How to Choose the Right Attorney for Your Needs

When it comes to protecting your family, your assets, and your legacy, one of the most important decisions you can make is choosing the right estate planning attorney. But here’s the catch: not every lawyer practices the same type of law, and hiring the wrong professional can end up costing you time, money, and peace of mind.

The truth is, specialization matters.

Many attorneys practice what’s known as “door law”—a little bit of everything that comes through the door, whether that’s personal injury, divorce, criminal defense, real estate, or estate planning. While these generalists may be competent in several areas, estate planning is complex. The laws are constantly changing, and small mistakes in documents like trusts or powers of attorney can create big problems for your loved ones down the road.

If you’re considering creating or updating your estate plan, it’s important to understand the two primary categories of lawyers who work in this space:

1. Transactional Attorneys

Transactional attorneys focus on planning ahead. They help you put the right legal documents in place so that your wishes are clearly outlined and legally enforceable. In estate planning, this often means creating living trusts, drafting wills, setting up powers of attorney, and ensuring you have proper healthcare directives. A good estate planning attorney will also help you anticipate future needs, minimize taxes, and make sure your estate is distributed smoothly to your chosen beneficiaries.

2. Litigators

Litigators, on the other hand, are trial attorneys. They represent clients in disputes that end up in court, such as will contests, trust challenges, or conflicts among beneficiaries. Litigation requires a very different skill set—advocacy, negotiation, and courtroom strategy—compared to the detailed, preventative work of drafting estate plans. It’s rare for one lawyer to excel at both.

What About Trust Administration?

There’s a third category that can sometimes cause confusion: trust administration. When someone passes away and you’re named as a trustee or executor, you’re responsible for carrying out their wishes. This involves gathering assets, paying debts, filing taxes, and distributing property. In these situations, you’ll want to work with a trust administration attorney who understands both the legal requirements and the practical steps needed to make the process smooth.

Some estate planning attorneys—like our team at Shafae Law—also handle trust administration. This combination of experience is often ideal, because what you learn from drafting estate plans can make you a more effective advisor when administering them, and vice versa.

Finding the Right Fit

So how do you choose the right estate attorney? Start by asking about their focus areas. If they dabble in many unrelated areas of law, that can be a red flag. Look for a professional whose practice is dedicated to estate planning, estate administration, or probate litigation—depending on your specific needs.

Finally, take time to check their reputation. Read reviews, ask for referrals, and make sure their clients feel supported, informed, and confident in the process.

At the end of the day, estate planning is about peace of mind. With the right attorney by your side—one who truly understands your situation—you can feel confident that your family and your legacy will be well protected.

Choosing the Right Estate Planning Attorney: 5 Key Factors

Selecting a professional advisor can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to something as personal as estate planning. After all, you’re entrusting someone with your family’s future. Below are five factors to keep in mind when choosing an attorney.

1. Specialized Expertise
Estate planning isn’t just about drafting a will—it can involve complex legal and financial strategies. Look for an attorney who focuses on estate planning, but also handles trust administration and probate. This specialized knowledge can help ensure that no detail is overlooked.

2. Credentials and Experience
Check for relevant degrees, certifications, and years of practice. Our founding attorney, for example, holds an LL.M. degree in taxation and has 17+ years of experience. The right combination of education and hands-on work can make a significant difference in the quality of advice you receive.

3. Clear Communication
Your attorney should explain complex matters in terms you can easily understand. Estate planning documents can be technical, but you shouldn’t be left feeling confused. A good advisor values open, honest communication.

4. Personal Compatibility
Estate planning often involves deeply personal conversations about your family, finances, and future goals. Choose an attorney you feel comfortable with—someone who listens attentively and respects your wishes, but also will provide candid and honest feedback.

5. Ongoing Support
Laws change, and so do life circumstances. You’ll want an attorney who can help you update your plan if you move, marry, divorce, or experience other major life events. A continuous client-attorney relationship ensures your plan remains relevant and effective.

3 Reasons Why Estate Planning is Improved When You Work With a Lawyer

Talking about death can be difficult. It’s also a bit of a downer, to put it mildly. So many of us put estate planning off as long as possible. For most people, hiring a lawyer can elicit a similar reaction. When you put the two together, it’s easy to understand why some people may want to avoid discussing their own death or incapacity altogether. Some try to address their own mortality with as little conversation as possible by creating their estate plan on their own, or by using online resources.

The following are 3 reasons why working with a lawyer can improve the estate planning experience.

Expertise

A certified expert estate planning lawyer has years of training in both estate planning and tax matters. You can rely on that expertise when you ask detailed questions. They can walk you through hypothetical scenarios, tell you why some of your ideas are fantastic approaches, and maybe how some of your ideas aren’t the best way to proceed. An estate planning lawyer can provide detailed advice and counsel suited to your specific situation, knowing they are required to have your best interest in mind. You never have to wonder if their information is inaccurate or outdated, or whether they have others’ interests in mind.

Working with a lawyer creates a dynamic feedback loop. They can ask follow up questions of you when they hear an issue that you may not have even identified yourself. An estate planning professional can help identify blind spots in your thinking and help you resolve them.

Experience

Estate planning lawyers have years of experience working with other clients—both in planning, as well as administering trusts and estates of those who have died. In that experience, they can offer you a wealth of examples that worked out well, and experiences that may not have worked out as the client had intended. They bring this experience into your situation. You receive the opportunity and benefit of years of planning experience on demand. Additionally, when a crisis or issue does arise, the lawyer will be there to advise and support you or your loved ones to help you get through the crisis.

Peace of Mind

Estate planning lawyers are there to support you through this often challenging process. They can provide some levity to what may seem like a heavy topic. They can be a sounding board to inter-family dynamics. Lawyers can provide perspective and context to what can seem like a complicated or overwhelming dilemma. All the while, an estate planning professional will ensure that your documents are drafted accurately, meticulously, and effectively. You can rest assured that your estate planning documents are valid, enforceable, and can withstand any potential challenge. This peace of mind is invaluable.

Shafae Law COVID-19 Protocol

Our thoughts are with those affected by the virus, particularly those who are sick. We wish them a speedy recovery, and we remain inspired by our healthcare workers, supply chain workers, retail workers, and others who are tirelessly caring for people around the world.

The following is an update on our role in preventing the spread of the virus, and our protocol until the worst passes.

• Both of our offices are remaining open to assist clients with their estate planning documents, but closed to in-person visits.

• We are limiting our interactions to phone/video conference/email only. 

• We are implementing an unusual, temporary protocol to deliver and execute your documents. Our chief focus is to get legal instruments in place and in effect, and we will revisit/amend/revise them once things have returned back to normal, if need be, free of charge.

• Both courts and recorders' offices are limiting their own exposure and implementing their own COVID-19 protocols. Therefore, we may be limited and/or delayed when it comes to probate and real property transfers. Your patience is appreciated.

If you know someone who is in need of estate planning documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, etc.), or needs to make a change to existing documents, ask them to contact us for a free video conference/phone consultation. It is precisely in these times of uncertainty where a detailed, comprehensive estate plan—especially medical and financial powers of attorney—is critical. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for further updates.

Why Hire an Attorney Instead of an Online Provider?

Most estate planning attorneys frequently hear some form of this question: can’t I just do this myself online?

You certainly can create your estate plan yourself. And it’s pretty simple and affordable online.

In our experience, though, the most frequent response we get during a consultation is “I hadn’t thought of that!” To us, that’s what an attorney brings to the proverbial table. Attorneys ask questions to learn the nuances of your particular family dynamics, your goals, and any situations that you may not have thought about. Also, attorneys have the benefit of experience dealing with many other estates, and bringing that experience into planning your estate. This is not about the value of your assets, it’s about understanding goals, making sure you have documents in place that reflect what you want, applying current law, and avoiding potential pitfalls.

Some clients ask us to do a “trust review,” which means looking at the will or trust they already created because they want to modify some aspect of it. Clients are often surprised to see that the will or trust they created online isn’t going to do what they intended it would do. With estate planning documents, wording is the key to everything. With computer generated trusts and estate planning documents, a word or phrase in the wrong place can make the difference between your child being able to use her inheritance toward college education and having to go to court to “unlock” her inheritance because there was a badly worded restriction placed on it. There’s no such thing as a cut and paste estate plan; your life and your family are unique and your estate plan should reflect that.

We’ve also been on the other side of estate planning—the trust administration and probate side that takes place after someone has passed away. We know that you and your loved ones should have the space to grieve instead of trying to interpret the terms of a trust or navigating the probate process. We are here to ensure that you have the peace of mind that an expert is here to assist you through this tough time.

And we’ve been in the in-between—incapacity. We know what it’s like to walk into a bank or call the insurance company with your loved one’s estate planning documents to try to assist your loved one. We know the reality of what the bank or insurance company is going to say to let you get that done. An attorney ensures you have what you need so you can avoid frustration and don’t need to go to court.

Which gets us to one of the main components of hiring an attorney—the attorney-client relationship. When you retain an attorney, that attorney owes you certain duties. Some are the duty of confidentiality, the duty of loyalty, the duty of competent representation, and the duty of zealous advocacy. If a lawyer breaches any of its duties to a client, the lawyer can be held accountable. Lawyers are required to uphold very high standards when it comes to representing clients and their interests. When you use an online service, no attorney-client relationship is formed. No duties are owed to you. You (or your loved ones) cannot hold anyone accountable if things do not turn out how you wanted them to. All you have is a document that you drafted.

That’s the key: hiring an attorney gives you peace of mind through expertise and experience. An attorney will be there in times of crises, when an online provider will not.

We think that we would be those attorneys to give you peace of mind in your estate planning; and if you’d like to find out more, contact us for a free consultation.