Anonymous wrote:OP here. We spoke with a small law firm. Turns out we don't need a trust and can go the will route. Total price:

Last Will and Testament - $650
Power of Attorney (Couple) - $175
Medical Directive (Couple) - $175
Total Cost of Estate Plan - $1000

Yeah, most people with holdings like yours (one house, basic retirement accounts) don't need a trust. People on DCUM who respond to posts like this are disproportionally richer, with more complex holdings, so you will see more responses of people who should probably have a trust. Most people don't need one.

We were quoted 7k. We have two homes in two dif states and I guess that adds to the cost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we did two trusts, a will and various POA, cost 6k.

Exact same cost , estate planning, trust, POA etc. This is one area worth spending money on.

+2

OP here. We spoke with a small law firm. Turns out we don't need a trust and can go the will route. Total price:

Last Will and Testament - $650
Power of Attorney (Couple) - $175
Medical Directive (Couple) - $175
Total Cost of Estate Plan - $1000

Can someone make a recommendation for lawyers in Maryland for this? I am in PG county.

Our primary residence is NY and we were just quoted $9,500 for updated wills, POAs, etc and two trusts to limit exposure to NY State estate tax (where if you have $1 over $7.52M, all assets are taxed). I am curious if estate attorneys quote an hourly rate for this work. I am going to keep interviewing attorneys because I didn't like that this guy didn't tell us his hourly rate and didn't explain how they will determine what assets go in which trust. Is it reasonable to expect these details before hiring an estate attorney?

Anonymous wrote:In our case we have 2 minor kids. Our assets include 1 home and the rest in investment accounts (401ks, IRAs, etc).

How much should one expect to pay for a trust setup? Any recommendations on lawyers?

Did a joint revocable for trading account, retirement accounts and house.

And two individual irrevocable for each spouse’s term life insurance and annual gifting to each kid. May add some other assets at low cost bases if we get to estate tax threshold of net worth.

$4k this year for the above. Used a Chicago based lawyer and office my cousins used for their dad’s pre IPO company holdings.

Anonymous wrote:we did two trusts, a will and various POA, cost 6k.

Exact same cost , estate planning, trust, POA etc. This is one area worth spending money on.

Anonymous wrote:we did two trusts, a will and various POA, cost 6k.

We just went through this as well, flat fee of $4,750

Op, what the est value of your investments, or your NW? Do you own a business? You may or may not benefit from a trust depending on your NW, investments etc.

Why do you need a trust?

we did two trusts, a will and various POA, cost 6k.

You can write a will which would create a trust upon your death (called a testamentary trust). If you are in the DMV that is all I would do— maybe revisit it once the kids are grown.

A will can costs anywhere from $1500 to $6k depending on the size of the law firm and what not.

Trust could mean a zillion different things. You need an estate plan. It may or may not need to include a trust. Some people create a revocable trust, which is more like a will that stays out of probate - the assets are still yours until you die. But then the revocable trust can trigger additional trusts of different types when you die.

It doesn’t sound like you have anything complicated going on so you could start with legal zoom. Get something in place, particularly regarding care of your children. You can always decide to revisit it later.

In our case we have 2 minor kids. Our assets include 1 home and the rest in investment accounts (401ks, IRAs, etc).

How much should one expect to pay for a trust setup? Any recommendations on lawyers?