The Estate Planning Process: The Intake Questionnaire.

You have contacted an estate planning attorney with the goal of obtaining a Will. Before you move forward with the process, the attorney will need to know some things about you, your situation, and your wishes. The attorney typically sends an intake questionnaire to gather important information and to help understand your needs. The questionnaire may be a hard copy mailed to you, or it could be emailed as an electronically-fillable MS-Word or PDF form that you can complete and email back. Regardless of the format, this questionnaire is an important tool for the attorney to better understand and serve you.

Every law firm has its own style, but the questionnaire will typically inquire about the following subjects:

• Your personal information.
• Your family history: Spouse, children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, etc., as well as your marital history.
• Your assets, including real property, personal property, financial accounts, insurance, pensions, and so forth. You may be asked about digital assets as well.
• How you want your assets distributed.
• Any specific gifts you'd like to make to persons or charities.
• Your preferred fiduciaries (personal representatives; guardians, conservators and custodians for minors).
• Your existing estate planning documents, if you have any.
  

Of course, not all of the question fields in the questionnaire will be applicable to your situation. But try to provide as much relevant information as possible, to allow the attorney to make informed decisions before the next step, which is the initial screening conference.

A Note About Attorney-Client Relations

An attorney has ethical obligations to a prospective client, even if the attorney and you do not enter into an attorney-client relationship. This includes duties of confidentiality and conflict avoidance. However, if advice is given and relied upon by you, an attorney-client relationship may exist, even if the attorney declines further representation in the matter.

Keep in mind that at any point along the way the attorney may decline to represent you and may give no reason for doing so. Don't take it personally, it may be that the attorney is faced with a conflict and is protecting the interests of another party (and you!) by declining representation of you.

Note that until you have executed an engagement agreement, you are under no obligation to do business with the attorney. You are free to seek out the services of any other practitioner.