Selling Wills Using the Tupperware Model

The following excerpts are from Sheri Qualters, Mass. Sole Uses ‘Will-Signing Parties’ to Expand His Practice, Nat’l L.J., March 1, 2007:

First Tupperware, now estate planning.

Attorney James Haroutunian borrowed from his experience as the parent of two preschoolers to come up with home-based “will-signing parties.”

“I know the mindset of the young parent,” Haroutunian said. “Convenience is No. 1.”

Haroutunian’s will-signing parties streamline the estate-planning process to one meeting where groups of at least five couples or individuals simply sign their wills. …

Haroutunian compares his concept to a Tupperware party, but it’s not that simple. His clients have homework before the event.

Haroutunian prescreens his new clients to determine if they are eligible for the basic family estate plan through an e-mailed questionnaire, and he resolves questions via telephone or e-mail. The clients see a draft will before the party. Clients witness each other’s signatures but are not privy to other clients’ documents, Haroutunian said.

Michael Whitty, the chairman of the wealth and nontax estate-planning considerations group of the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, said he likes the idea from a client service and convenience perspective.

Special thanks to Prof. Paul Caron for bringing this article to my attention.