Estate Planning Resources – Our Process

The Estate Planning Team at Harowitz & Morrison, PLLC • Chandler/Tempe Border & North Central Phoenix

At Harowitz & Morrison, PLLC, we work closely with other professional advisors, including Certified Financial Planner™ Practitioners, investment advisors, financial consultants, insurance professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and tax advisors as part of the estate planning team. We believe the team approach provides our mutual clients with the most comprehensive, realistic and effective estate plan.

Our Approach

Our approach is to provide our clients with a short form questionnaire and welcome kit, which includes a copy of our Engagement Agreement. We ask our clients to fill out this questionnaire and send it to us prior to the first consultation. This not only facilitates a more productive first meeting, but helps our clients focus on the issues and decisions they must make in order to develop the most effective plan to meet their goals.

At the initial consultation we provide the client with our general recommendations and a cost quote for the services we will be providing. They will be provided with an Engagement Addendum spelling out the services we are providing and the cost for those services, which they will sign before we more forward.

During the implementation phase, there is ongoing communication with the client, which may involve obtaining additional documentation, clarifying goals and information, and discussing options and tradeoffs. We use all appropriate avenues of communication: phone, email, and in-person meetings. We firmly believe that ongoing communication is an essential element of developing an effective plan, and building a life-long relationship with our clients.

We also believe that no client should sign any document without a comprehensive understanding of its content and the ramifications thereof. To that end, we assure that the client understands what each document does and agrees with its contents before signing it.

Once documents are signed, we emphasize the importance of funding. Should we be engaged to do so, we work directly with our clients, or with you, or both, to ensure funding. We also keep our clients informed on a regular basis through our e-mail programs. Through these regular touch points we keep clients informed about changes in the law that might affect them, and remind them to monitor their plans with regard to major life events.

Your Approach

Every professional organization has different processes, and different methods for interacting with clients. We are happy to work within your processes, or blend our respective methodologies. Our primary goal is to serve the needs of clients and we welcome the opportunity to serve them within the team environment.

Resources

Joint Marketing

• Client Education
  Please visit our Blog for an online library of articles on issues related to estate planning. We have posted a number of articles suitable for use as client education.
• Joint Marketing
  We are happy to work with you to speak to your clients or prospects on estate planning issues, including basic estate planning, charitable giving strategies, generation-skipping and other advanced topics, business succession, or asset protection. Please call the office if you would like to plan a workshop or a “Client Appreciation Event.”
• Monthly Estate Planning E-Newsletter
  Each month we produce an electronic newsletter, on estate planning issues, for professional advisors like yourself. You may subscribe online and we will add you to our monthly e-mail list.