A first planning meeting is not a signing appointment. You do not need a finished binder, and you do not need every statement back to the day the account opened. Bring the papers that show what is already signed and how the big assets are titled. If a paper is missing, come anyway.
This is general information for a Pennsylvania or New Jersey planning meeting at Ravenell Law. It is not legal advice. It is also not the list for opening a probate estate at the Register of Wills. That intake is a different appointment, run by the county clerk. This page is about the meeting while you are alive.
What you should know before you print anything
The office asks for eight kinds of papers when they exist. A copy is enough for the first meeting. A missing original will does not cancel the appointment. Say you cannot find it, and come in.
Those are the slots on the firm's questionnaire. They are not a statute. If you do not have a trust, leave that slot empty. Do not draft one the night before so the folder looks complete.
What the lawyer is looking at
The will, and any trust, show what you already signed and whether it still matches the people who will be in the room. A will from a first marriage that still names an ex-spouse is a common reason the meeting runs long. Bring it. Do not summarize it from memory.
The financial power of attorney and the healthcare paper are different jobs. A person who can pay the mortgage is not automatically the person who can talk to a hospital. If you already have both, bring both. If you have neither, say so. That is a normal first meeting.
Deeds matter more than a listing printout. The lawyer needs the names on the house, and whether a second state is involved. If you own a house in Pennsylvania and another in New Jersey, say that in the first five minutes. Papers signed for one state do not quietly cover the house in the other. Do not bring a checklist written for Virginia or any other state.
Life insurance and retirement statements are for the beneficiary line, not the balance to the dollar. A statement from the last few months is fine if the beneficiary name is readable. That form, not the will, usually controls who receives the account. If the statement does not show the beneficiary, bring the confirmation letter, or tell the office you will request it after the meeting.
A recent tax return is a picture of income. It is not a tax plan. This page does not quote rates.
Names to write down even if the folder is thin
Write these on a phone note before you walk in.
If a prior spouse, a deceased child, or a family fight is the reason you booked the meeting, say that early. A later probate clerk cannot fix a plan that avoided the subject.
What can stay at home
Do not spend the weekend printing every monthly statement since the account opened. Do not collect original Social Security cards for adult children. Do not build a net-worth spreadsheet to the dollar. A rough list of the banks, the house, and the retirement accounts is enough to start.
Leave the funeral-home brochures at home. Leave any printed "what to bring to probate" list from another state's bar association at home too. That is a different appointment.
Signing is a later appointment
Plan on a second visit if you want documents signed. A first meeting that tries to draft, explain, and execute a will in one hour is how a name gets misspelled and how an old healthcare agent gets copied forward unread. If the office has already told you this visit is a signing, bring a government photo ID. Otherwise the ID can wait.
Ravenell Law meets families for estate planning in Pennsylvania and New Jersey from Elkins Park. If you want the first meeting to spend its time on the hard names instead of a document hunt, send what you have ahead and bring the rest in a folder.
