Getting Started

How to Get Started

By now you’ve seen that Hartney Law is something special and because you love your family, you know your family deserves the kind of protection, guidance and love we provide for a lifetime. It’s important that you know how we work because we do things a bit differently at Hartney Law than at other law firms. That’s why our clients love us so much.

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Schedule Your Education & Discovery Session

Call our office at 303-747-3909 to schedule your one-hour Discovery Session. Our Client Services Coordinator will schedule the most convenient appointment time available for you with one of our specially trained attorneys.

When you schedule your Discovery Session, we block one hour on our calendar so we can focus your family. We will send you a package of information to complete before our meeting which will help you begin the process of getting your legal and financial life in order. During our meeting, we will guide you to look at what would happen for your loved ones and with your assets if something were to happen to you. And then we’ll look at what you want to happen and help you create a road map to get that plan in place as easily as possible. Clients routinely say “wow, if we had known how easy this would be, we would have done it years ago!” after meeting with us.

We feel so strongly that you should get the information you need before you invest in your planning that we waive our Discovery Session fee (a $450 investment of attorney time and expertise).

If you must cancel within 3 days of your appointment, and reschedule, we will ask for you to secure your second appointment with a credit card. We understand that this policy of securing an appointment with a credit card may seem unique. So is our law firm. We provide our very best service to those families who are looking for a long-term relationship with their trusted advisor. We expend most of our energy providing an exceedingly high degree of service to our existing clients and limit the number of new clients we see each week.

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What to Do Prior to Your Personal Family Wealth Planning Session

After scheduling your appointment, you will receive an email with your Family Wealth Inventory & Assessment and other important information that you will want to review prior to your personal Family Wealth Planning Session. We must have your Family Wealth Inventory & Assessment returned to our office 2 days prior to your Session either by mail, fax or electronic mail or we will need to reschedule your Session. Feel free to contact the office at any time if you need assistance completing your worksheet or have any questions at all.

The Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment is designed to help you focus in on the important information and questions that are necessary to get your legal and financial house in order.

We ask you to fill it out and return it to us in advance of our appointment so that we can have the most productive time together.

If you have existing estate planning documents, please make sure that we have your existing documents in our office at least a week before your meeting so that we can review them prior to meeting with you.

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What to Expect the Day of Your Personal Family Wealth Planning Session

On the day of your meeting, please expect to spend an hour with your attorney. The initial meeting with your attorney has two purposes:

  • To identify whether there is a good fit between you, our firm and the attorney; and
  • To educate you about the law and what would happen if you died with your current (or no) plan in place.

By looking at what would happen under your current plan, you can identify what you would want to happen differently and then together with your attorney’s guidance make the decisions that are necessary to give you the peace of mind of knowing your family would be taken care of in the way you want if something happened to you.

Assuming that you and your attorney determine that there is a good fit between our firm and your family AND that you identify specific ways you would want things to happen that are different than what would happen if something happened to you, you and your attorney can design a plan for your family right away.

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What Happens Next?

If you choose to plan with us, we may complete the design of your plan at your Discovery Session if we have time. If not, we will schedule a follow up Design Meeting.

When we’ve completed your plan design, we will review your assets in more detail for the purpose of ensuring that everything you own will be titled for maximum protection and then schedule a meeting for you to sign your planning documents approximately 4 weeks later.

We have a process of reviewing your documents with you that makes your plan so easy to understand that you will know for certain that we understood exactly the way you want things to happen when something happens to you and that your loved ones will be in excellent hands with our firm. Once you sign your planning documents, your assets and your family are protected as discussed during your design meeting.

We see that as only the beginning of our relationship. You may make changes to your planning documents at no charge for up to 90 days after you sign your documents.

At our final meeting during the planning stage of our relationship, we will check in on the funding of your plan (if you have a trust), and make sure you are on track whether we are taking the lead or you are taking the lead with our guidance.

We review your asset spreadsheet with you and ensure all of your questions are answered. Of course, if they aren’t or they become cloudy later on, we are always available to answer your questions at any time in the future. And, there’s no charge for that.

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What Happens After I Sign My Estate Planning Documents and Take Them Home?

After the planning phase is complete, we want to make sure your plan is maintained on a regular basis. At no additional charge, we review your plan every three years and keep you informed about changes in the law and about other issues that affect your family and your wealth. Finally, we are always here for you and we don’t charge you for phone calls, faxes, or emails. We welcome your communications!

You’ll be amazed at how easy and painless the entire planning process will be for your family.

Call us today! 303-747-3909.

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The Legacy Meeting

After you sign your legal documents, we don’t just send you on your way and wish you luck for the future.  Instead, we create an electronic record of all of your legal documents so you can easily access them anytime you need to in the future and then schedule a legacy meeting with you. This is one of the most important meetings of our process because it’s where we:

  • Ensure your assets are all owned in the right way (you can have the best set of legal documents, but if your assets are not owned in the right way, it’s all been a waste);
  • Make sure everyone knows just what to do if and when something happens. Whether you’ve named them to take care of your kids, the money you are leaving behind, or you (if you cannot care for yourself), we’ll provide the information they need should something happen to you.
  • Capture and plan for your intangible assets – the values, insights, stories, and experiences – you would never want lost.

And this is where we make sure you understand everything we’ve put in place for you and your family.

Then, we still aren’t done! We meet with you at least every three years to review your plan and make sure it stays up to date. If that’s not included in the planning you are doing, the set of documents you get are very unlikely to work when your family needs them.

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