Prepare for Your Consultation

Most people call months, sometimes years, after the thought first crossed their mind. Something finally pushes it forward: a parent's diagnosis, a friend's family that ended up in court. You do not need your affairs in order to come see us. That is the work we do together.

What the first consultation is like

The 30-minute phone consultation is free, with no obligation at the end. You sit with an attorney, Jeanette Mora or Beth Roland, both Board Certified in Elder Law by The Florida Bar. We listen first, ask plain questions about your family and what you own, then tell you what you need and what it costs.

• In person at our Orlando office on Dr. Phillips Blvd.
• By video, from your kitchen table or a parent's hospital room, anywhere in Florida.
• By phone, when that is simply easier.
• In English or in Spanish. Meetings, documents, and court when necessary. No one has to translate legal terms for anyone else.

Bring whoever will be part of the decision. If you are married, both spouses, because the plan belongs to both of you. If you are helping a parent, bring your parent whenever they can take part.

Three things to think through: Who, What, and Wishes

You do not need answers. The questions in your own words are enough. If you would rather work from the firm's own worksheet, the estate planning questionnaire walks through the same ground, and you can bring it completed or half-finished.

Who: the people you protect, and the people you trust

• The people you provide for: a spouse or partner, children, a child from an earlier marriage, grandchildren, a parent you help support, a church or charity. A pet counts too.
• The people you would trust to act: who handles money if you cannot, who speaks to your doctors, who settles your estate as personal representative, and who raises your minor children.
• A backup for every role. The person you name can move away, get sick, or pass first.

What: what you own, and how it is titled

How something is titled decides where it goes, and it can overrule a will. A deed, a joint account, and a beneficiary form each pass property on their own.

• Your home and any other real estate, in Florida or another state
• Bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts, and anyone else named on them
• Pensions, annuities, life insurance, and a business or a share of one
• The forgotten items: an inheritance you expect, a safe deposit box, a burial plot, and online accounts holding money or memories
• What you owe, including any loan a family member cosigned

Wishes: what you want to happen, and what you want to avoid

• If you could not speak for yourself tomorrow, who decides, and what would you want decided?
• Do you want to spare your family probate, or is a simpler plan the right fit? We will tell you honestly.
• Is there someone who should not inherit directly: a child who struggles with money, or a loved one whose SSI or Medicaid an inheritance would end?
• How do you feel about a nursing home, and what would you most want protected if care became necessary?
• Is there anything you want to prevent: a person you do not want serving, a disagreement you can see coming?

What to bring

Come with what you have. Most families bring two thirds of this list and we work from there.

• Photo identification for everyone who will be signing
• Any will, trust, power of attorney, or health care document you already have, even if it is old
• The deed to your home and any other property
• A one page list of your accounts with rough balances
• Recent beneficiary confirmations for retirement accounts, annuities, and life insurance
• Business paperwork: operating, shareholder, or buy-sell agreement
• Names and phone numbers for everyone you would name in a role
• A prenuptial agreement, divorce judgment, or support order, if there is one
• For Medicaid or probate: recent bank statements, any denial letter, the death certificate, and the original will
• Your questions, written down. They are the easiest thing to forget in the room.

Questions worth thinking about

• What would worry you most if it happened next month?
• Who in your family would step in first, and are they able to?
• Is anyone in the family on needs based benefits such as SSI or Medicaid?
• Were you or your spouse married before, and are there children from that marriage?
• Who knows where the passwords and the important papers are?
• What do you want this to feel like for your family on the hardest day?

What happens after the meeting

1. 1We tell you what we recommend and what it costs, and you decide in your own time. If you hire us, an engagement letter sets out the work and the fee.
2. 2We draft, and you read. You see the documents before you sign and we go through them in plain language.
3. 3The signing meeting is unhurried on purpose. Florida is strict about witnesses and notarization, and a document signed the wrong way fails at the bank on the day it matters.
4. 4Then the step most plans are missing. A trust only avoids probate for what is actually retitled into it, so we help with deeds and beneficiary forms.
5. 5We review the plan as life changes: a marriage, a birth, a death, a move, a diagnosis.

For a head start, our Florida estate planning checklist doubles as a worksheet. If a parent's memory is the reason you are calling, read our power of attorney guide first.