What does estate planning cost?
What is the cost of establishing a trust?
These questions were asked by two different people. We are answering these two questions together, because the answer to each question is often oversimplified by some attorneys, to the detriment of the client.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to say how much estate planning will cost. Good estate planning is tailored to the specific needs, preferences, and goals of each client.
Many attorneys sell a big, fancy package of many documents for a set price. The client receives a notebook full of many boilerplate documents, many of which the client does not need, and none of which are tailored to the actual needs of the specific client. This is a type of estate planning to avoid.
Good estate planning takes time to evaluate the circumstances of each client, including the family situation, the financial situation, the health status, of each client. Only then can we help the client to devise the best plan for each client, and then we can craft the documents necessary to implement that plan.
A trust may be one of the documents that may be appropriate in a particular client situation. Because a trusts is only one part of a complete estate plan, even it were possible to define “The Cost” to establish a trust, that would not reflect the entire cost of good, comprehensive, estate planning.
As with all the work we do for our clients, our law firm goal is to provide the best service to our client, at the lowest cost we can possibly achieve. We are always happy to advise callers and clients the current hourly rates of each attorney and other coworker at our law firm. We strive always to have the lowest cost qualified coworker, handle each task, to lower the cost to our client.