from archives: St. Cloud Times:
Lawyers help local heroes
by Dave Unze
(Created: Friday, April 17, 2008)

Click HERE for link to story.

Wills for Heroes, a program in which attorneys volunteer their time to provide a free will, as well as a healthcare directive, to firefighters, first responders and law enforcement officers, had its outstate kick-off in Freeport.

"The program has been running in the Metro area since September," said Krista Durrwachter, one of the attorneys at the event. "It has been working well there and it was decided to try it in outstate Minnesota."

Wills for Heroes was started in South Carolina when an attorney, Anthony Hayes, noted there were a number of first responders who did not have wills or similar plans. He worked with various first responders to develop a simple plan that could be put together in one visit. The visits are done at no cost to the responders.

"We try to do one event a month, maybe up to two in the future," said Durrwachter. "The process takes about one hour. Tonight we had three stations and saw 12 couples."

The Wills for Heroes program has grown since its inception in 2001 in South Carolina. It is presently in four states and is popular. Durrwachter noted that the program is booked through 2010 in Minnesota. Prior to coming to a meeting with the attorney, the participant, their spouse and/or other trusted friends, downloads and completes a planning questionnaire. At the meeting the participant is assigned to an attorney who examines the questionnaire and inputs the information into laptops loaded with a document assembly software platform. The attorney reviews the draft estate planning documents with the first responder participant to ensure that they fully understand and agree to what they are executing. After the document is explained and any corrections made, the documents are signed, witnessed and notarized in a formal signing ceremony. On average, the first responder walks out with their estate planning documents in one hour.

The funding for the clinic came through a grant from the Stearns/Benton Bar Association (SBBA) as well as the time being donated by local attorneys. At Freeport, the sessions started at 5 p.m. and concluded at 9 p.m.

Firms that participated in the program included: Quinlivan & Hughes, P.A., St. Cloud; Reep Law Firm, St. Cloud; Uphus Law Firm, Melrose; Reichert, Wenner, Koch & Provinzino, P.A., St. Cloud; and Gray, Plant, Mooty, St. Cloud.

There were also volunteers from the St. Cloud Technical College in St. Cloud.

The participants had to sign up for a specific slot in advance. Freeport was selected for the first outstate site because of its size, and because of a local connection.

Mary (Hennen) Mahler of Quinlivan and Hughes Law Firm St. Cloud, is a Freeport native and helped arrange the event.

Durrwachter was impressed with how well the event went.

"Freeport has been great to us," she said. "They even provided a volunteer greeter which is really great."

If a department is interested in obtaining a date for a Wills for Heroes event, they should contact Tram Nguyen at the Minnesota State Bar Association at (612) 278-6316 or tnguyen@statebar.gen.mn.us

More information can be found at www.mnbar.org

“Plaintiffs will be able to recover double costs. There is no circumstance under which defendants can ever recover double costs.”

Mr. Bayliss served on the Minnesota Supreme advisory committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure. He is a former chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Civil Litigation Section and serves on the Quinlivan & Hughes, P.A. Board of Directors and chairs the firm's Appellate Practice Committee.

UPDATE:

Mr. Bayliss  has since carried his disagreement beyond an interview in Minnesota Lawyer by authoring and submitting written remarks to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Mr. Bayliss also petitioned for and was granted an opportunity by the Court to orally address those concerns at the Court's December 19th, 2007 hearing on the matter. The Court's Committee Reporter and a representative from the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association also made presentations to the Court.