I didn’t always want to be an estate planning attorney.  Growing up, I dreamed of playing in the NBA, making huge shots to win the championship for the hometown Denver Nuggets.  That dream never became a reality, mostly based on my not being good enough to play professional basketball, but I also thought I wanted to be just like my dad when I grew up.  He was an electrical engineer by education and training, but my attempt to become an engineer in college also did not go as planned.

I even went to law school to become a criminal prosecutor.  I wanted to put the “bad guys” away, but as I pursued that career path, I discovered that I am not a big fan of trial work and litigation.  I have friends that are litigation attorneys that love to fight and to out maneuver the other attorney in the courtroom and in negotiations.  But, that is just not what I enjoy, and such things are not really me.  I much more enjoy getting to work with people and find a way to help my clients succeed.  I don’t have to fight with anyone.  Instead, I get to work collaboratively with my clients to achieve their desired outcomes, and I like that way of working much better.

I have been working as a mobile estate planning attorney for more than a decade, and I enjoy it.  I like being able to meet people, hear their stories, and help them achieve what they want in estate planning.  Almost everyone I know has worked quite hard to achieve what they have in life, and accumulate whatever assets they have, and they want to pass those assets on to those they love, or to whatever, or whomever is important to them.  I am privileged to be able to help people, and I do try to make helping people as convenient as possible by going to visit people where they are.

 

I Enjoy Meeting People and Learning About You 

One of the best things about being a mobile estate planning attorney is meeting my clients and learning about you and your stories.  I have had such a diverse set of clients and I have been able to learn so much about life from them.  Each client has an individual story to tell and most stories are really engaging to hear and understand.  I have been able to learn about people who played professional baseball, and were there when baseball leagues were integrated.  I have been able to hear about family farms from Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana and all about how those farms were built and maintained through the years – I have heard many stories about families coming together on the farms.  I have been able to hear and learn about your families and the amazing things that people have watched their kids do.

I always enjoy seeing how you react when I ask about what their children are doing.  I have had clients tell me about their children who are school teachers, or who have gone on to be researchers in Antarctica.  I have had clients who light up when talking about how their children have been able to achieve higher earnings than they ever did, and I have had people who are so proud of how their children have treated them.  I had one client whose child had taken them in after they were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and cared for the ailing parent for more than 15 years.  I admire the devotion of the child, and hope that I can be that understanding and caring in my own life.  I have been privileged to be involved in setting up estate plans for all of these amazing people, so that their life’s work will be remembered and their assets passed on to the correct people.

I even had one client who treated me as if I was her child.  Whenever I met with her she would introduce me as her son, even though I was just her attorney.  She was upset with me one day because I had not gone to visit her after my youngest child was born.  Apparently she wanted to meet her new “grandbaby,” as she called my child, and was concerned I had not come by with the new baby.  Certainly she was the exception to how most of my clients and I interact – not all clients treat me as family – even though we can be friends, but I do remember her fondly.  It has been a great privilege to work with my clients, and I look forward to working with more amazing people throughout my future career.

 

Why Mobile Estate Planning?

My main office is in Broomfield, but the Denver Metro area is fairly spread out, and I don’t want to miss out on the chance to meet with someone just because they are not close to my main office in Broomfield.  If you live in Highlands Ranch or in Aurora, I’m not going to ask you to drive all the way across the city, while encouraging you not to think too hard about how many estate planning attorneys they are driving past as you are coming to see me in Broomfield.  I also would have to hope that when you are driving you don’t hit too much traffic!

Instead, I have my office set up through an office share type of arrangement that allows me to use offices all around the city.  I have my office through a company called “Office Evolution,” and that company has offices all across the Denver Metro area, so there is somewhere closer that we can meet than just in Broomfield.  I just need to plan for my travel time to make it all work!  In addition, I also make house calls and visit people in their own homes, which can be very helpful.

Sometimes, my clients are not able to get out to see me very easily.  I have lots of clients in assisted living homes, or skilled nursing facilities.  These clients are unable to get around easily, so I go see them.  I had one client who was blind, so he could not come see me.  I went to see him, drafted his documents, read them to him over the phone, so he knew what they said, and got everything signed when we were done.  It was really neat to be able to go see him and take care of what he needed, even if it did take some extra time and extra travel to get to him.

 

Mobile Estate Planning is Fun and More Convenient for You

There are restaurants people will drive across the city to patronize.  Whether the restaurant has an excellent “secret sauce” – I once had an “Arctic Char” sauce that was the best tasting sauce I have ever had – or a special way of preparing a dish – I still remember the lasagna at Nona Amelia’s restaurant in Aloha, Oregon, and have specifically gone to the restaurant on vacation to eat it again – or something else alluring about the restaurant, people will drive long distances just to go to their favorite restaurant.  I have driven across Denver for just that exact purpose, to eat where I know something is good, or to find the unique item I want to eat.

As an estate planning attorney, I need to act within the laws and the rules, just like all the other estate planning attorneys.  I cannot get overly creative with the estate planning documents, otherwise I could end up outside of the law, which is not where I want to be!  As an attorney, I don’t have any special sauce that someone will want to drive all the way to my home office.  I prefer to make things as convenient for you as possible.  I have had clients who don’t want me to come to their homes, since the home is a “mess” as they put it, so we meet at my office.  I have had other clients who don’t want to drive, so I go visit them.  Either way, whatever is most convenient for you works well for me.

My wife would tell you I’m being modest when I say that I don’t have any “special sauce,” as I’ve written over 3,500 estate plans for Colorado residents and I’ve only ever had an estate plan challenged a couple of times, and even then the challenge was unsuccessful, which means I believe I am probably one of the most effective estate planning attorneys you could pick.  It may just be that I’ve had good luck, but I do believe that since I take the time to listen to you and do what you want, the estate plans we work on together just seem to work out properly.

 

I Want to Help You, and We Can Work Together To Do what You Want

I do understand that I am not able to help everyone, even though I try to do so.  I want to help you the best I can, and I want to understand what is important to you.  I ask a lot of questions about you and what you want to have happen, and then we can work together to turn what you want into a reality.  I do like driving my car, as it has good acceleration and is fun to drive, so that is a bonus!  Most importantly, I want to make setting up an estate plan as easy and convenient for you as possible, so as I reflect on the past decade plus of estate planning, I look forward to working with more of you to set up your estate plans.  You can set up a time to begin working with me by clicking the link below.