Day in the Life of an Estate Planning Lawyer: 20 Tips for an Estate Planning Lawyer

Day in the Life of an Estate Planning Lawyer: 20 Tips for an Estate Planning Lawyer

An estate encompasses the entirety of wealth and assets that an individual has accrued over a lifetime, and estate planning lawyers help individuals plan for the distribution of those assets after death as explained at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. They create wills, establish trusts, assign power of attorney, and maximize estate value by decreasing taxes. If you are considering this career path, then here are 20 tips to help you understand what a day in the life of an estate planning lawyer is all about.

No typical day

As is the case with many practitioners of law, there is no typical day in the office as an estate planning lawyer as per RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Each case is different as is each client, which means you can never predict how the day would go when you walk into the office in the morning.

Emails

As an estate planning lawyer, you should make sure that you are up-to-date with all your emails first thing in the morning before proceeding with your day. It is important to know if something urgent cropped up overnight so that you can plan for it as you set your agenda for the day.

To-do list

Once you are caught up with your emails and messages, the next thing you will likely have to do is create a to-do list for the day according to RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. You need to set an agenda for the upcoming activities, incorporating tasks you had said you would do at the end of the previous day as well as any emergencies that may have cropped up.

Meeting with clients

A major part of your day as an estate planner is meeting with your clients and addressing their concerns. Some meetings may be in-person while others may be virtual or over the phone. Communication and keeping your clients informed is a huge part of an estate planning lawyer’s job description.

Meeting with prospective clients

Bringing in new business is another major part of an estate planning lawyer’s day. You will love meeting with prospective clients each day and getting to learn about their individual situations and concerns.

Preparation of legal documents

As articulated at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, estate planning lawyers also spend most of their day preparing legal documents. These documents ensure that clients’ hard-earned assets go to whom they want when they want, handled by the person they want, and at the least possible cost.

Meeting with other experts

Estate planning lawyers also meet up with local financial advisors, insurance agents, accountants, bankers, and business owners to see how they can benefit each other’s businesses. You will work closely with these experts which is why you must meet up with them regularly.

Keeping up to date with the latest developments

Things are regularly changing in estate planning law as captured at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, and not just changes with clients’ families and finances. The laws change, especially in the area of estate laws, which is why you must keep yourself updated with the latest developments in the industry.

Estate administrations

You will also fill up your day as an estate planning lawyer with estate administration. This includes probates or trust administrations as well as drafting and proofing estate plans and completing other legal work that needs to be done.

Marketing activities

Planning and following up on firm marketing activities will also take up a portion of each of your work days. If you run your own firm, you must do your best to ensure your business remains attractive to prospective clients and keep them coming.

Being in court is rare

Unlike say, criminal defense lawyers, estate planning lawyers prefer to stay away from court if they can help it. As covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, being in court is incredibly expensive for clients. With proper estate planning, you will be able to ensure that your clients stay away from a courthouse.

Settling the estate of clients

This is another activity that will take up some of your workdays. For instance, when a person died and wrote on his will about leaving his estate to a testamentary trust, the estate is not yet settled, even if he died years ago. As an estate planning attorney, you will go through the system of bureaucracy to determine the client’s estate.

Protecting members of the family

As described at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, an estate attorney’s job is to help family or married couples by giving them a simple process for their children. You will have to come up with a program that if something happens to the parents, it is easier for them to let their beneficiaries do things for them while they are still alive but incapacitated, for instance.

Protecting your clients’ money

As an estate planning lawyer, it is not only about helping protect your clients’ estate and assets, but money as well. You need to ensure that money from sold properties is protected from getting scammed and the money is not going anywhere.

Resolving disputes

Sometimes, some loved ones will not be happy with the final contents of your estate plan, which could even include wanting to gain financial power of attorney while you are still alive. As an estate planning lawyer, you will be required to handle estate and probate litigation to protect the interests of clients when disputes arise.

Altering wills

Another part of your day will be to help clients who are looking to alter their will as discussed at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. This is done to avoid the client invalidating provisions of the will or the entire will.

Follow-up calls

In the afternoon, you will have to set aside time for follow-up calls with clients. This could include checking in on draft estate plans, reminders to clients to fund their trusts, letters telling them about changes in the law, and so much more.

Research

As is expected for anyone practicing law, you will spend a significant part of your day as an estate planning lawyer researching, mostly about cases you are handling currently for clients as outlined at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. You need to be good at research to be successful in this field.

Creativity

Thinking outside of the box and being creative is a major part of the job description as an estate planning lawyer. You should always be prepared to do things differently and try bold tactics even if the rulebook says things should be done differently.

Winding-up

As the day comes to an end, it is time to review the activities of the day and see if you got through your to-do list. If there are things that you didn’t get the chance to do, you will need to ensure they are scheduled for early the next day so that they don’t fall through the cracks.

These are some of the things you can expect in your workday as an estate planning lawyer, with the top-rated RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com being your best bet when looking for more on this topic and much more.