Visiting an attorney can be a big (and scary) step, especially depending on why you are there. You are most likely paying to visit the attorney (or at least taking time out of your day to be there) so here are some tips to get the most out of your visit.
- Know what you hope to get out of the meeting. This may seem simple, but if you are visiting an attorney you should know what you hope to have by the end of the meeting. Making a list can be helpful. For instance some of my clients want to make sure their young children are protected in an emergency, others are looking for advice on how to structure their estate so minimize taxes. Knowing what is most important to you can help your attorney.
- Fill out any intake forms they have sent you.
Depending on why you are seeing an attorney, there may be important information they need before they can advise you. If you are seeing a bankruptcy attorney for the first time, they may need detailed information about your finances and bills. If you are visiting an attorney about buying or selling a house, they may need less information. For me, I find our meetings are most productive when clients provide me with information about their finances, including insurance policies, health issues and family dynamics. - Bring things you have questions about. If you have received mail or legal papers that you have questions on, bring those. If you have old legal documents that you want to review, bring those. I have had clients bring a whole box of papers if they are trying to get an estate in order and don’t know where to start. If the papers are with you, the attorney has a much easier time advising you.
- Allow yourself plenty of time to arrive. Again, this seems basic, but allow yourself plenty of time to get to the office with some wiggle room for traffic and getting lost. If you are there a little early, you can rest in the waiting room. Better than being late and feeling scattered.
- Take notes. An initial meeting with an attorney might be an hour or longer. Feel free to take notes so you can remember what you talked about. I send my clients summaries of what we discussed, but you know yourself best when it comes to what information you want to remember.
- Make sure the “decision-makers” are all there. With busy schedules, sometimes spouses or partners have difficulty coordinating a meeting at the same time. But having a meeting with just one spouse to talk about the family’s estate plan means that the second spouse is just getting a very abbreviated summary of the whole discussion. Plan for a time when you can both be present, or when the absent person can at least be conference-called in.
- Ask questions. If you don’t understand a term the attorney uses or a plan they are proposing ask them to stop and explain it a different way. You should never just nod and pretend to understand. If your attorney seems to brush over your questions, be wary, this may not be the right person for you to work with.
- Find out what the next steps are for you and for your attorney. When my clients leave, they usually have some homework that needs to be done. This might be checking on some beneficiary designations or deciding on who to name as guardian of their children. Find out what you need to do next. Find out what your attorney is going to do next. Are they going to mail you a fee agreement that you need to sign before they get started? Did you sign an agreement at the meeting and the next step is for the attorney to send you drafts of a document or schedule a hearing? Make sure you know who is supposed to do what.
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