Preparing for Your Initial Estate Planning Consultation

with Charleston Estate Attorney Stephen C. Sluss

You should receive a Welcome Kit from our office prior to your initial consultation. Included in this Kit is a short questionnaire designed to help focus your thoughts on the planning process, and to help us gather important facts. Please take the time to review these documents. If at all possible, we would like to review your completed questionnaire two days prior to the meeting. If this is not possible, please bring it with you to your appointment.

The Law Office of Stephen C. Sluss realizes that clients are only true partners with our firm if their plan lets them sleep at night. For most people, this means having confidence that everything will be handled if they are unable to make decisions for any possible reason. This result may not be possible in a 60-minute meeting. This is why clients are asked to set aside up to two hours for this initial no-obligation consultation.

In the case of a married couple, it is important to schedule an appointment at a time when both of you are available to meet. Our first meeting may last more than an hour. I want to leave plenty of time to answer all of your questions, and develop the information we would need to plan your estate.

If you need to reschedule your appointment, please contact us immediately so that we may rearrange our schedule and perhaps make an appointment more convenient for another of our clients.

While it would be helpful, there is no need to go on a "treasure hunt" at this point for financial or legal documents, stock certificates or insurance policies. Sometimes we find clients procrastinate in getting their planning done because they cannot locate, or do not have time to locate, all of these documents. Truthfully, these documents will not be needed until we begin the funding process ... which is one of the last steps in the process!

If You Need a West Virginia Elder Law Consultation

First time appointments for estate planning are complimentary. If you anticipate that you or another family member requires immediate Medicaid planning or related special needs planning, we ask you to complete a comprehensive asset inventory, we schedule a longer appointment, and we do charge for the initial elder law conference. During this meeting, we are generally able to offer specific recommendations to be implemented by our firm, by another firm, or by your family. Feel free to discuss this with the attorney in advance of the elder law consultation.
Learn more about West Virginia Elder Law and pre-Medicaid Planning.