Catherine’s Story
I want to share a bit about my story and why I choose to practice law in Estate Planning, Probate, Property and Business Formation. My life experiences are not typical of most attorneys and that is one reason why my law firm is better than the typical law firm experience.
ESTATE PLANNING
Back in 2005, before deploying to Iraq, while serving in the U.S. Army, I had a Will drawn up by an attorney. I filled out the one-page form, turned it in and sat in the lobby and waited until my name was called. The attorney took my form, punched in some lines into a keyboard while staring at a computer monitor. He asked me a couple of questions but I don’t know if he ever actually looked at me. I was young. I didn’t really understand the significance of a Will and what it could and couldn’t do. It was a couple of pages long with tiny font and a lot of words I didn’t understand. I knew I was supposed to have it. I didn’t know at the time that estate planning can be much more than a single document.
A couple of years later, after being recently married, my husband, David, and I decided to get our wills redone. I was working on completing my college degree and David was a Chinook Pilot in the army. I had heard that we may need more than a Will, that we needed and Estate Plan. We wanted to make sure it was done right because this time, David was deploying to Afghanistan. We went to an attorney, who was recommended to us and we paid a few thousand dollars. The attorney was happy to talk to us, initially, but when it came time to sign the documents it was wham – bam -thank you madam - sign the documents - I have clients waiting. We left his office. I still wasn’t sure everything was right but we had our Estate Plan done.
A couple of months later, I was 33 years old and in great health. No one could have guessed what happened next. I was working in our barn when I stood up, I felt a headache start. This headache continued to worsen. I thought it might be a migraine. I’d never had a migraine before but this headache was something else. It continued to worsen until I felt like my head was splitting in two. When I realized this wasn’t normal, I could barely make out the numbers on my cell phone when I called 911. Soon, I was in an emergency room being strapped down for a life-flight when the ER doctor leaned into my vision and said I had bleeding in my brain and I could die. She asked if I had family and how to contact them. Luckily, I had my cell phone and the emergency numbers and information could be acquired.
During my week in the ICU, my mother and sister came up from out of state. David was flown out of Afghanistan with the help of the Red Cross. I made a full recovery from that event. If circumstances had been slightly different, I might not have been able to communicate. I might have suffered irreparable damage to my brain and last but not least, I could have died. Only about 5% of people survive a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage without any negative effects. I know I have a blessed life and I live in God’s graces.
Two years later I enrolled in Mercer Law School, in Macon Georgia and graduated with honors. Since becoming an estate planning attorney, I’ve come to realize that I had some pretty serious problems with in my estate plan – the plan we paid two thousand dollars for. I didn’t have an advanced health care directive that my family could get to in time AND I didn’t have a financial power of attorney. The estate planning attorney did not mention changing beneficiaries on our retirement accounts or to review our financial and banking documents. Not only that but I would not have been able to provide any intangible assets to my family. I didn’t have a letter for my husband or mother or other family members. The last document my family would have from me would have been a series of legalese and Latin terms from my Will. That was not a comforting thought.
That’s why I run Jenkins Law Firm differently. I want to spend time with you and I don’t want you to worry about how much each minute will cost you. Most law firms use “billable hours” which means you pay for every minute we talk based on an hourly rate. And that is not how I want to practice law. My system is a flat rate, which allows us to spend the necessary time – hours – to fully go over your plan so you understand the details. You pay one fee and that’s it. I want you to fully understand what your estate plan means to you and your family. I want you to feel confident that you have everything you need done to ensure that even though you don’t know how or when you will die you will know that you have taken care of everything you can. The attorney we hired and paid two thousand dollars to do our estate plan had been doing “estate plans” for over twenty years and unfortunately, this way of doing it is still pretty common. The old way of practicing law is getting many clients through the door and getting them out the door so more can come in. I don’t practice estate planning by rushing my clients out the door and I don’t do billable hours because you don’t need a reason not to tell me something because you’re worried it will cost you more.
Here, at Jenkins Law Firm, I place a strong emphasis on leaving intangible assets to your family. Intangible assets are generally those experiences in your life that you wish to pass on even if they don’t have a high monetary value. Intangible assets are largely forgotten by estate planning attorneys but they hold an uncalculable value to your family. My father passed away in my late 20s and I would give just about anything to have a personal video or conversation from him. I have saved a few emails from him. I have some notes he left in books and there’s some old family videos and pictures but I wish there was more of my father left. The Jenkins Law Firm system, we have set forth is what I have in place for my family now. It’s what I wish I had when my dad passed away. I hope you will see it as the best thing you can do for your family.
Time spent planning now ensures that your family will receive the best blessing possible for their future.
~ Attorney & Counselor at Law Catherine Jenkins
