The Estate Planner’s Podcast

More on Follow-up

This is a second episode on the subject of client follow-up. In this one, we take a look at some of the basic principles and tips to apply when following up with prospective clients or clients that are already mid-service, including commitment, organisation, scheduling, note-keeping, accountability and handling appointment no-shows.

Esterhuizen vs Allied Dunbar (1998)

The case of Esterhuizen vs Allied Dunbar (1998) hinged on the extent of the duty of care that will writers, estate planners and solicitors have for their clients, and specifically in ensuring that their wills are successfully signed and witnessed. This episode looks at what happened in the case and how the court decided who was responsible.

What does it mean to own something?

Estate planning is fundamentally linked to the ownership of property. So, what does it actually mean to own something? Whilst the subject of ownership branches off into a great many sub-topics, what we look at in this episode is an important foundation that can greatly assist your explanations of wills, LPAs and trusts to your clients.

Keeping Track of Case Progress

This is a listener request episode: 'Would it be possible to cover some of the more admin-type tasks in a future episode - specifically what notes to keep on clients and in what format?
As a reponse to this request, the episode takes a simple and practical approach to answer the question. It also covers a major principle that I have found to be invaluable to apply to administration and record-keeping over the many years of operating in this profession.

Legal v Practical

Some questions that clients ask can be tricky to answer. If you give a legally accurate answer, it can actually mislead the client and give them an incorrect understanding in practical terms. But if you give them a practical and usable answer, they can have a false answer from a legal standpoint. So, what do you do? This episode looks over these types of questions, and how you can answer them acurately for your clients.

Barrett v Bem

This case from 2012 hinges on Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 and particularly the point of a testator directing another person to sign a Will on their behalf. In this episode we explore what happened on the day the document was signed, and follow the case through its three trials to its conclusion at the Court of Appeal. With an understanding of the details, we then look at what lessons we can learn and apply.

Mid Service Upgrades

Mid Service Upgrades are those times when a client is in the middle of receiving a service, but something changes and the service is now no longer appropriate or adequate to accomodate the change. This episode looks at how these situations can be quite delicate and mistakes can easily be made, and looks at how best to handle the client so that they can be presented with the upgraded service. 

Eliminating Guesswork

In this episode, I share one of the most useful tools that you can use to manage your position or company, and eliminate a lot of the guesswork that you would otherwise have to use when making business decisions. We look at examples of how to apply this in different scenarios so that you can increase results - whether that is increasing the quantity or the quality of your production.

The Old Will Is Not The New Instruction Form

This episode takes a look at a quite specific tendency that I observe, especially in well-established estate planners, to use a draft of a client's previous will to take notes about their new instructions. Whilst this might be a time-saving exercise that doesn't at first seem to be much of an issue, there can be consequences. Also, in looking into this matter, there is a point raised about 'leading questions' that can be applied to any client you see. 

Knowledge and Approval

One of the factors that makes a Will valid is that the testator has knowledge of the contents of the Will, and approves of those contents. This episode takes a look at the two circumstances when Knowledge and Approval is not automatically presumed, and particularly explores the situations which might be considered suspicious. Understanding of these situations will help practitioners identify times when they need to be extra vigilant, especially at the point of signing and witnessing of the will.