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Terms of Use

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Terms of Use

These terms of use outline the rules and regulations for the use of Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA’s Website.

Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA is located at:

480 Maplewood Drive Suite 3 Jupiter
33458 – Florida , USA

By accessing this website we assume you accept these terms of service in full. Do not continue to use Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA’s website if you do not accept all of the terms of use stated on this page.

The following terminology applies to these Terms of Use, Privacy Statement and Disclaimer Notice and any or all Agreements: “Client”, “You” and “Your” refers to you, the person accessing this website and accepting the Company’s terms of service. “The Company”, “Ourselves”, “We”, “Our” and “Us”, refers to our Company. “Party”, “Parties”, or “Us”, refers to both the Client and ourselves, or either the Client or ourselves. All terms refer to the offer, acceptance and consideration of payment necessary to undertake the process of our assistance to the Client in the most appropriate manner, whether by formal meetings of a fixed duration, or any other means, for the express purpose of meeting the Client’s needs in respect of provision of the Company’s stated services/products, in accordance with and subject to, prevailing law of USA. Any use of the above terminology or other words in the singular, plural, capitalization and/or he/she or they, are taken as interchangeable and therefore as referring to same.

Cookies

We employ the use of cookies. By using Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA’s website you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA’s privacy policy.

Most of the modern day interactive web sites use cookies to enable us to retrieve user details for each visit. Cookies are used in some areas of our site to enable the functionality of this area and ease of use for those people visiting. Some of our affiliate / advertising partners may also use cookies.

Hyperlinking to our Content

  1. The following organizations may link to our Web site without prior written approval:
    1. Government agencies;
    2. Search engines;
    3. News organizations;
    4. Online directory distributors when they list us in the directory may link to our Web site in the same manner as they hyperlink to the Web sites of other listed businesses; and
    5. System-wide Accredited Businesses except soliciting non-profit organizations, charity shopping malls, and charity fundraising groups which may not hyperlink to our Web site.
  1. These organizations may link to our home page, to publications or to other Web site information so long as the link: (a) is not in any way misleading; (b) does not falsely imply sponsorship, endorsement or approval of the linking party and its products or services; and (c) fits within the context of the linking party’s site.
  2. We may consider and approve in our sole discretion other link requests from the following types of organizations:
    1. commonly-known consumer and/or business information sources such as Chambers of Commerce, American Automobile Association, AARP and Consumers Union;
    2. dot.com community sites;
    3. associations or other groups representing charities, including charity giving sites,
    4. online directory distributors;
    5. internet portals;
    6. accounting, law and consulting firms whose primary clients are businesses; and
    7. educational institutions and trade associations.

We will approve link requests from these organizations if we determine that: (a) the link would not reflect unfavorably on us or our accredited businesses (for example, trade associations or other organizations representing inherently suspect types of business, such as work-at-home opportunities, shall not be allowed to link); (b)the organization does not have an unsatisfactory record with us; (c) the benefit to us from the visibility associated with the hyperlink outweighs the absence of Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA; and (d) where the link is in the context of general resource information or is otherwise consistent with editorial content in a newsletter or similar product furthering the mission of the organization.

These organizations may link to our home page, to publications or to other Web site information so long as the link: (a) is not in any way misleading; (b) does not falsely imply sponsorship, endorsement or approval of the linking party and it products or services; and (c) fits within the context of the linking party’s site.

If you are among the organizations listed in paragraph 2 above and are interested in linking to our website, you must notify us by sending an e-mail to eepapa@staging.orange-script.flywheelsites.com [1].  Please include your name, your organization name, contact information (such as a phone number and/or e-mail address) as well as the URL of your site, a list of any URLs from which you intend to link to our Web site, and a list of the URL(s) on our site to which you would like to link. Allow 2-3 weeks for a response.

Approved organizations may hyperlink to our Web site as follows:

  1. By use of our corporate name; or
  2. By use of the uniform resource locator (Web address) being linked to; or
  3. By use of any other description of our Web site or material being linked to that makes sense within the context and format of content on the linking party’s site.

No use of Elder and Estate Planning Attorneys PA’s logo or other artwork will be allowed for linking absent a trademark license agreement.

Iframes

Without prior approval and express written permission, you may not create frames around our Web pages or use other techniques that alter in any way the visual presentation or appearance of our Web site.

Reservation of Rights

We reserve the right at any time and in its sole discretion to request that you remove all links or any particular link to our Web site. You agree to immediately remove all links to our Web site upon such request. We also reserve the right to amend these terms of use and its linking policy at any time. By continuing to link to our Web site, you agree to be bound to and abide by these linking terms of service.

Removal of links from our website

If you find any link on our Web site or any linked web site objectionable for any reason, you may contact us about this. We will consider requests to remove links but will have no obligation to do so or to respond directly to you.

While we endeavor to ensure that the information on this website is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available or that the material on the website is kept up to date.

Content Liability

We shall have no responsibility or liability for any content appearing on your Web site. You agree to indemnify and defend us against all claims arising out of or based upon your Website. No link(s) may appear on any page on your Web site or within any context containing content or materials that may be interpreted as libelous, obscene or criminal, or which infringes, otherwise violates, or advocates the infringement or other violation of, any third party rights.

Disclaimer

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all representations, warranties and conditions relating to our website and the use of this website (including, without limitation, any warranties implied by law in respect of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and/or the use of reasonable care and skill). Nothing in this disclaimer will:

  1. limit or exclude our or your liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence;
  2. limit or exclude our or your liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
  3. limit any of our or your liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or
  4. exclude any of our or your liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law.

The limitations and exclusions of liability set out in this Section and elsewhere in this disclaimer: (a) are subject to the preceding paragraph; and (b) govern all liabilities arising under the disclaimer or
in relation to the subject matter of this disclaimer, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty.

To the extent that the website and the information and services on the website are provided free of charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature.

Credit & Contact Information

If you have any queries regarding any of our terms, please contact us.

Terms of Engagement

We appreciate your decision to retain Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA to accomplish your estate planning goals.  This document contains important information about the relationship between you (“CLIENT”) and our firm (“ATTORNEY”).  It is our policy to give our clients a written statement that explains how we work; our obligations to you; your obligations to us; what we will do on your behalf; and how our charges will be determined and billed.  Experience has shown that an understanding of these matters will contribute to a better working relationship between us, and that in turn makes our efforts more productive.

Our engagement and the services that we will render to you are limited strictly to legal services in your estate planning matters, unless otherwise described in the letter that accompanies this document.  It is understood that you are not relying on us for business, investment, accounting, or valuation decisions, or to investigate the character or credit of persons or firms with whom you may be dealing (such as insurance companies or investment advisors), unless otherwise specified in the accompanying letter.  We will keep you advised of developments as necessary to perform our services and will consult with you as necessary to ensure the timely, effective, and efficient completion of our work.

Our Duty to Preserve Your Confidential Information

Estate planning is an important and highly personal matter.  To be successful, it requires that you disclose to us information about your family relationships and about your financial affairs that you will most likely regard as highly confidential.  It also requires that you make decisions that are sometimes difficult.  You agree to provide us with all factual information and materials necessary to perform our services, and you will be responsible for making decisions and determinations on matters not involving legal determinations as necessary or appropriate for your estate planning.  We urge you to make a complete disclosure of your financial matters and your intentions concerning the disposition of your estate, because a failure to do so could make it impossible for us to give you proper advice.  We cannot be responsible for undesired consequences caused by a failure to disclose information to us.

The ethics rules require that we keep all information that you disclose to us confidential and not disclose it to persons outside Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA without your permission.  The lawyer who is primarily responsible for your estate planning work may disclose information about your affairs to other lawyers and paralegals within Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA, if necessary, for us to perform our work, on a “need to know” basis, but we will not make unnecessary disclosures.  

If other persons not in Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA are working with us on your estate planning with your permission (such as your accountant, a bank trust office, a financial planner, an insurance agent, or another law firm), you agree that we may disclose such information to them as is necessary to allow them to fulfill their role in your estate planning.  We will use our judgment in making disclosures to these people, of course, but unless you instruct us otherwise, you agree that we may disclose information to them as we deem necessary for your best interests.

Our Duty to Share Information with Each of You

Because you are married, we are representing both of you jointly in your estate planning.  Your best interest and our ethical obligation to each of you require that you fully understand the considerations involved in such “dual representation”.  This means that we owe duties and obligations to both of you, and that each of you in turn has an obligation to disclose to us all information that is relevant to your estate planning.   Estate planning is an area in which people with shared interests can often disagree.  As husband and wife, you share certain goals and interests.  Yet, at the same time, your interests can differ, and sometimes conflict.  

For example, couples may have different views on how property should pass after the death of one or both of you.  In some situations, we may recommend that asset holdings be restructured to take advantage of available income and death tax benefits, which may involve gifts from one spouse to the other, or the formation of irrevocable trusts.  These actions can affect the division of property in the event of dissolution of marriage.  Each couple’s situation is unique.

If you each had a separate lawyer, you would each have an “advocate” for your position and would receive independent advice.  Information given to your own lawyer is confidential and cannot be obtained by your spouse without your consent.  When we advise both of you, we cannot be advocates for one of you against the other.  Information that either of you gives us relating to your planning cannot be kept from the other.  If you ask us to continue to serve you jointly, our effort will be to assist in developing a coordinated overall plan and to encourage the resolution of differing interests in an equitable manner.  Rather than being an advocate for either of you, we would act more as a mediator working toward creating a plan reflecting both of your interests and goals.

By employing us to represent you jointly, you agree that among us (the two of you and our firm), there will be no confidentiality of communications or information; –if one of you discloses information to us about your financial affairs or intentions, we are free to disclose that information to the other one of you if we think that is necessary to fulfill our duties and obligations to the other one in your estate planning.

If this is not acceptable to you, you must advise us immediately so that other arrangements can be made.  If a legal controversy ever developed between you concerning your estate planning, Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA would be required by the ethics rules to withdraw from the joint representation.  We could not thereafter represent either of you individually in that controversy without the consent of both of you.  In addition, if there was litigation between the two of you, we could be compelled to testify about information we obtained from either of you or about advice that we gave to you in your estate planning.

If You Become Disabled

The ethics rules which govern us state that if you become unable to make adequately considered decisions about the matters on which you have retained us to advise you, whether because of mental disability or other reasons, we may attempt to continue a normal attorney-client relationship with you as much as possible.  Those rules also state that we are authorized to seek the appointment of a guardian or to take other actions to protect your interests if we reasonably believe that to be necessary.

You are permitted under the law to appoint other persons to act on your behalf, such as an attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney.  Those people can continue to act on your behalf even if you later become unable to make your own decisions.  If the authority that you give to those other people is broad enough, they can make decisions for you concerning your estate planning and any other matters that you have retained us to advise you on.  For example, that authority could include the ability to make gifts of your assets during your lifetime (and perhaps including making gifts to the agent himself or herself), and to execute contracts and agreements on your behalf.

If you have authorized another person to act on your behalf under a power of attorney or some other arrangement, and if in our judgment that authorization is broad enough to include the authority for that person to instruct us on your estate planning or any other matters that you have retained us to advise you on, you agree that we can continue to represent you in your estate planning or those other matters, and that we may rely upon the communications and instructions from your authorized agents.  You also agree that we may communicate with your authorized agents and disclose to them information that is relevant and necessary to allow them to make informed decisions on your behalf, including information that has been communicated to us by you that is protected by the attorney-client privilege.

If we reasonably believe, that your agent does not have the authority to act on your behalf in the matter that we represent you on, or if we reasonably believe that your agent is not acting in your best interests or in furtherance of your objectives as we understand them, we reserve the right to refuse to act upon the instructions of your agent and instead to take whatever action that we reasonably believe necessary to protect your interests.

Appointments

Our normal office hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday and Friday 9:00 AM to 1 pm, although appointments are available at other times if necessary.  We see our clients by appointment.  We would appreciate it if you would call the office when you are delayed or must cancel the appointment.  If you must see your attorney on an urgent matter, please call ahead and we will try to accommodate you.  When you call, give the front desk coordinator a brief description of the problem (confidentiality is assured).  This will greatly assist us in helping you.

Phone Calls

The nature of our work requires us to give our full attention to the legal matter at hand.  It is possible that a phone call from you cannot be taken by your attorney.  If you have any legal questions, please direct those questions to your attorney.  Sometimes our support staff may be able to assist you on matters such as hearing dates, account information and gathering information that has been requested of you, however, please be sure that you only request legal advice from your attorney.  You may rest assured that any information given to any of our staff will remain strictly confidential. If a staff member is unable to speak with you at the time you call or you need to talk directly with an attorney, our office will gladly make an appointment to return your call between 4:00 PM and 5:15 PM that day (except Fridays) the next morning between 9:30 AM and 10 AM (except Holidays), depending on the attorney’ s schedule.  Please provide us with a telephone number to return the call for the convenience of the office.  This saves time from us having to locate it in the file and will get the appointment set quicker.

Client Communications

We ask that you limit your non-emergency telephone communications to 0ur normal office hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Thursday and Friday 9:00 AM to 1 pm, however, we agree we can arrange for after hour communications. Non-urgent communications are often best facilitated through correspondence. Faster responses may be obtained through the various electronic mail addresses; however, the confidentiality of electronic mail messages cannot be guaranteed. Calls requiring file or legal research and return calls or legal opinions are generally billed hourly if you agreed to an hourly agreement. If we do not respond to your email within 24 business hours, please call the office to advise us of the transmission of the email and bring it to our attention.

Should you not receive a timely response to an email sent to us or should an email look “unusual” to you, you agree to contact us through another method of communication. You understand that if you do not receive a response from us within seventy-two (72) hours from the time of sending your email, you will contact us in another manner. Further, you agree to tell us should you learn that you are a victim of a cyberattack in any capacity.

Disputes

All accounts automatically incur an interest charge of 1.5% per month if past due more than 15 days.  Our goal is to have satisfied clients and an excellent professional relationship, but upon the unfortunate occurrence of a controversy over our representation or account balances, CLIENT agrees to pay all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees and legal assistant fees, incurred by ATTORNEY in any action to enforce the terms and provisions of this Agreement in all proceedings, in arbitration, trial and in appellate proceedings. CLIENT and ATTORNEY agree to jurisdiction in Palm Beach County.  In the event the CLIENT’S account remains unsatisfied longer than 30 days, ATTORNEY retains the right to withdraw from CLIENT’S representation of each of you.  In the event a dispute arises concerning the amount charged or the payment of fees, the question shall be settled by the Professional Arbitration Committee of the Florida Bar or Palm Beach County Bar Association under the rules adopted by the Board of Directors of The Florida Bar or the Palm Beach County Bar Association, as amended from time to time, whichever program is in existence at the time of the dispute.  If both exist, the Palm Beach County Bar Association program is the preferred method.  By executing a retainer agreement, the CLIENT makes a binding and final election to arbitrate in accordance herewith.  In the event such arbitration is commenced, the award of the Committee shall be final, conclusive, and binding.  The cost of such arbitration shall be paid by the CLIENT.  In the event of any judicial proceedings to enforce arbitration awards or otherwise, CLIENT shall be responsible for the payment of ATTORNEY’S reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses.

If you claim that we performed any legal service improperly, negligently, or incompetently, then CLIENT agrees to subject the dispute to binding arbitration described above. By agreeing to this provision, CLIENT understands that you waive the right to bring an action against us in a court of law and further waive the right to a jury trial. The cost of any such arbitration shall be borne by the losing party or in such proportion as the arbitrator shall decide. 

Billing Policy and Ongoing Representation

Most of our work is performed under a fixed fee engagement letter, where the scope of our representation can be defined and a fixed fee established.  Other times, our work is done where such an arrangement is not practical due to time constraints or otherwise when the scope of work cannot yet be defined in such a way as to set a fixed fee.

As a service-oriented firm, our time is valuable and considered billable.  Nevertheless, we strive to maintain strong relationships with our clients and encourage clients to contact us with questions, comments, and concerns.  Calls requiring file or legal research and return calls or legal opinions are generally billed hourly.  Much of our hourly work is delegated to the person at the lowest hourly rate capable of completing the assigned task in the most efficient manner.

All work is at the direction of myself or another attorney in the office and is always supervised by one or more attorneys. Our hourly rates range from $500 for partner time, $350 – $450 for associate time or attorneys with whom we have an “of counsel” relationship, and $130 – $200 for paralegals and tax or fiduciary accountant time, and $95 – $165 for legal assistants. You will receive a completely itemized invoice on a periodic basis that indicates the date work is performed, a description of the work, and the time that was involved.  These rates may change from time to time.

All basic estate planning is billed to matter number .300 under a fixed fee.   You will receive an invoice for preparation of your basic estate planning documents with the matter number on the invoice represented as “.300.” If you are amending documents that we prepared for you, your file number for these amendments are billed to the matter number .302 under a fixed fee.

For all .300 files where we prepare a new estate plan, we provide our client care annual plan through the end of the calendar year. We can meet with you after you sign your documents and we have delivered of your documents to review your executed plan.  Every year we will bill you our annual client care fee so you can continue meeting with us and reviewing and updating your plan as needed at our reduced rates.  Client care annual plan fees are optional. 

If you are part of our client care annual plan, the benefits of our annual care program are:

No fee telephone consultations regarding the details of the estate plan.

Free annual phone calls between you, your financial advisor, CPA or insurance professionals and our office. 

Free word processing changes (deleting and replacing names and/or addresses and contact information) in your documents to replace names for your Personal Representative, Successor Trustees, Guardians, Powers of Attorney and HIPAA authorization. This does not include adding alternates, only deleting and replacing names and/or addresses and contact information.  

Free annual review of your financial durable power of attorney to ensure acceptance with current date. NO changes to the power of attorney are included in the free update other than to delete and replace names. We suggest you sign a new power of attorney at least every 3 years to keep it fresh for the financial institutions. 

One-time annual review, as requested by you, of your estate plan to address your needs.

Free estate evaluation for parents and 20% discount for their Florida estate or elder plan, if applicable.

Free Health Care Surrogate Designation for adult children up to age 21 who reside in Florida, if applicable.

Newsletters and invitations to client care only programs.

Reduced fees for future estate Planning updates when tax laws or estate planning laws affect your plan or when you request changes to same.

For trust clients, trust funding assistance at reduced rates for newly acquired assets and update to the asset spreadsheet prepared by us as part of your estate plan.

If you pay by credit card, we will add 1.95% for any credit card used.

NOTE:  We reserve the right to begin charging hourly rates for more than three (3) changes to the drafts of the documents when it is clear to you, the client, and us, the law firm, that your estate plan intentions are not set.  Prior to charging the file hourly rates for changes made to the documents, a letter will be sent to you advising that additional changes will be charged at an hourly amount.

If you retained us to do trust work by the hour, we also will be opening a .301 file, which will reflect any time incurred in the future assisting you with funding your trusts.  For example, should you ever desire us to transfer real estate to your trust, this work would be billed to this (.301) matter number.  We are only licensed to practice law in the State of Florida therefore; we will gladly assist you in retaining an attorney state for any real property located outside the State of Florida.  Those charges would be agreed to by the client prior to retaining the law firm for work outside of the State of Florida. Unless included in your Service and Client Care Annual Plan, you will be billed hourly plus costs for trust funding. 

As a Florida resident, we open a .001 file for your general representation based upon our current hourly rates which are subject to change.  We offer many other types of legal services, should you require our representation in the future we will bill our time hourly to this file unless a specific matter of representation is agreed upon.  

Some clients realize that they will require services from time to time during the year.  Some will also demand or require immediate attention and representation.  We can offer these clients a retainer arrangement, which purchases a block of time for a set fixed fee.  This is designed to avoid the need for billing and payment of relatively small amounts over the course of months or a year. It is also appropriate for clients who will require or demand our time, where we may need to set aside other pending work to meet their demands.  Clients who realize they will require additional legal services, may desire to review the benefits of a retainer relationship with us and they should contact us.

Privacy Policy Notice

Attorneys, like other professionals who advise on personal financial matters, are now required by federal law to inform their clients of their policies regarding privacy of client information.  Attorneys have been and continue to be bound by professional standards of confidentiality that are even more stringent than those required by this new law.  Therefore, we have always protected our client’s right to privacy.

In the course of providing our clients with legal advice, we sometimes receive significant personal financial information from our clients.  If you are a client of Elder & Estate Planning Attorneys PA, you should know that all information that we receive from you is held in confidence, and is not released to people outside the firm, except as agreed to by you, or as required under applicable law.

We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in some cases, to comply with professional guidelines.  In order to guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]