(From February 2015 Cain & Cain Newsletter)
A large part of our process is taking an educational approach to the development of each estate plan. We want you and all of our clients to be confident about making the right decisions for themselves, their families, and loved ones. The importance of education does not end when the development stage of estate planning has ended. Proper maintenance and implementation of an estate plan that really works may also rely on making informed decisions years after initially designing the estate plan, and may require family members or other “helpers” named in an estate plan to carry out. We want your helpers to feel confident that they are making informed decisions at that time as well. This will also allow them to better understand your wishes, and help make sure that all of your wishes are carried out. We understand that it can be difficult to discuss many of the sensitive issues involved in estate planning with loved ones. We hope that an added benefit to our Family Education Program is that we can help answer the questions that your loved ones have, or open the door to having important conversations. We are currently offering four Family Education Programs each year, each session focusing on a different aspect of estate planning. These sessions are a great for your helpers to learn about your estate plan, and have also been great “refreshers” for our clients. We would like you to encourage your helpers to attend one or more of these sessions this year. The feedback from our sessions last year was great. We had many of our client’s friends and family members express that they found these sessions both meaningful and helpful. Please see the upcoming dates for our Family Education Program listed in this newsletter. Also, listen for an announcement about new features on our website, including online Family Education Programs for out of town family and friends at any of our upcoming Annual Client Meetings!
-Alana Lessly