This blog post is a little out of the ordinary. But today I wanted to touch on something that many people don’t think about when it comes to dealing with an estate planning or elder law attorney. And that’s the importance of having a relationship with your attorney. Many people think of estate planning as an isolated transaction. They go to a law firm (or worse, online), hire a lawyer to draft some documents for them, and then check “prepare estate plan” off the list of things they need to do. They bring their plan home, throw it in their […]
How We Work
How We Protect Everything You Spent a Lifetime to Build
Many people who call our office want their problems solved immediately. This isn’t uncommon for lawyers. Typically people call us when the level of crisis in their life has reached a point where they need help, and they need help now. And that’s why I wrote this article – to help you understand our process and the timeline you can expect for us to be able to help you. The primary aim of most of our clients is to protect their life savings because someone in their family is either already in a nursing facility, or will be entering a […]
What is a Wealth Planning Session and How it Will Benefit You?
A Wealth Planning Session is just a fancy way of saying initial consultation. However, we do so much more in our wealth planning session than many other attorneys do in an initial consultation that we really didn’t think it was appropriate to call them by the same name. What Happens During a Typical Initial Consultation If you are interested in getting your estate plan put together, you can go to any number of lawyers that may offer you a “free initial consultation”. Here’s what you can expect at this meeting. First, you will notice that after you call, you will […]
About Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorney James Hart
Since 2005, elder law attorney James Hart has been working with clients to navigate through the process of ending their marriage. And although Jim knew that the work he did was making a difference in the lives of his individual clients, he also saw how difficult the divorce process was for the families as a whole – especially when there were children involved. It took a long time to understand this (12 years!), but Jim finally realized in early 2016 that he was spending the bulk of his time breaking families apart, rather than building them up. And as a […]
North Carolina Estate Planning Do’s and Don’ts
Whether you are newly married, just had your first child, or are creeping up on your retirement, it’s a good idea to start thinking about putting together your estate plan. Creating an estate plan will help you to find peace of mind by knowing that in a moment of crisis, those closest to you would be taken care of. There are many downfalls to failing to create an estate plan, not the least of which include having your children taken into protective custody if you haven’t named a guardian, and not purchasing adequate life insurance to care for your loved […]
A True Gift for Your Family… The Legacy Conversation
I’ve been very open about the fact that my mother died last January. I still remember the last “real” conversation I had with her. I was getting my tires changed and picking my car up from the shop. It was around New Years, and I let her know that I had planned to fly home in a couple of weeks to visit her with my oldest son and that I would be coming back again in February with my daughter. Aside from updating her about my travel plans, I wanted to check in because I knew that she wasn’t feeling […]
Have You Created a North Carolina Will? An Overview of What You Need to Know
I’m amazed at how many people haven’t put proper estate planning in place to protect their family in the event something tragic happens to them. The best place to start is with an overview of the North Carolina Will. Why? Because when most people think of estate planning, they think of drafting a will. Here is a quick and dirty overview of what it means to have a will drafted in North Carolina. For a more in-depth review of estate planning, you should check out this post. If you have a young family, here is another article that provides more […]
NCDP 01 : Introduction to the podcast and legal requirements for divorce in North Carolina
Welcome to the inaugural episode of the North Carolina Divorce Podcast! This is the “show notes” page, where I will summarize everything that I talked about in the podcast. Today’s podcast was short and sweet, containing a brief introduction of my law firm and why I started the podcast, who I’m hoping to help with the podcast, and then I move into the legal tip for this podcast. Today’s tip discusses the legal requirements to obtain a divorce in North Carolina. I hope you enjoy! Right click here to download the mp3
Do you know what your divorce lawyer is charging you?
Legal fees can be tricky, even for us lawyers. If you go to see a lawyer, they may quote you a “fee”, but what types of legal fees is it that they are asking for? You need to make sure you understand the fees you are paying a lawyer – what they are and what they aren’t. Here is a quick rundown of the fees that divorce lawyers in North Carolina will typically charge. If you live in another state, this list may be a helpful starting point, but you will need to check with a lawyer in that state […]
Flat fees vs. Hourly Billing in Divorce (and the pros and cons of each)
I know there are several divorce law firms in my market do only hourly billing for their clients. I know that there are many more that do only hourly billing. And then there are a few, (mine included), which take a hybrid approach and do a little bit of each. Flat fees vs hourly billing is a debate that is not going away anytime soon. Here is an article from an attorney who employs a billing scheme similar to mine, but for different reasons. And here is another article from a lawyer in California who seems to have embraced flat fees […]
