Reiner, Reiner & Reiner, LLP
Attorneys at Law
19 Rector Street - Suite 1801
New York, NY 10006-2302
(212) 269-2466
(212) 269-2467 FAX

Estate Planning Engagement Letter

[Please note that we intend the following material only to inform you of our methods. Some of the material is not in layperson terms. We do not offer the following as legal advice. To protect your interests, you should obtain legal counsel to interpret or apply any law or legal procedure.]

August 2, 19__

Mr. John Doe & Ms. Jane Doe
100 Center Street
New York, NY 1000-2020

Dear Mr. Doe & Ms. Doe:

This letter confirms the terms of our engagement to assist you in drawing new last wills and other documents and, in the process, attempt to save you some of the estate taxes that would be payable if your present wills stayed in effect.

We will compute the estate taxes and administration expenses under various sets of circumstances, including your present estate plan. The results will be based upon the data with which you present us. It is important, therefore, that this data is accurate, since it is not within the purview of our engagement to audit it.

We will charge our usual hourly fee of $ 240. for this work, plus our out-of-pocket disbursements for your benefit. The preparation of your last wills, ancillary documents, and the attendant correspondence and phone discussions might take up to four hours, the drawing of the insurance trusts another hour, and the supervision of the signing of documents an additional half hour, so that our total charges might approximate           $ 1,200. In addition, the transfer of title to your house and apartment may take an additional two hours.

Please remember that the results of our analysis will be subject to change as federal or local law changes or when there is a substantial change in your family resources or in your family structure. Unfortunately, the volume of our practice prevents us from taking on the responsibility of contacting you automatically to notify you of such law changes, and we therefore suggest that you contact us regularly to revise our analysis and keep it up-to-date.

In order to assist in effectuating a plan that reduces eventual estate taxes and administration expenses, we may counsel one or both spouses to sign waivers of valuable marital rights and other documents which may adversely affect the size of the estate which one or the other or both spouses eventually takes. You understand that in embarking on such a "dual representation" we are, ethically speaking, in a position of inherent conflict of interest, in that both spouses may have retained us to assist them, although their individual interests or those of their successors may be in conflict.

If each spouse had a separate lawyer, you would each have an advocate for your position and would receive totally independent advice. Information given to your own lawyer is confidential and cannot be obtained by your spouse without your consent.

That is not the case when one firm advises both of you. We cannot be an advocate 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 and in the best interests of your marriage.

If at any time either of you wishes to have the advice of separate counsel, you are completely free to do so.

In order to formalize this arrangement and to confirm that you understand the above caution, please countersign and return the enclosed copy of this engagement letter. By doing so, each of you engages Reiner, Reiner & Reiner to represent you jointly in connection with your estate planning and related matters, and each of you consents to that dual representation. Each of you understands and agrees that communications and information this law firm received from either of you relating to these matters may be shared with the other. You and your heirs waive any rights you have against us which might otherwise arise on account of the conflict of interest to which we have called your attention.

The planning task which we will undertake based on this engagement will be oriented primarily toward tax savings. Eventually, it might be prudent to make a separate analysis and revision of the plan to take into account such factors as the sufficiency of life, hazard, health, long-term-care and liability insurance, including appropriate umbrella coverage, and also to consider other factors, such as insulation from creditors in the event that insurance coverage, such as professional liability insurance coverage, is insufficient or becomes unavailable at an affordable cost.

Our analysis will not include any discussion of the difficulties which might be generated by any domestic relations dispute.

We will leave to you to check on the rating of your insurance companies, to ensure that they are among the small group of about twelve insurers rated A+ by A.S. Best, AAA by Moody's and AAA by Standard & Poor's.

It is understood that only the persons signing this letter are intended to rely upon our counsel, which is not intended to benefit any third party, that only the signers are to rely upon and use our work product, that this letter defines the scope of the work we are to perform and that neither our engagement nor our responsibilities will be changed without an amendment in writing signed by you and by us.

If you agree with all of the above points, please sign and return to us the enclosed copy of this letter.

 

Very sincerely yours,

REINER, REINER & REINER

By:______________________________

John P. Reiner

AFTER CAREFUL REVIEW, WE CONSENT TO THE

ABOVE ARRANGEMENT.

______________________________________
Jane Doe (DATE)

______________________________________
John Doe (DATE)