Towards the end of my first pregnancy it occurred to me that my husband and I should probably have a will once the baby was born in order to appoint a guardian for him and make sure he was taken care of. I mean, we are both attorneys and I thought it might be a little hypocritical if something happened to us and we didn’t have a will to protect our family! So I set out to write one.
Once our wills were drafted, we asked our neighbors to act as witnesses. They are a young couple, just like us, with a one-year-old baby girl. While we were signing, they said, “hey, we need one of these, too.” I mentioned my will to a few other couple-friends and the response was the same: “we have been meaning to get a will, but just haven’t gotten around to it,” or “we need a will, but didn’t know where to get one,” or even more often, “we didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg to some big law firm to get a will and we didn’t trust the wills that you can buy online.”
Meanwhile, my maternity leave was up and I was doing the “mommy-shuffle,” going back to work. I absolutely hated dropping my baby off each day to go work in a giant skyscraper for a giant insurance corporation as an in-house attorney. Everyday I looked out of my big windows and wished I was doing something more worthwhile and that I could also see my baby more.
And then it hit me. I love probate work—it was by far my favorite part of the work that I did in my practice. And I love being a mom, meeting other mothers and supporting one another as we learn and grow with our babies. More and more friends and friends-of-friends said they needed a will in order to make sure they appointed a guardian for their new babies. And I realized that I could do this service for them!
And so, I started my solo practice out of my home, drafting wills and trusts for young families. I draft simple wills and trust and also powers of attorney, advance directives, medical powers of attorney and designations of guardian before the need arises. I charge a very reasonable rate because I know how intimidating a big law firm can be (I used to work for one!)
They say “having a baby changes everything.” It is true, in so many ways. I love my job now! It brings me so much happiness--I get to spend so much more time with my baby by working out of my home and I feel like my service is valuable—I am helping new families plan for the future.
