Buyer beware
Joan Kloppenberg
Monday, July 30, 2007
FOR THE THIRD time in the last several months we have received an invitation to a “free dinner,” along with a presentation by an estate planner. Please remember the phrase, “Buyer Beware.” We have numerous lawyers and investment counselors in the Emporia area who do excellent jobs. Local professionals can easily be checked out by simply talking with family, friends and co-workers. It is much harder to check out the honesty and moral values of a stranger who lives 100 miles away.
If you have a trust, have it reviewed by a lawyer not associated with the original estate planning firm. It may cost you a few hundred dollars, but save your loved ones thousands of dollars after you are gone. This is especially important if the trust has been revised after the death of a spouse to make sure all assets have been transferred properly.
For the average person legal documents can be hard to understand. Treat your financial health as you would your physical health — get a second opinion! Remember it is very hard to prove that an injustice has been done after the client has died.
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Wasp (anonymous) says...
Don't just trust the local lawyers either. My grandmother paid Larry Putman $700 to write her a trust then he got $20,000 from the estate to get it declared illegal.
My dad asked Charles Rail to write a trust for him. After several months of waiting for him to write up something even remotely close to what dad what dad wanted, dad gave up on him then Charles sent him a bill of $2,000 for his "services.
From my experiences, I would not trust any of them.
July 30, 2007 at 9:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )