Why The Wealthy Fail To Implement Their Estate Lawyer’s Plan

After discussing and designing the estate plan of a client, the next step that the estate and trust lawyer has to take is the implementation. This stage is often characterized by the creation of trusts, drafting of documents as well as the creation of partnerships. Interestingly, many wealthy clients terminate the process long before the implementation.

The Study

Recently, a study was carried out involving 619 estate and trust lawyers. During the study, each of the lawyers involved had run into a situation that involved a wealthy client, that did not make it to the final step of implementation. The study revealed that the client had paid for all the steps, involved in the creation of the estate plan, they simply just didn’t follow through with the final step.

The Survey

After the study, a separate survey was carried out to help understand better, why some of these wealthy clients opted to take no action or quit before implementation. This survey was conducted on 288 affluent families with a net worth of over $10 million dollars. The selected families had requested an estate and trust lawyer to help in designing their estate plans. However, these wealthy clients failed to follow the process to the end.

The Findings

Part of the survey involved asking the wealthy clients to give an explanation as to why they failed to follow the whole process to the end. They were asked to provide an explanation as to why they made the decision not to implement the estate plans designed for them.

The survey revealed that 90 percent of the families that did not implement their estate plans thought that the plans did not meet their individual wants, objectives or goals. This is evidence that the estate and trust lawyer failed to uncover the major or deep issues concerning the client.

The survey also revealed that most of these affluent families were seeking a lawyer who would help in thinking through major trust and estate issues. In addition, they also sought someone who would help them to clearly understand the important facts and details. In the instances where the clients failed to get to the implementation stage of their estate plans, it is evident that their trust and estate lawyer failed to meet their needs.

It is clear that the clients were unhappy with the process of setting up an estate plan. The main reason is believed to be that the lawyer was unable to clearly relate the need for the complex strategy being used. Intricate strategies can often seem easy to some, and complete nonsense to others. The confusion contributed to the dissatisfaction with the whole process. This, in the end, led to the client not following through with the estate plan. Many of the clients didn’t feel that their overall objective, goals, and desires were being met.

Finally, other clients explained that they failed to implement their estate plans due to feeling uncomfortable about making such a major decision. This is perhaps due to the above-mentioned factors or even the generalized feeling that they were not in control in any part of their estate planning. One out of six clients also added that they spoke to other professionals who advised against the use of estate plans designed by trusts and  estates lawyers.

The Answer

In a world where an estate plan is essential. There needs to be a way to help those that have yet to establish their eternal wishes legally. At The Law Offices of BJ Richardson, our staff is dedicated to making those complicated tactics, needed in some cases, as easy to understand as humanly possible. We will walk you through the whole process step by step.

Call today for your free thirty-minute initial consultation.

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