What Actually Happens in a Free Estate Planning or Elder Law Consultation
Two kinds of people book a consultation on the estate planning and elder law side of my practice. One wants an estate plan — who inherits, who's in charge. The other has a Medicaid question — whether a parent can qualify for long-term care coverage, and how much can be protected in the process. They're different questions with different tools, and both callers are usually unsure what they're booking. Here's the answer.
Every consultation starts with someone who put off calling. The estate planning caller put it off because the whole subject felt foggy — what kind of plan, what it costs, whether a lawyer would talk them into something. The elder law caller comes in two versions: the family planning ahead, who has heard that Medicaid looks back five years and wants to know whether protecting assets now is realistic; and the family facing care costs already, who has heard that a parent's income is "too high" for Medicaid and assumes that's the end of the conversation. In elder law, the question is almost never who inherits. It's whether Medicaid will pay, and what it takes to get there.
Both callers get the same conversation, built to do the same three things. What follows is a plain description of it, so that booking one feels like a decision instead of a leap. (Business owners book consultations too — that's a different conversation about entities, contracts, and co-owners, and the Doing Business As blog is where that side of the practice lives.)
What the Conversation Does
It gets your situation on the table. For the estate planning caller, that means your family, what you own in categories — a home, retirement accounts, a business, property in another state — and what you want to happen; approximate figures are plenty. The elder law conversation is more numerical by nature, because Medicaid eligibility turns on numbers: monthly income measured against Oregon's income cap, countable assets measured against the limits, whether there's a spouse at home, and how recently any assets changed hands. You don't need statements or a spreadsheet, but you do need the rough figures — the monthly income number in particular, since it decides whether an income cap trust is part of the answer.
It produces an honest recommendation. For a planning conversation, that's which plan actually fits — a will-based plan, the Essentials Plan with its transfer-on-death deed, or a revocable living trust — and sometimes the honest answer is that what you have already covers you, or that one inexpensive fix closes the only real gap. For an elder law conversation, it's a straight answer to the eligibility question and the tool that fits it: a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust for the family with time on its side, an income cap trust — the Miller trust — for the parent whose income exceeds the cap, and help with the application itself when care is already underway. As covered in the Medicaid planning post, which tool applies depends on timing and income, and the most common surprise is that "income too high" isn't a dead end — it's a solvable problem with a specific instrument. Because everything at Track Town Law is flat-fee, there's no incentive to recommend the bigger plan. The recommendation is the one I'd give a family member with your facts, and I'll tell you why it's that tier and not the one above or below.
It ends with the exact price. Flat fee, stated in the conversation, before you commit to anything — not an estimate, and not a range that grows later. You leave knowing precisely what the work costs and what it includes. Whether and when to move forward is yours to decide.
What It Isn't
It isn't a sales pitch. Some consultations end with "you don't need me yet," and those are good consultations. A flat-fee practice built on referrals has nothing to gain from selling machinery you don't need.
It isn't a document review. We won't read your existing will line by line or inventory accounts — that's work that belongs inside an engagement. The consultation identifies whether and where you need help; the engagement delivers it.
It isn't a test. People apologize constantly in these conversations — for not knowing balances, for undecided questions, for having waited. None of it needs apologizing for. Undecided questions are what the conversation is for, and having waited is the reason it exists. You don't need answers to book. You need the questions.
It isn't a commitment. There's no pressure at the end and no expiration on the conversation. What you get afterward is a written summary of what we discussed — the recommendation, the fee, links to the resources on this site that apply to your situation, and the next steps if you decide to move ahead. Clients tell me it's the most useful part: it's the conversation in a form you can reread, share with a spouse or sibling, and act on when you're ready. Some people book the same week; some come back a year later with the summary still in their inbox. Both are fine.
And it isn't the right consultation for every elder-related matter. My practice is planning and transactional work: estate plans, Medicaid asset protection, income cap trusts, and applications. I don't handle elder abuse cases, litigation of any kind, or contested court or administrative hearings — including contested guardianships and conservatorships. If that's your situation, the Oregon State Bar's Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with an attorney who does, and you'll save yourself a consultation that can't help you.
How to Get the Most From It
None of this is required, but a few minutes of thought beforehand lets the conversation go deep quickly.
If you're planning ahead: have candidates in mind, even uncertain ones, for the key roles — who inherits, who would serve as executor or trustee, who would hold your powers of attorney, who would raise minor children. Know your assets in categories rather than numbers. And bring the hard question — the blended-family worry, the child who shouldn't inherit outright, the conflict you can see coming. That question is usually the real reason you're calling, and it's the most useful thing you can put on the table.
If you're calling about Medicaid: know the monthly income figure — Social Security, pension, everything — as precisely as you can, because it's the single most decisive number in the conversation. Have a rough picture of assets: the house, accounts, anything given away or sold in the last five years. Know whether a power of attorney exists and who holds it, because that determines who can sign a trust or an application. And know where things stand — planning ahead, care starting, or an application already in motion. If you have none of this yet, book anyway; part of the conversation is figuring out what to find out.
Why It's Virtual, and Why That Helps
Track Town Law is a fully virtual practice serving all of Oregon and Idaho, and the consultation happens by video or phone from wherever you are. As covered in the virtual estate planning post, everything that follows works the same way — preparation, review, and coordination handled remotely, with signing arranged properly for the documents that need witnesses and a notary.
For the planner, virtual means the consultation happens this week instead of whenever a free afternoon and a parking spot line up. For the family in a care crisis, it means the daughter in Bend and the son in Portland can both be on the call about their mother in Eugene — which is often the only way a family in that situation can meet at all.
What You'll Know by the End
Four things. Which tools your situation actually calls for, and why — a plan tier on the estate side, a MAPT, an income cap trust, or application help on the Medicaid side. What the complete work costs, as a flat number. What the process looks like — what I prepare, what you decide, how signing works. And what happens if you do nothing: Oregon has default rules for the unplanned estate, and long-term care paid privately until nothing is left has its own arithmetic, and this blog documents how rarely anyone likes either.
That's the trade — a conversation for a clear picture, an exact price, and a decision that's finally concrete. Book a free consultation here.
This post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. A consultation does not create an attorney-client relationship until an engagement is signed. Contact a licensed Oregon estate planning attorney to discuss your situation.
