Funeral Director Referral Program
The Family in Front of You Needs More Than Arrangements. They Need a Plan for What Comes Next.
When a family comes to you without a will, without a trust, and without a clear picture of what the deceased owned, they are about to face probate on top of grief. We work with surviving family members and with families planning ahead so the next generation does not walk into your funeral home in the same position.
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What You See Every Week
Most Families Arrive at Your Door Without a Plan. Probate Is What Happens Next.
You see it more than almost anyone: a family arrives to make funeral arrangements and within the first conversation, it becomes clear that no one has any idea what the deceased owned, where the accounts are, or who is legally authorized to act. There is no will. There is no trust. There is no power of attorney — though that is no longer relevant. What is relevant is that this family is about to spend the next nine to eighteen months in Georgia probate court before they can access a single asset.
The grief is real. The paperwork comes on top of it. And you are the first professional they speak to after the death — which means you are in the best position to point them toward someone who can help them understand what comes next.
You are also in a position to help the families who are planning ahead. Pre-need customers who are thinking about their own arrangements are, by definition, thinking about what happens when they die. That conversation naturally leads to estate planning — and a referral at that moment is one of the most valuable things you can offer them.
What the Family Is Facing
- A family without a will or trust faces 9–18 months of Georgia probate before they can distribute a single asset from the estate
- A surviving spouse with no power of attorney — or whose POA died with the spouse — may have no legal authority to access joint accounts
- A home titled in the deceased's name alone cannot be sold until the probate court appoints an administrator and issues letters testamentary
- A pre-need customer who plans their own funeral but not their estate leaves the same legal gap for their family that you see every week
- An estate with no named executor goes to the court to appoint one — a stranger may be managing the family's affairs for more than a year
How It Works
A Referral That Takes One Conversation
You make the referral
After arrangements, when the conversation turns to "what happens next with the estate," you share Melissa's contact. For pre-need customers, you share it at the close of the planning conversation. One sentence: "Here is an estate planning attorney who can help your family avoid this situation."
We respond within 24 hours
The family hears from Melissa's office the same business day. For post-death families, we explain the probate process and what a trust would have prevented. For pre-need families, we schedule a consultation to draft the documents they need.
The next generation has a plan
For surviving family members who engage with us, we put a trust and estate plan in place so the cycle stops. For pre-need customers, we draft the documents and let you know when they are signed. The family is protected. You helped make that happen.
How the Partnership Works
Two Referral Moments. Both Count.
Funeral directors have two distinct moments to refer a family to an estate planning attorney. The first is after the death — when a surviving spouse, adult child, or executor contacts your office and it becomes clear the estate is not in order. The second is during pre-need planning — when a customer is actively thinking about what happens when they die and a conversation about a will or trust is the most natural next step in the world.
For post-death referrals: we work with surviving family members to plan their own estate so history does not repeat itself. We do not handle probate administration — that is a different practice. We refer those families to probate attorneys we trust and work with the family on their own estate plan once the probate is resolved.
For pre-need referrals: we work with pre-need customers to put the legal documents in place — a revocable trust, a will, powers of attorney — so their family does not face what the family they just watched go through faced. That referral is straightforward and the timing is ideal.
Most funeral home referral relationships with an estate attorney are one direction only. A family is handed a name, they call the attorney, and the funeral home never hears anything again. This one is built so the relationship moves in both directions.
Beyond The Referral
Every other estate attorney offering to work with funeral directors makes the same pitch: fast response, no client poaching, no fees. That is the starting point. Here is what comes with being an active partner, whether families come to you once a year or once a week:
A Free Personal Estate Plan
Once you complete partner orientation, we draft your will at no cost. Not a discount. Free, one time, no strings.
A Spot in a Small Group of Vetted Professionals
We connect active partners with other professionals who serve the same clients you do, so referrals move in more than one direction.
A Feature in a Real Client Story
When a shared client agrees to it, we build a short video covering their situation and how the plan came together, and you are part of that story.
An Annual Look at Your Own Practice
Once a year, we review your book from an estate-planning risk angle and flag anything your own clients are exposed to.
Training Built Around What Comes Up in Your Client Meetings
Tell us the questions you are fielding, and we build a session around it you can send to your own client list.
We Send Families Back to You
Every family that comes to us after a death gets asked where the services were held and whether the funeral home helped them understand what happens next. If they had a good experience and they are open to it, we ask whether they would like to reconnect with that director for pre-planning conversations on their own arrangements. If that director is a partner, we make the introduction.
When a family finishes estate administration and starts thinking about their own plan, pre-need funeral arrangements often come up as part of that conversation. We refer them to directors who treated their family well. If that is you, it is a relationship that continues past the loss.
The People Behind the Work
We are a husband-and-wife firm. The families you send work with Melissa directly, never a paralegal.
Melissa Breyer
Estate Planning Lawyer
Handles the family’s plan start to finish.
Shawn Breyer
Operations & Marketing
Handles onboarding, operations, and marketing.
Our promise
When you send us a family, you are putting your name on us. We treat every family like your reputation depends on it, because it does. You will hear from us within one business day, and again when the work is done. You will never wonder what happened.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer works with families at every stage — after a death, during a probate, and in the planning years before. She understands that families who come through a funeral home without a plan are often confronting the legal system for the first time, and she handles those conversations with the patience and clarity the situation requires. When you refer a family to her, she takes the legal complexity off their plate. You do not have to wait for a referral to give a family something useful. Ask us for the what-to-do-when-someone-dies checklist built for the first conversation after a loss, and share it whenever families ask what the legal steps are.