The "Envelope" Please...

One of the largest and most respected attorney organizations  in the country is called WealthCounsel.  They just released their Third Annual Survey of Industry Trends and there were some "Ah-ha's" and interesting results that I thought you might be interested in hearing about.  Since this group is exclusively used "by attorneys" and "for attorneys" it isn't very often the general public gets to see this information.  Let's take a peak...

While many businesses are down, 40% of the attorney's said their business had increased - at least in the estate planning area.  Why?  More people were focused on updating and getting some plans in place to hold onto more of what they had after many had lost a bundle due to the economic crisis.  This was not only good for the attorney's but was very good for their clients to get an update and better plans in place.

Here is an "Ah-ha" from the study.  They asked the number one reason why clients plan - any guesses?  The number one reason was to "avoid probate" and minimize estate taxes.  Not the first response most would have thought.  Along the same lines, another major factor that motivates clients to do their planning is to answer the question, "What would happen if they don't plan?"  Most attorney's expect to see an increase in activity as the population of baby-boomers starts aging - which is happening right now.

Very interesting results from this years survey...I will share more in another post.