The BUSINESS of ESTATE PLANNING

The Business of Estate Planning is in the midst of a revolution- or is it? BRANDON RAINS discusses advising clients responsibly, profitability, and the “firm of the future.” https://youtu.be/a7VdZvrH9LI BRANDON RAINS from the Denver-based Rains Law Firm and I discuss estate planning in an era of artificial intelligence, scalability, the democratization of advice being delivered by non-lawyers and the fun and games that exist when people die and plans go into action. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FeR3ACd8vXVkKyMZODnlu?si=Q0XrGGMRR92usDUiKcsT9g Outline for the BUSINESS OF ESTATE PLANNING What is involved with the process of educating/advising a person or family ?Good judgement, discretion, and experience is something worth paying forWhat does drafting and implementing involve?The benefits of “Professional Liability” and experienceThe intersection with technology / AI / drafting toolsThe dangers of DIYHow to be a good client and get to adult conversations soonerPuttng thought into staffing important roles (and backups)Ongoing maintenance / administration Transcript Frazer Rice (00:02.954)I’m Frazer Rice. Today we have Brandon Rains. He is a practitioner in Colorado and owns his law firm in Denver. We’re going to talk a little bit about the business of estate planning and what it’s like to have an ongoing profitable enterprise when trying to help people arrange their affairs and do the right thing as far as advising. Brandon, welcome aboard. Brandon Rains (00:22.222) Thanks, Frazer. Pleasure to be here. Frazer Rice (00:23.926) So we’ve had a nice back and forth on the topic and maybe tell us a little bit about your practice generally and what you do, who your ideal client is, and then we can go into why we think it’s important to get paid for this type of advice. Brandon Rains (00:42.254) I my own firm about nine years ago, the Raines Law Firm, very originally and imaginatively named. I was leaving my previous firm, was interviewing with a bunch of other attorneys trying to find a good landing spot, and it just kind of hit home to me through those conversations and kind of debriefing with my mentor that they’re lots of times the state planning attorneys interact with their clients in the same way, generally speaking across the board. In some of those aspects, just not necessarily how I’m wired as a person, not that it’s necessarily better or worse or anything like that. I just felt that there might be more space and to kind of throw my elbows around within my own firm to kind of figure out what that could look like for me and serve clients in the best way possible. so started from scratch and still here and alive and kicking. Frazer Rice (01:38.028) So one of the things that I think is interesting is, I talk to people all the time and they indicate that they don’t understand the process of drafting and implementing and what does a lawyer actually do in putting together in a state plan? Take us through little bit about the process of advising and educating a client to help them understand what they’re identifying as far as an issue is concerned and then solving it. Brandon Rains (02:04.942) Well, I mean, think some of it is some of that answer is kind of what you would expect, right, which is asking good questions and listening. Beyond that, I think a lot of attorneys are going to be really different. I know that some attorneys that I’ve talked to, they have very strong feelings about our role to make recommendations, sometimes even tell the client what’s best for them or not. I think there are some situations where that makes sense. Again, it’s even though that’s not how I go about it, I think that they have, there’s some good sense there too. Some, think there’s a lot of decisions that can be personal that the client is best positioned to make those decisions of. so for me personally, kind of shy away from making recommendations for the most part, helping them have the information and advice and counsel that they’re looking for, for them to decide what’s best for them and their family. That’s kind of the tack that I take. For other attorneys, I know that they have stronger feelings. It’s like, we are not going to do this. This is not a good option. This is, you know, the best ones might say that and then explain why. But generally speaking, walking the clients through the decision-making process, I think offering that advice, being able to explain things in layman’s terms is so incredibly vital and important. Throwing… Legal jargon in our world doesn’t really offer too much help to people. They’re just going to end up just dazed and confused and going along with whatever you say because they don’t understand any better. I think deep down at the end of the day, that’s not really anything that what anybody wants. then, you know, understanding the questions that we’re asking, the decisions that we’re guiding our clients through is ...