Skip the “Free Consult”: Choose a Life & Legacy Planning® Session That Actually Works
A typical “initial consultation” goes like this: you share a few facts about your family and assets, the lawyer recommends a stack of documents—usually a will, trust, healthcare directive, and power of attorney—and quotes a price. That documents-first, one-size-fits-most approach is a red flag. It often signals limited counseling, little education, and a business model that doesn’t support helping you make well-informed choices—or pricing your plan based on what truly matters to you.
Our Life & Legacy Planning Process® is the opposite. Your first meeting with us is a working session designed to understand your people, your assets, and how the law would apply in your real life. You’ll get clear decision frameworks, so you leave knowing you made thoughtful, empowered choices—and with a plan that’s built to work when your loved ones need it most.
In this article, you’ll see how our Life & Legacy Planning Session shifts estate planning from a quick transaction that creates false security into a guided process that makes you a wiser parent, business owner, and financial steward—confident you’ve done right by the people you love.
Clarity, Control, and Confidence in Every Decision
In a traditional consult, the lawyer tells you what you “need,” quotes a fee, and you eventually receive a binder. What you don’t receive is certainty your plan will work. Gaps remain—exposing your family to unnecessary expense, taxes, court, and conflict.
In a Life & Legacy Planning Session, the goal is different: education and empowerment. Rather than dictating documents, we walk through real-world scenarios, asking questions like:
Who would care for your children—and could naming one child cause conflict with others?
How important is keeping your family out of court and out of the public record?
What guidance do you want your children to hear from you if you can’t be there?
How would your loved ones access your accounts, passwords, and devices if something happened today?
These questions illuminate what your family could face and help you make aligned, values-based choices.
And we go deeper. Life & Legacy Planning isn’t just about dividing assets—it’s about capturing your wisdom, stories, and values. We help you begin preserving those “intangible assets” your family will cherish most, so your plan is not only legally sound, but genuinely personal.
What Happens in the Session
This is an active, working meeting. Together, we cover four core areas to ensure your planning will work in the real world:
How the law applies to you
We map out what would happen if you died or became incapacitated today. Clients are often surprised—sometimes shocked—by the default outcomes. That clarity becomes the foundation for wise choices.Your family dynamics and financial picture
Beyond listing accounts, we discuss roles, needs, and potential friction points. Before the Session, you’ll complete a full asset inventory so nothing is overlooked. Even if you don’t move forward with us, that inventory alone prevents “lost” accounts later.Your goals and priorities
Estate planning isn’t one-size-fits-all. Whether you care most about your spouse’s security, protecting children’s inheritances, privacy, or avoiding probate, we align recommendations to your actual priorities.Your plan options and path forward
You won’t hear “you need a trust—here’s the fee.” You’ll see how each option works in real life, then choose the plan and transparent flat fee that fit your goals and budget. You’ll leave knowing what we’ll create, how much it costs, and when it will be completed.
Bringing It All Together
Traditional consultations stop at what documents you need. A Life & Legacy Planning Session gives you the why and the how behind every decision—so your plan actually works when life happens.
You leave with:
Clarity about what would really occur for the people you love
Confidence that your choices reflect your values
Peace of mind that your plan will hold up in the real world
Most importantly, your loved ones receive a plan crafted for their reality—not a stack of papers that could fail when they need help most. That’s why this first step matters. It sets the foundation for a plan that truly protects, supports, and honors the people you care about.
Your Next Step
If you’ve thought of estate planning as a quick meeting and a binder, now you know why that approach often fails. What your loved ones need is a plan you understand and trust—one that makes life easier, not harder, when things change.
Book your Life & Legacy Planning Session® and, in just two hours, gain clarity about your choices, confidence in your plan, and the peace of mind that your people will be cared for exactly as you intend.
📞 Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call to get started.
This article is a service of Starsia Law, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That's why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love.
The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.