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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been working on getting our estate planning done right now and have gotten a couple of quotes. A solo practitioner working out of their house quoted me 3K. A different solo practitioner working out of Bethesda office space quoted 2K. (Which surprised me - I just assumed the one working out of their house would be cheaper. But I did get the sense from talking with that attorney that they favored a more collaborative approach and would spend more time talking through options than the attorney charging 2K, so perhaps the more expensive attorney just knows they put more hours into each client.)

I'm waiting to hear back from a small boutique firm with 4 or 5 attorneys working out of Rockville for their quote, though they have told me thus far that they wait until after an initial consultation in order to decide whether they'll charge by the hour or charge a flat fee. Given the price differences, I do think it's worthwhile to call around. When my in-laws updated their estate planning a year or two ago, different attorneys in the Bethesda firm they went to charged different amounts. (The in-laws didn't remember what they paid when I asked.)

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What does the size of the firm or the workspace setup have anything to do with the quality of the advice you receive? And why do these and the price seem to be the only criteria you are considering? The price should reflect the complexity of the matter, the expertise of the attorney, the liability the attorney assumes and the time that goes into advising you. $2k or $3k are insultingly cheap. This equates to an hourly rate lower than that of a plumber. And the plumber does not assume long-term professional liability in the amount of several millions of $$.

I am a tax and estate attorney. I handle complex matters with international components. My hourly rate at $430 is way lower than what my peers with lesser qualifications charge ($800+). I chose to work as a sole practitioner in order to have the flexibility to care for my young child (and thank goodness for that, see Covid). Over the years plenty of big law firms approached me and asked me to join them. But, I would have had to raise my hourly rate to at least $650 to pay for their overhead and partner profit. My service would have been the same. [/quote]

I wrote the original message you are responding to. What I didn’t say in my message because it wasn’t relevant to the OP’s question, was that I was specifically talking to lawyers with an expertise in special needs planning. We have a child with serious health needs who will never be able to live independently, and we had a  trust drawn up for her. We got multiple recommendations from different people, including people who have done similar planning and from other lawyers and did extensive research on attorneys. So you’re wrong to assume we only considered price. Everyone we got a quote from was an expert in the area of estate planning that was most important for us.

I pointed out the workspace and the staff because those are things that impact the lawyers costs, completely separate from the quality of the advice they provide (which you note yourself when you say you’d have to raise your fees if you joined a firm). If you think 2k or 3K is insultingly cheap, your beef is with the attorneys who set their fees, not me. My point was that there are lots of factors that go into how people price the exact same service, and it’s not just based on their expertise. The attorney charging the least was the oldest (and most experienced), and has lower costs because he bought a house 30 years ago and doesn’t have kids at home he’s supporting anymore. The woman charging 3K works out of her home in PG County, which probably means her expenses are lower (though I got the impression she also works part time because of kids, which may be part of her higher cost) and the firm in Rockville with multiple attorneys and a number of support staff quoted 5K (even though they were the least responsive and the most difficult to schedule with). Even with equally qualified professionals, it is worth it to shop around.[/quote]

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