Anonymous wrote:If it is not complicated. don't overspend. Wills are much like tax preparation -- the attorney/tax preparer will use the same software you could buy. They know more than you but are not doing anything complicated. If you have a more complicated situation, taxes too, it is a different story.

Totally not true about the software. It is not just filling out a form. Also, the lawyer, by knowing the law, knows what situations are “complicated”. I find clients usually do not.

There may or may not be a need to spend a lot on these documents, but make that decision in consultation with a lawyer who specializes in the area.

- estate lawyer

If it is not complicated. don't overspend. Wills are much like tax preparation -- the attorney/tax preparer will use the same software you could buy. They know more than you but are not doing anything complicated. If you have a more complicated situation, taxes too, it is a different story.

This was helpful--thanks OP for starting this thread! I just got a quote from a lawyer of $975 for 2 wills (assuming the spouses will leave everything to each other if one dies), medical and legal powers of attorney, living wills, and a trust for minor children, and $200 less without the trust. Seems reasonable based on what others are saying so I'm going to go for it!

Anonymous wrote:Two wills, POAs, HCPoAs, one revocable living trust and one created via one of the wills. $2500. Also a few hundred to an accountant for advice related to funding the trust.

Same -the sperate living trust (both created in the wills) and we paid $1,500.

Get married.

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to this. Long time partner and I have no desire to get married legally (in the eyes of a church or government), but we have commingled assets in the form a newly purchased house.

We want to establish inheritance rights for each other to property and life insurance payouts, plus establish POA and medical directives (my partner has some lifelong health issues).

Any recommendations here?

We did one online for free. I know! But we mostly just wanted the decisions to be written down. We had our neighbors witness us signing (and they signed too). We don't have millions of dollars though, it was more the logistics of who would make the decisions. After that, I trust that my children would be well cared for because our families are pretty low drama.

^ to the value of the *estate

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did 2 VERY BASIC wills, POA and advanced medical directives with an attorney in silver spring for $200.

Also, we ended up not doing the trust because we don't have a ton of assets, just the house and retirement accounts.

We are going through the process right now (cost around 12-1300). We hadn’t originally planned on doing a trust, but were told that it’s the only way to “spread out” the amount over the years. Otherwise, the kid gets all of the money at 18 (or whenever you go, if older than 18).

Also, keep in mind life insurance (since you didn’t mention it). That could potentially add a lot to the value of other assets.

Anonymous wrote:We did 2 VERY BASIC wills, POA and advanced medical directives with an attorney in silver spring for $200.

Also, we ended up not doing the trust because we don't have a ton of assets, just the house and retirement accounts.

We did 2 VERY BASIC wills, POA and advanced medical directives with an attorney in silver spring for $200.

Two wills, POAs, HCPoAs, one revocable living trust and one created via one of the wills. $2500. Also a few hundred to an accountant for advice related to funding the trust.

We paid $180 for an initial consultation with a lawyer and about $1000 to have the documents written up and signed.

If you want a separate trust, versus a trust created with/in will, you're looking at a higher cost. We shopped around for the same docs and got quotes from 1200 - 7000. Went with a lawyer that charged around $1400 and I wouldn't go cheaper. For $800 I cannot imagine you'll get anything other than boilerplate, and for that you can just buy software.

We are looking to have our will and associated documents prepared, and have gotten very different estimates... one saying 400-800 and another saying north of 2k. It would be a fairly straightforward situation, no unusual circumstances, but we do want to create a trust to ensure care for kids and do both power of attorney and proxy docs. What have others paid for this service? Admittedly the higher quote came from someone who provided much more detail and lower quote someone who seems rather casual. Both were recommended by neighbors.