The 'Wealth & Estate Check-Up Day': Co-Hosting a Joint Advice Event With an Estate Lawyer

05 October 2026·5 min read

Quick answer: A "Wealth & Estate Check-Up Day" is a half-day joint event where a financial planning practice and an estate lawyer each run short, separate conversations with the same group of clients — the planner covering general retirement and wealth-structure questions, the lawyer covering wills and estate planning — so attendees leave with momentum on both fronts instead of a vague "you should probably update your will" nag. It works because each professional stays firmly in their own lane while the event itself does the cross-referral. ✨

Most "joint events" between a financial planning practice and a law firm are really just two separate seminars badged under one invite, with each professional talking past the other's area. 💖 A proper check-up day is structured so clients get a short, useful one-on-one or small-group slot with each professional on the same day — which means the lawyer isn't vaguely gesturing at super strategy, and the planner isn't drafting opinions on testamentary trust structures. Everyone stays in their lane, and the client gets the rare experience of walking out having actually dealt with both things at once.

What most practices get wrong

They run it as two back-to-back generic presentations instead of structured, bookable one-on-one or small-group slots — so attendees sit through content that's irrelevant to half of them.
They let the event blur professional boundaries, with the planner commenting on estate structures or the lawyer commenting on investment strategy.
They treat it as a one-off instead of a recurring fixture clients start to expect, the way they'd expect an annual review.
They under-invest in the invite sequence, sending one email instead of a short lead-up that builds anticipation and actually fills the slots.

The usable asset: the event-planning checklist + joint invite sequence

Event-planning checklist: Confirm venue and date 6 weeks out → agree the client list and cap numbers to what both professionals can genuinely give proper time to (aim for 20-minute slots, not a lecture hall) → each professional prepares 3-4 general discussion prompts for their slot (planner: "are your beneficiary nominations up to date," "when did you last review your super strategy"; lawyer: "when was your will last updated," "does it reflect your current family situation") → book a follow-up call window within two weeks for anyone who raises something specific → debrief together afterwards on who needs what follow-up from which side.

Joint invite email sequence (three emails over three weeks):
Email 1 — "Save the date: a Wealth & Estate Check-Up Day for [practice] and [law firm] clients," explaining the format simply.
Email 2 — "What to bring" (recent super statement, current will if they have one), building practical anticipation.
Email 3 — final reminder with the booking link and a note that spots are limited to keep the slots meaningful.

The suburban FP practice partnering with a wills & estates firm: A practice that's noticed clients keep mentioning "I really should sort my will out" in annual reviews but never do. Partnering with a local wills firm for a check-up day turns that recurring comment into an actual booked slot, with the planner's trusted introduction doing most of the work the lawyer's cold outreach never could.

The pre-retiree-focused practice: A practice whose client base is mostly within ten years of retirement, where estate planning questions genuinely intersect with retirement income strategy (just not in ways the planner should be drafting advice on). The check-up day format lets both the "how do I fund retirement" and "who gets what" questions get addressed on the same day, by the right person each time.

The multi-adviser practice running it quarterly: A larger practice with several advisers and an established law firm partner running the event every quarter instead of annually. At this frequency, the event planning checklist becomes a genuine operations document, with a rotating roster of which advisers and which lawyer attend each sitting.

How the cross-referral actually happens

The mechanism isn't the content — it's the room. Clients who book a 20-minute slot with the lawyer because the planner personally invited them are dramatically more likely to actually follow through than clients who receive a lawyer's referral by email months later. The same works in reverse: a lawyer's estate-planning client who's never had a proper super review will book the planner's slot on the day far more readily than if they were cold-referred afterwards. Keep the slots genuinely separate and professionally boundaried — the value is in the warm introduction, not in either professional dabbling in the other's advice area.

Please note: general information only, not personal financial or legal advice — each professional involved should stay strictly within their own advice scope, and attendees should seek individual advice before acting on anything discussed.

💡 Cap the guest list on purpose. A check-up day with 60 people and ten-minute slots feels rushed and transactional; one with 15–20 people and genuine 20-minute conversations feels like a considered service — the smaller number converts to follow-up bookings far better.

Mistakes to avoid

Don't let either professional give specific advice during the shared slots — general prompts and "let's book a proper follow-up" is the right depth for the day itself.
Don't run it without a clear debrief step afterwards; without one, the warm leads from the day go cold within a fortnight.
Don't split costs or hosting duties unevenly without discussing it upfront — mismatched effort is the fastest way to end a good partnership.
Don't skip the "what to bring" email — attendees who arrive without their will or super statement get far less value from their slot.

Frequently asked questions

How many clients should we invite to the first one?

Start smaller than feels ambitious — 15 to 20 attendees is plenty for a first run, since you're also testing logistics and timing, not just content.

Should the planner and lawyer co-brand the invite?

Yes, co-branding signals a genuine partnership rather than one business piggybacking on the other's client list, which matters for trust on both sides.

What's the real limit of this format?

It depends heavily on genuine chemistry and reliability between the two professionals — if the law firm partner is flaky with follow-ups or the referral doesn't flow both ways, clients notice fast, and the event can do more reputational damage than good. Choose the partner carefully before committing to a recurring format.

How do we measure success beyond attendance?

Track booked follow-up appointments on both sides within four weeks of the event, not just RSVPs — attendance without follow-through means the format needs adjusting, not abandoning.

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Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

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