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Need to do a will - lawyer suggestion?
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Anonymous
| How do I go about finding a lawyer to draw up our will? I don't like going to the yellow pages-- much prefer referrals. If you worked with a DC lawyer you liked for this purpose, let me know! |
Anonymous
| Hi - I know this isn't really what you asked for, but just wanted to throw it out there anyway. We recently did a will, and after getting a few estimates of $1,000+ from lawyers to draw it up, we ended up doing it ourselves. You can download software (I think total cost was $50 or $60) from nolo.com. The program asked a bunch of questions, and then generated a will based on the information we entered. It was fine for our needs, which was a simple, legal will (and the will also contained a guardianship order appointing guardians for our children in the event that both of us are deceased). I think if we had a more complicated situation or thought that it may be contested or something like that, we probably would have gone to a lawyer. Anyway, just something to consider. |
Anonymous
| Hi-if you have any amount of assets, I would have a lawyer do your will--I would put your estate in a trust to avoid heavy tax penalties. As these things can get complicated, I would definitely make sure you had legal advice. It is just to important. Our attorney is Joe Leone-301-951-1500-He is admitted to DC and Maryland Bar. |
Anonymous
| Agree with poster above, you do not want to do it yourself as there are questions you will want to ask a qualified attorney. You can contact the firm Pasternak and Fidis and ask for Lauren Krauthamer in the trust and estate group. This is their website for contact info http://www.pasternakfidis.com/ They are located in Bethesda. |
Anonymous
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1029 poster - Since you drew up your own will without the presence of an attorney please be sure you get the will notarized and have a non-relative witness your and DH's signature.
OP - even though using computer software to do your will maybe an easy fix please be sure: - you understand the Death Tax (aka the Estate Tax) and design your will and/or trust accordingly - account for future children - burial costs, money to the estate - AND include a medical directive - AND address the issue for the power of attorney Our assets wouldn't trigger the Death Tax so we were ok there, but having a clearly define medical directive and power of attorney in addition to our will was worth the money. Plus, our attorney really took the time to explain a lot of scenarios and helped us sort out some of the potential legal matters that arrive . I can recommend a VA attorney if interested. |
Anonymous
Hi - 10.29 poster here. I am in MD, and when I contacted the county to ask about how to make the will "official", they said that in Maryland wills don't have to be notarized, just signed by two non-relative witnesses. I then checked on the MD state bar association website which also confirmed this. Thanks for the advice, though! |
Anonymous
| 7:35 poster here again. In my last post I meant thanks for the advice on the other issues you outlined. I do appreciate it. We actually didn't do it ourselves as an "easy fix", but because we couldn't afford $1,000+ in attorney fees. In other words, we don't have to worry about the death tax! |
Meconbear
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| The Estate Tax threshold is presently $2 million. Do we include our house or just all of our investments/401Ks? |
Anonymous
00:10 poster - glad to see you covered your bases 735! 
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Anonymous
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$2 million? Meaning, if our 401ks, home equity, investments, savings, etc. don't total $2M, we don't worry about the estate tax? Just when I was starting to feel all middle class!!
This is an interesting quandry. We don't want to run afoul of any of the typical pitfalls (or more precisely, don't want the guardian of our child to), but I can definitely think of better ways to spend $1k. And, is that what will preparation typically costs? Are there lots of variables in the pricetag for this service? Thanks for all the good discussion! |
Anonymous
| Ours cost ~4000k for estate planning (included wills, setting up trusts, power of atty, medical directives, living will, etc. ) You pay for the advice when you have an attorney do it. I highly recommend Jeanne Newlon at Venable. It cost us some money but the advice and longterm planning was worth it. Additionally, pick a firm that will be around for awhile so as tax law changes, new kids are born, etc. you can update as needed. |
Anonymous
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This is an interesting quandry. We don't want to run afoul of any of the typical pitfalls (or more precisely, don't want the guardian of our child to), but I can definitely think of better ways to spend $1k. Lawyers are never cheap. For us, we sucked it up. We'd rather get it all in writing and done correctly than have major financial debacles, guardian issues, power of attorney issues, and no clear medical directives - during a time of death (and even during a medical incapacitation) things are unstable and the last thing we wanted was the worry about the future of our estate and who/how DD will be taken care of. |
Anonymous
| For the 03/27/2008 00:10 Poster: Please provide the name of the VA attorney. We need to draft a will. |
Anonymous
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We used Cathleen Gormley - her office is on Main Street next Woodson HS.
As mentioned in my post, we met with her twice for about an hour each time and she drafted a will, specifically outlined guardianship/asset allotment, a medical directive, power of attorney statement, (even a pet provision ), and filed the will at the court house for us. She explained everything and was super helpful.
Her fee was $1000 for everything. |