Will Execution Parties

The following is from Hearsay, Trial, July 2007, at 104:

“Apart from getting a drop of merlot on one of the powers of attorney, it worked out well.”

Michael Whitty, an estate and trusts lawyer in Chicago, commenting on Billerica, Massachusetts, attorney James Haroutunian’s innovative approach to reaching clients.  Haroutunian hosts “will signing parties” that he likens to Tupperware parties, where gathered guests can mingle while signing their legal paperwork.  Whitty noted that while he doesn’t host parties himself, he has sometimes brought estate-planning documents to clients’ homes and, in at least one case, the signing became a festive occasion.

For information about will execution parties, see Sheri Qualters, Mass. Solo Uses ‘Will-Signing Parties’ to Expand His Practice, Nat’l L.J., March 1, 2007.