Preparing for Your Upcoming
Legacy Planning Session
Your Pre-Meeting Package Includes:
How Modern Legacy Law Group is Different
Meet Our Attorneys
What to Expect & How to Prepare for Your Legacy Planning Session
Our Comprehensive Planning Process
Legacy Planning Packages
New Client Intake Form (“Homework”)
How Modern Legacy Law Group is Different
Explaining to you how we are different requires an explanation of what the traditional experience with a wills and trusts lawyer is like. If you have worked with a lawyer to prepare estate planning documents for you in the past, this may sound familiar.
During the traditional experience, you will meet with a lawyer who will often make things seem very complicated and confusing. You will have a good idea that the lawyer is smart and seems to know what he or she is doing, so you will nod and answer questions. Because you want to do the right thing for your family, you will have the lawyer prepare the documents for you and you will sign them, feeling relieved that you have got that taken care of.
You will take your large, bulky planning binder home, stick it on a shelf or in a drawer, and cross estate planning off on your to-do list.
You might remember your lawyer said something about moving your bank accounts into the trust, if it was mentioned at all. So, you go to the bank, forget what you were supposed to do, call your lawyer’s office, get a voicemail, have to leave the bank and wait for a call back, (which takes several hours at least and sometimes days) and by that time, you will have gotten busy with other things and never get around to moving that bank account.
A few weeks later, you will get a bill in the mail for $67.50 for 15 minutes of your lawyer’s time for answering a couple of questions. You will make a mental note – do NOT call the lawyer ever again.
Several years later, you’ll refinance your house or sell it and buy a new one and forget that you were supposed to let your lawyer know or make sure you kept the title in the name of the trust.
Your children will get older, making your guardianship choices outdated, but you don’t want to call your lawyer because you know you will get a bill in the mail two weeks later. You may hear something in the news about a change in the tax law, but you figure you will surely get a letter in the mail from your lawyer if it was something that affected you, so you don’t worry about it. And, anyway, you would have to dig through boxes to find your documents so you could remember your lawyer’s name and contact information. Who has time for that?
It is not until you become incapacitated or pass away, and your family finds the binder you stuck up on a shelf and never looked at again, that they realize your plan is outdated and has nothing to do with your life, your assets, and the law.
How Do We Know This?
Because we have seen it happen to people that we care about. And we each decided that it would never happen to our clients. Unfortunately, the estate planning industry was not designed to serve growing families who experience lots of change on their way to success.
Our Firm Helps You Prepare for Life
What makes Modern Legacy Law Group different is that we are not here just to create a set of documents you will likely never update or look at again; we are here to ensure that your loved ones have someone to turn to when they can no longer turn to you. We do this by supporting you in planning for LIFE, as well as legacy (what you leave behind when you are gone).
We understand that you are busy, and that you value ease, convenience, and efficiency. You want to know that you have made the best decisions for your family during your lifetime and that your family will be reminded of your love by how well you prepared. If you have children, you want to make sure they will be taken care of in the best way possible and will be properly prepared to receive your assets, when it is time – and that time should be determined by you.
And that is our focus too. We have developed unique systems to give you the guidance you need to build and maintain a life of prosperity and leave a meaningful legacy.
We encourage communication with our clients - we’ve ditched the time clocks, so you never have to be afraid to call or email with a quick question (or even a not so quick question). All of our estate planning work is billed on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance, so there are never any surprises.
We make ourselves available to our clients. When you call us to ask your quick question, you will not have to wait days for a phone call back. You will get your question answered, right away. And, if you
need to schedule a more in-depth legal or strategic call, a call will be scheduled so we can make the very best use of your time and not waste it by leaving voicemail after voicemail back and forth. We use technology in a smart, safe way for video conference meetings, online document reviews, and secure document sharing.
And we ensure the most important details of your planning are followed through on and help you make sure your plan continues to work throughout your lifetime.
Most lawyers only focus on transferring your financial wealth to the next generation; we focus on identifying your family wealth (which includes – but is NOT limited to – the number on your balance sheet!) and leaving a legacy of clarity, love, and support.
Finally, through the Personal Family Lawyer® network of over 500 lawyers and small law firms, we have access to attorneys throughout the United States and abroad. We regularly meet and post to our internal forum to discuss estate planning and administration issues and have opportunities for collaboration and professional development. By engaging with Modern Legacy Law Group, you get the attention of a small, local firm, with the combined resources of a much larger enterprise.
Our Attorneys
Erin Nobles and Kerri Koen created Modern Legacy Law Group to serve together as your neighborhood Personal Family Lawyers.®
Our goal is to be trusted advisors who help you make the very best personal, financial, and legal decisions for your family throughout your lifetime. We want to help you now – and also when you can’t be there, so that we can help your loved ones through a difficult process.
At Modern Legacy Law Group, our sole focus is to help families like yours avoid collapse after a loved one dies or becomes disabled. Our clients are individuals, single-parent families, families who are currently expecting or adopting, families with minor and young adult children, non-traditional families, families planning with special medical needs in mind, and blended families. All are unique. All deserve protection.
Meet Erin
I grew up just outside of Boston and graduated from Emmanuel College on The Fenway with a B.A. in American Studies (and a piece of history when the Sox broke the curse!). I attended Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida, where I served as President of the Family Law Society and received multiple awards for excellence in client advocacy.
After graduating, I joined a Boston-based mid-size private equity firm, where I worked closely with the deal teams to secure the best market opportunities. During this time, The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed, newly requiring compliance from the private equity industry, and I was tasked with creation of a comprehensive compliance program and management of registration process with Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2014, I joined a global financial corporation and worked on the development of their financial technology (“Fin-Tech”) services.
Throughout my time in the financial services industry, I sought out opportunities to support others through roles with internal professional women’s organizations, as well as external organizations, such as Ellevate Network, where I served on the board of the Boston Chapter. Time and time again, I saw that while there was plenty of information available to women on how to build some level of wealth, very little existed on how to meaningfully pass on that wealth or any legacy at all. This piqued my interest and I began to develop an interest in estate planning.
Outside of the office, I’m married to a firefighter, so I know all too well the fear that can come from lack of proper planning for injury or death of a spouse. I’m also a mom of two and a step-mom of two, and I enjoy bringing my experiences into planning with other unique families.
I’m proud to be a graduate of the University of South Florida with a B.A. in psychology. Before law school, I worked at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. I graduated with honors from Suffolk University Law School and was a 2004 Rappaport Fellowship Recipient.
After law school, I worked as a plaintiff’s lawyer at Lubin & Meyer, P.C. and later in the Florida Office of the Attorney General, where I prosecuted Medicaid fraud. When my youngest child was born with a chronic medical condition, I realized that estate planning was an area of law where I can counsel families on how to best protect themselves when the future is unsure. This requires a blend of compassion and highly technical legal skill that I work hard to bring to every client.
I’m a member of the Personal Family Lawyer® Network, the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, and the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys. In my downtime I love mindfulness meditation, exploring the North Shore and New England with my family, and cheering on BC High cross-country and ultimate frisbee. (Go Eagles!)
Meet Kerri
I am a member of the Personal Family Lawyer® Network, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and I serve as Advisor to the Boston Chapter of Ellevate Network.
When I’m not in our Main Street office, I’m chasing the kiddos around, squeezing in a barre class, or listening to country music with my husband (#noshoesnation).
As your Personal Family Lawyers®, we would love to start protecting the people you love and everything else you care about. Let’s get started!