Law Offices of
Mark Jackson
Walker, Watts, Jackson & McFarland
160 North Winter Street• Adrian, MI 49221
(517) 265-8138

The Estate Planning Team
As an estate planning law firm, we work closely with other professional advisors, including Certified Financial Planners, investment advisors, financial consultants, insurance professionals, Certified Public Accountants, and tax advisors. We believe the team approach provides our clients with the most comprehensive, realistic and effective estate plan. To that end, we strive to keep you informed and involved at all stages of the estate planning process. 

• Step One: The Initial Consultation
  We offer all prospective clients a complimentary initial consultation. With the clients' permission, we encourage you to attend this initial consultation as well. If this cannot be arranged, we will seek the clients' permission to discuss their estate planning with you afterward.
  During this first meeting, Mark will spend approximately an hour and a half with your clients. After listening to your clients' needs, plans and goals, Mark will generally make some estate planning recommendations. If the situation is complex, he may ask for a follow-up meeting to present a summary and specific recommendations.
  When presenting his recommendations, Mark quotes a flat fee for design, drafting, and implementation of the plans. When your clients are ready to proceed, they are asked for a nonrefundable retainer that is applied toward the fee. 
• Step Two: Signing the Documents
  Should your clients choose to engage our firm at this point, a follow-up meeting to sign documents and begin implementation of the plan will be scheduled ... normally within ten days to two weeks. This meeting may be quite lengthy as Mark will thoroughly explain the planning documents to your clients, and to their family members if necessary. He also will explain the trust funding process -- whether your clients choose to engage our firm in this process, or prefer to complete the process themselves, or with your assistance.
• Step Three: Follow-Up
  Each of or clients will receive a follow-up letter after their plan is complete and a continued subscription to  Pocket Watch®, our estate planning newsletter. Through the newsletter we attempt to keep our clients informed of changes that could affect their planning, and to help them maintain an awareness of their estate planning goals. In this manner we hope to ensure that our clients' plans are never out-of-date with their current needs. Every two years they will receive a personal letter encouraging them to come in to review their plans and make any necessary changes.

• Client Education
  Please visit our Resource Center for an online library of articles on issues related to estate planning. We have posted a number of articles suitable for use as hand-outs to your clients. 

• Joint Marketing
  Mark is happy to work with you to speak to your clients or prospects on estate planning issues, including basic estate planning, charitable giving strategies, generation-skipping and other advanced topics, business succession, or asset protection. Please call the office if you would like to plan a workshop.

• The FAX on Estate Planning
  Each month we produce a one-page FAX update on estate planning issues, exclusively for professional advisors like yourself. To subscribe to the FAX simply submit the following form and we will add you to our monthly FAX list.