days after our office receives all the necessary information from you, we send you a complete draft of your documents for review. Along with these documents, you'll also receive detailed summaries of the documents that make then easier to read and digest.
After you have reviewed the documents, you can call, email or meet in-person with attorney Chris Cox to discuss questions or changes you may have. Once the documents are in final form, we schedule a signing appointment where you come into the office to sign the documents before a notary public and witnesses. After that appointment, you'll receive your original signed documents for safekeeping along with an extra copy of everything. We'll also review general instructions regarding the documents. If a Trust is one of the estate planning documents our office drafted for you, we'll discuss your next step of moving assets into that new Trust. We supply you with very detailed written "how-to" instructions, and review those instructions with you so we can answer any questions you may have. This is movement of assets into the Trust is called "funding your trust". This funding process usually does not take much time, and most likely will only require you to go to your bank and the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles to adjust your car title - everything else can usually be accomplished over the phone, via mail or online.
Overall, our office makes the estate planning process very easy and smooth. We look forwarding to working with you to meet your Estate Planning needs.
Chesterfield estate planning attorney Chris Cox helps people throughout the St. Louis area with estate planning, trust administration, probate and gift giving strategies to maximize the transfer of wealth to your family and friends. To learn how the law applies to your specific circumstances, schedule your FREE consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney online or call our office at 314-727-0163.
