The engagement shape.
A small practice works because the structure of the engagement is built to keep a client meaningfully inside it for the decade during which their plan actually has to hold.
An estate plan is an artifact. The engagement that produced it is what keeps the plan aligned with the family’s life as that life evolves. Most firms sell the artifact. A few sell the engagement. We are a few.
Below is the actual shape of how a client enters, what the first year looks like, and how the relationship is sustained from year two onward. There is nothing proprietary here — we lay it out so that a prospective client can see it before deciding to reach out.
From intake to year six.
Intake call.
A thirty-minute phone call at no charge. We establish the family’s general situation, the rough scope of the plan, and whether Hartwell & Reese is the right fit. If we are not, we will say so and, where possible, refer.
Initial consultation.
A ninety-minute meeting — in person in Austin or by video — flat rate of $500, applied toward the plan if we proceed. We review current documents, identify the shape of the engagement, and prepare a written proposal with a flat fee and a written scope.
Engagement letter.
The proposal is reduced to an engagement letter and a flat retainer. The retainer covers the full design through execution. There are no per-hour draws against the retainer for foundational work — the work is the work, and the price is the price.
Design phase.
Drafts circulate in rounds of review. We meet as often as needed within the scope of the engagement. The drafting is deliberately unhurried: a plan that is wrong in month three is a plan that will fail in year six.
Execution and funding.
Documents are signed, witnessed, and notarized. Trusts are funded — deeds are retitled, accounts are re-registered, beneficiary designations are updated and verified. The funding step is where most plans silently fail. We do not leave a client until the funding is actually complete.
Annual review.
Every January, a written review of the plan against the family’s current situation. A short update call follows. Changes that require new drafting are priced at a disclosed flat rate. Changes that require only a re-signature are no additional charge.
Year-six consult.
At the six-year mark, a comprehensive revisit — formal amendment if the plan has drifted from the family’s life, or a confirmation letter if it has not. This is the single step most firms skip, and the one that separates the plans that work from the plans that do not.
A retainer that ends at signing is not estate counsel. It is a draft.
Nothing on this page creates an attorney-client relationship. Engagement begins only when a signed engagement letter and cleared retainer are on file. The fee figures stated here are current flat rates for standard engagements; complex matters carry a disclosed range.