This Questionnaire is preliminary to a more comprehensive Client Organizer which may or may not be necessary, depending upon where we go from here. This Preliminary Questionnaire is designed to give us some basic information in order to identify our client(s), to open a file in our office, and to learn a little about our client(s) before and during the initial consultation.
Please know that all information you provide will be kept confidential unless you authorize its release to others, including any of your other advisors. However, please know that if you are completing this Questionnaire for another person, such as a parent, who will actually be our client instead of you, then all information you share with us must be disclosed to the client.
Also, if you are a couple and asking us to represent you both, we must and will treat all communications by either of you (including a desire to terminate the joint representation) as common knowledge to be shared among all of us, while maintaining strict confidentiality as to anyone else. Furthermore, it is very important for couples to undertake this process together, unless there is some reason for separate planning. So, if we will be working for you as a couple, both of you must attend the initial conference together.
The first portion of this preliminary questionnaire is an eight-question client mindset quiz.
Over many years, we have found that clients who possess a certain mindset often realize the most successful planning experience. These clients view their estate plan as more than an exercise that divides their assets into who gets what. Instead, they appreciate the opportunity to set the stage for family harmony, to protect their loved ones from the dangers of losing or squandering their inheritance, and to take advantage of the most up to date legal and tax strategies.
Choose the response to each of the following eight questions that most closely matches your first, natural response.
