What to Expect When You Call Freedom Law Services

For a lot of people, the hardest part of estate planning isn’t the planning. It’s picking up the phone.

You know you should call. You’ve known for a while. But then the questions start:

“What if I don’t know what to ask for?”

“What if my paperwork is a mess?”

“What if they make me feel like I should have done this years ago?”

So the call moves to next week. Then next month.

At Freedom Law Services, we hear some version of this from families across Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati all the time. So we want to take the mystery out of it. Here is exactly what happens when you reach out to us, step by step, so the first call feels a lot less like a leap.

You Don’t Need to Have Anything Figured Out

Let’s start with the worry we hear most.

You do not need to have your documents organized before you call. You don’t need to know the difference between a will and a trust. You don’t need a list of accounts, a decision about guardians, or a clear idea of what you want.

Our contact page says it this way: start with a conversation, not all the answers.

Many of the people who call us begin with, “I’m not sure where to start.” That is a perfectly good place to start. It’s even one of the options on our form.

And if you’re worried about being judged for waiting, please don’t be. Most families wait. Life is busy, and this is not a topic anyone rushes toward. What matters to us is that you called, not when.

Step One: You Reach Out, Your Way

There are two simple ways to get in touch:

• Call our office at (859) 344-6742

• Fill out the short form at https://freedomlawservices.com/contact

The form asks for your name, how you’d like us to contact you, and what you’d like help with. You can check as many as apply, such as creating a will or estate plan, updating an existing plan, choosing guardians for your children, helping an aging parent, or handling an estate after someone has passed away.

A quick note so there are no surprises: submitting the form requests a call. It doesn’t book an appointment, and it doesn’t commit you to anything. Someone from our team will reach out, using the contact method you chose, to find a time that works for you.

Step Two: A 15-Minute Conversation

Your first conversation with us is a complimentary 15-minute discovery call.

It is short on purpose. This isn’t the meeting where your plan gets designed. It’s the conversation where we get to know what’s going on and you get to know us.

On that call, we’ll ask what prompted you to reach out. Maybe you just had a baby. Maybe a parent’s health is changing. Maybe a friend’s family went through a hard probate and you thought, “I don’t want that for my kids.” Maybe you simply turned a page on the calendar and decided it was time.

We’ll explain how our process works. And you can ask us anything you’d like about it.

That’s it. You talk about your family. We listen. Then we help you understand the next step.

What Won’t Happen on That Call

Sometimes it helps to know what you’re not walking into.

You won’t be pressured. The discovery call is there to see whether we’re a good fit for what you need. If we are, we’ll tell you what comes next. If we aren’t the right fit, we’ll tell you that too.

You won’t get a lecture in legal jargon. We talk in plain English. If we use a legal term, we’ll explain it.

You won’t be surprised by costs later. We work on a flat-fee basis, so you know what you’re committing to. If we’re a fit, we’ll explain the appropriate planning session and any associated fees before you decide anything.

You won’t be asked to make big decisions on the spot. Fifteen minutes is not the time to choose a guardian or divide an estate. Those decisions come later, with room to think.

If We’re a Fit: Your Family Wealth Planning Session

The next step after the discovery call is a Family Wealth Planning Session. This is our first scheduled appointment together, and it’s where the real work begins.

Families often tell us this is the meeting where things finally feel organized. By the end of it, you will have a complete list of what you own, ready for your family in case of an emergency.

We’ll also walk through what would happen to your family and your belongings under the state’s default plan if you did nothing. Some people are comfortable with that outcome. Many are not. If you’re not, we’ll talk through how to put the right plan in place for you and the people you love.

You’ll make the choices. Our job is to make sure you understand them.

After That: Review, Then Sign

We don’t expect you to remember everything from one meeting.

After your planning session, we send you a complete list of the choices and decisions you made. That includes the key people you named, such as guardians, executors, powers of attorney, and trustees, along with the other important decisions we discussed.

You get the chance to review it and finalize it before we begin drafting.

Then comes your signing. We go through your documents together and show you where the language was personalized for your family and your decisions. You leave knowing what you signed and why.

Questions Worth Asking Us

You don’t need to prepare for a discovery call. But if having a few questions in your pocket makes it easier to dial, here are some good ones:

• How does your process work from start to finish?

• What would the first appointment look like for a family like mine?

• I already have a will. Does it make sense to have it reviewed?

• We’re a blended family, or we’re not married. Does that change how we should plan?

• My parent is starting to need more help. Where would we begin?

• What happens after the documents are signed?

There are no wrong questions. The ones you feel a little embarrassed to ask are usually the ones we most want to hear.

Start With One Sentence

If you want to do one small thing before you call, do this. Finish the sentence:

“I’m calling because…”

“…we just had our first child.”
“…my mom was diagnosed last month.”
“…we’ve been together 15 years and nothing is in writing.”
“…I don’t know. I just know we need to do something.”

Any of those is enough. That one sentence tells us where to begin.

As an Estate Planning law firm, we help you create a Family Wealth Plan that reflects your family, resources, and values, not a one-size-fits-all set of documents.

The relationship doesn’t end when the documents are signed. When something happens, your family knows to call us. Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call at https://freedomlawservices.com/contact or call us directly at (859) 344-6742.

Would you rather learn in a group first? Join our free Estate Planning Basics Workshop, a small-group, plain-English session at our Crestview Hills office hosted by Eric Beutel. Pick your date and reserve your seats here: https://schedule.freedomlawservices.com/estate-planning-basics

This article is a service of Freedom Law Services, an estate planning law firm located in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. 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 Family Wealth 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. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session.

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.