You might think that you will not need an estate lawyer any time soon. After all, you are healthy, you still have years ahead of you, so why worry about it now? Well, like it or not, life is a big unknown, and there is no guarantee that you will be here tomorrow, let alone years from now. Wouldn’t it be better to ensure that if anything does happen to you, your family is still able to provide for themselves and they do not have to go through a messy process just to get what you have left them after you are gone? This is where an estate lawyer comes in.
Before rushing to contact an estate lawyer, you need to consider some things. This will ensure that you are picking the best possible option for you and your family’s future.
There are some qualities that you need to be on the lookout for if you want to hire the best estate lawyer, here are some key points:
Specialization
While you can find different lawyers that work in various fields, you will want one that is fully dedicated to their field. This ensures that they know everything there is to know about estate law and can provide you with quality service. Sometimes you will find entire law firms dedicated to estate law. You can look for such firms to ensure that not only is the lawyer you’re going to be up to the job, but they also have the resources to do so.
Trustworthiness
This is extremely important. If you hire a lawyer that is not trustworthy, then you are putting yourself and your family at risk. This is doubly important to look for in estate planning lawyers because you are trusting them with a task that will greatly affect your loved ones. An estate planning lawyer will have to know intimate details concerning your estate which means that you should carefully select one.
Amiability
Before hiring a lawyer, you need to keep in mind that you will be in contact with them for a length of time, or at least until they draft the estate plan you want. Therefore, you need to ensure that you can amiably deal with them. Amiability and friendliness are important qualities that set apart good estate planning lawyers from bad ones. You can find out whether a lawyer is amicable or not by conducting a face to face meeting with them. This will help you to find out whether or not you are comfortable talking to them about your circumstances and sharing any details that they may need to complete their task fully and effectively.
Up-to-Date
Something to look for in any lawyer, whether they are specialized in estate law or not, is their knowledge concerning their field. If the lawyer you hire is not up to date with the latest laws and regulations within the state you live in, then they will not be able to provide you with appropriate services because any plans they draft for you may end up being invalid. This also means that they may not be able to help you with any issues that may crop up because they are unaware of what the laws are.
Fair and Fixed Prices
Just like any other service or product you wish to buy, you need to ensure that it is worth the price you are paying. In fact, you may even have a budget set for an estate planning lawyer and you do not want to deviate from it. To ensure that you are hiring an estate lawyer who has your best interest at heart, you need to check whether their prices are fair or not. You also need to check if there is a fixed price for drafting an estate plan or if they charge by an hourly rate. More often than not, it is better to go for an estate planning lawyer that charges a fixed rate for drafting an estate plan because this means that they won’t stall or make up tasks just to get more money out of you.
Efficiency and Speediness
We live in a fast-paced world, and, as mentioned above, you never know if we’re going to be here tomorrow, let alone a week or a year from now. This makes an estate plan an urgent task, to say the least. Urgency, however, does not mean that you should sacrifice the quality of service. A good estate planning lawyer will provide both speed and efficiency when drafting a plan or doing any other tasks you need, concerning your estate.
Commitment
While most estate planning lawyers just draft a plan, after which, you don’t need much more from them, they still need to be committed to you as a customer. In fact, a great estate lawyer won’t just stay committed to your needs during the process of drafting a plan but will also check up if there is any change in estate laws every five years or so to ensure that you do not need to change something in your plans.
Innovativeness
Most estate plans are simple, but sometimes, you might be facing snags that you weren’t even aware of. For example, if one of your beneficiaries has a disability which prevents them from being able to have authority over any estate you leave for them. a good estate lawyer will help you find innovative solutions to guarantee that all your needs are met when they are drafting up your estate plans.
These eight qualities are what you need to look for if you are planning on hiring an estate planning lawyer any time soon. They are the ideals and, while you might not find a lawyer that has all of these qualities at the same time, you should not stop looking for the best estate lawyer who offers the services you need at an affordable price and in a trustworthy manner. An estate lawyer helps put all of your affairs in order so that you do not have to worry about the future of your loved ones, or your belongings going to the wrong person just because they decided to contest what you wish.