Attorneys
What is the benefit to the client, when you suggest a professional fiduciary?
For attorneys with litigation experience, the answer may seem obvious. The selection of a professional fiduciary allows the client to consider who would manage everything in the event of incapacity, resignation or death. Tax, legal, financial, and medical decisions are critical to one’s quality of life.
• A family member who is also a beneficiary has a natural conflict of interest, and just having the job as trustee (regardless of performance) can destroy family harmony after the loss of a parent or other loved one.
• A corporate trustee is prohibited from taking on the sensitive duties of agent under a durable power of attorney and/or as agent for health care.
• A professional fiduciary (see www.Fiduciary.CA.gov for more information on California Licensed Professional Fiduciaries - CLPF) can serve as Trustee, Executor, and POA Agent. CLPFs do not sell financial products and are never a beneficiary on the cases they serve.
Who Needs a Professional Fiduciary? There are great interview questions which can be easily shared with your clients, to better ensure that each client makes the best choice for him/herself.
The Professional Fiduciary and Attorney Relationship:
Our practice is to retain counsel on every case to represent the individual professional fiduciary in the various capacities of Trustee, Executor, and Agent. It is normal for the attorney to be the one to send out the Notice to Heirs (when needed), to interact with beneficiaries, to assist with funding issues such as title transfer, and to review correspondence or other work prepared by the trustee prior to sharing with the beneficiaries or others.
We enjoy the professional relationships we have developed over the course of many years, with hundreds of cases. We have realized a higher level of service, greater efficiency, and more transparency by keeping the attorneys who represent us well-informed of the relevant activities in our cases.
When the trustor has died, we often ask the drafting attorney to serve as counsel because he/she may know the various family members quite well, better understand the intentions of the trustor, and have successfully communicated with the family in the past. While the trustor is living, and still has capacity, the drafting attorney can serve best as an advocate for the trustor.
The trustor often needs assistance with reviewing the trust accounting, understanding some of the changes in management, and making sure that communication is as clear as possible. In this case, it is common for the trustee to have separate counsel. Every case is unique in its own ways, and the client may have clear preferences, so each service provider is selected based on his/her benefit to the case for the highest good of all concerned.
Consideration is given to additional professionals the client has selected and wants to keep on the case such as, his/her financial advisor, CPA, and other providers. We like the transparency of having other professionals who care about the client continue serving, wherever possible.
Below are some considerations in naming the professional fiduciaries of Lorenz Fiduciary Services in your client’s documents:
We are named as individuals, and our company should not be named to serve (named as Marguerite C. Lorenz, followed by Clay B. Spiegel, followed by Noah B. Benton, followed by Joseph F. McMackin JR. followed by Ryan Shumacher)– or in any order your client chooses). We feel it is best to name us in the same chosen order in each of the estate planning documents: Trust, Will, and Agent for Finance.
We have an internal back-up plan and suggest the following language be added to the Trust: “If Marguerite C. Lorenz, Clay B. Spiegel, Noah B. Benton, Joseph F. McMackin, Jr, and Ryan J. Shumacher are unable to act, then the acting President of Lorenz Fiduciary Services shall have the authority to appoint a successor trustee.”
We also suggest that the Accounting Objection Period be reduced to 180 days.
When you refer a client to Lorenz Fiduciary Services:
When your client is contemplating the selection of professional fiduciaries, we recommend that you share “Who Needs a Professional Fiduciary”, as it contains excellent interview questions for Banks/Trust Companies, Family Members and Professional Fiduciaries. These questions put the job and liability of serving into context, allowing the client to make an informed decision about who should do this work.
If you refer Lorenz Fiduciary Services, please invite your client to visit our website, www.MyTrustee.net, and let your client know that when they call, they will be offered a fifteen minute phone appointment with one of our trustees (the soonest available) to begin getting acquainted.
Once the client has decided to name us, we ask that you seek the permission of your client to have signed copies of all of the estate planning documents sent our way, so we are ready to serve any time the client needs us. We keep the documents safe and confidential, and once we receive the documents, we invite the client to share more information with us, if he or she wishes. We find that many clients enjoy the assurance that we are in place and aware of their special circumstances. If a crisis occurs, we can help.
Education and Informed Consent
Over the course of many years (and hundreds of students) we have developed our EstatePlanning101 course. This home study program is easy enough for most laypeople to follow, yet provides rich information for informed decision making. We are proud to note that this course has been approved by the State of California Professional Fiduciaries Bureau for 7 hours of general credit and 1 hour of ethics.
Since so many clients struggle, and it is more efficient to provide an initial estate plan for a flat fee, you might wish to vet this course and encourage indecisive clients to learn what they can, in this safe non-sales way. Here are just some of the topics covered:
If you want to promote your practice by providing education to your clients, we would be happy to provide you with a copy of Class 1, and it’s easy to follow outline. You host your clients and their friends, and answer their questions at the end of the hour long program.
For those of your clients who wish to purchase the whole course and workbook, we can provide some accommodation. Please email us at [email protected] for more details.
Attorney Testimonials….
“Jane, you are a delightful and informative speaker…Thanks to both of you for allowing us to use your handouts with clients. I plan to send them out to one today. Congratulations on a successful presentation.”
Karen M. Ladner, Attorney
For attorneys with litigation experience, the answer may seem obvious. The selection of a professional fiduciary allows the client to consider who would manage everything in the event of incapacity, resignation or death. Tax, legal, financial, and medical decisions are critical to one’s quality of life.
• A family member who is also a beneficiary has a natural conflict of interest, and just having the job as trustee (regardless of performance) can destroy family harmony after the loss of a parent or other loved one.
• A corporate trustee is prohibited from taking on the sensitive duties of agent under a durable power of attorney and/or as agent for health care.
• A professional fiduciary (see www.Fiduciary.CA.gov for more information on California Licensed Professional Fiduciaries - CLPF) can serve as Trustee, Executor, and POA Agent. CLPFs do not sell financial products and are never a beneficiary on the cases they serve.
Who Needs a Professional Fiduciary? There are great interview questions which can be easily shared with your clients, to better ensure that each client makes the best choice for him/herself.
The Professional Fiduciary and Attorney Relationship:
Our practice is to retain counsel on every case to represent the individual professional fiduciary in the various capacities of Trustee, Executor, and Agent. It is normal for the attorney to be the one to send out the Notice to Heirs (when needed), to interact with beneficiaries, to assist with funding issues such as title transfer, and to review correspondence or other work prepared by the trustee prior to sharing with the beneficiaries or others.
We enjoy the professional relationships we have developed over the course of many years, with hundreds of cases. We have realized a higher level of service, greater efficiency, and more transparency by keeping the attorneys who represent us well-informed of the relevant activities in our cases.
When the trustor has died, we often ask the drafting attorney to serve as counsel because he/she may know the various family members quite well, better understand the intentions of the trustor, and have successfully communicated with the family in the past. While the trustor is living, and still has capacity, the drafting attorney can serve best as an advocate for the trustor.
The trustor often needs assistance with reviewing the trust accounting, understanding some of the changes in management, and making sure that communication is as clear as possible. In this case, it is common for the trustee to have separate counsel. Every case is unique in its own ways, and the client may have clear preferences, so each service provider is selected based on his/her benefit to the case for the highest good of all concerned.
Consideration is given to additional professionals the client has selected and wants to keep on the case such as, his/her financial advisor, CPA, and other providers. We like the transparency of having other professionals who care about the client continue serving, wherever possible.
Below are some considerations in naming the professional fiduciaries of Lorenz Fiduciary Services in your client’s documents:
We are named as individuals, and our company should not be named to serve (named as Marguerite C. Lorenz, followed by Clay B. Spiegel, followed by Noah B. Benton, followed by Joseph F. McMackin JR. followed by Ryan Shumacher)– or in any order your client chooses). We feel it is best to name us in the same chosen order in each of the estate planning documents: Trust, Will, and Agent for Finance.
We have an internal back-up plan and suggest the following language be added to the Trust: “If Marguerite C. Lorenz, Clay B. Spiegel, Noah B. Benton, Joseph F. McMackin, Jr, and Ryan J. Shumacher are unable to act, then the acting President of Lorenz Fiduciary Services shall have the authority to appoint a successor trustee.”
We also suggest that the Accounting Objection Period be reduced to 180 days.
When you refer a client to Lorenz Fiduciary Services:
When your client is contemplating the selection of professional fiduciaries, we recommend that you share “Who Needs a Professional Fiduciary”, as it contains excellent interview questions for Banks/Trust Companies, Family Members and Professional Fiduciaries. These questions put the job and liability of serving into context, allowing the client to make an informed decision about who should do this work.
If you refer Lorenz Fiduciary Services, please invite your client to visit our website, www.MyTrustee.net, and let your client know that when they call, they will be offered a fifteen minute phone appointment with one of our trustees (the soonest available) to begin getting acquainted.
Once the client has decided to name us, we ask that you seek the permission of your client to have signed copies of all of the estate planning documents sent our way, so we are ready to serve any time the client needs us. We keep the documents safe and confidential, and once we receive the documents, we invite the client to share more information with us, if he or she wishes. We find that many clients enjoy the assurance that we are in place and aware of their special circumstances. If a crisis occurs, we can help.
Education and Informed Consent
Over the course of many years (and hundreds of students) we have developed our EstatePlanning101 course. This home study program is easy enough for most laypeople to follow, yet provides rich information for informed decision making. We are proud to note that this course has been approved by the State of California Professional Fiduciaries Bureau for 7 hours of general credit and 1 hour of ethics.
Since so many clients struggle, and it is more efficient to provide an initial estate plan for a flat fee, you might wish to vet this course and encourage indecisive clients to learn what they can, in this safe non-sales way. Here are just some of the topics covered:
- We discuss the costs of care in detail, in the client’s home and elsewhere.
- Activities of Daily Living and why we should know what they are.
- What kinds of decisions does your agent under your power of attorney make?
- How can having an estate plan help one avoid conservatorship and/or probate?
- Why have a relationship with your attorney rather than just get documents produced?
- What is “funding” and why the client should pay the attorney to help?
If you want to promote your practice by providing education to your clients, we would be happy to provide you with a copy of Class 1, and it’s easy to follow outline. You host your clients and their friends, and answer their questions at the end of the hour long program.
For those of your clients who wish to purchase the whole course and workbook, we can provide some accommodation. Please email us at [email protected] for more details.
Attorney Testimonials….
“Jane, you are a delightful and informative speaker…Thanks to both of you for allowing us to use your handouts with clients. I plan to send them out to one today. Congratulations on a successful presentation.”
Karen M. Ladner, Attorney