lawyer here. I negotiated. WE did it (trusts, wills, health planning) all for $3K.

That is crazy high. Top end is 3 to 5. A decent solo practictioner will do it all for 1 to 2 k.

Anonymous wrote:Are any of you lawyers? We are lawyers and I feel like we could wing it and have the docs notarized. Not planning to set up a trust, just a simple will.

I'm a PP and a lawyer. I did my own will. I only got another lawyer involved when we did a trust, and even then I am not sure we really needed to; it more being very safe and a little lazy. The main thing, IMO, is figuring out how they will find and verify the will when you're gone.

Do rocket lawyer /nolo / legal zoom first.

If you go to a lawyer, the first thing they do is pull out their Pro version of the app and ask you all the same questions. Some will even charge you money while they transcribe your answers on paper and then have their paralegal type it in later.


No matter how much you pay your lawyer, they can't decide how much money to give to Larlo and who should be Larla's caregiver if you die when she is minor age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there no way to do this without an attorney, but just have the paperwork notarized? I'm shocked it's that much.

If you’re not doing anything unique, legal zoom will ask a few questions and the give you the documents to sign and get witnessed and notarized for a lot less.

This.

I believe we paid $3k for will, trust, POA, health directive about 3 years ago. We used Charles Abell in Bethesda.

Many companies offer some kind of legal plan like hyatt or MetLife. You should sign up for it if your company offers that and then legal work will be nearly free when you need it.

For a firm that’s a little high but not crazy high. Agree a solo practitioner will be cheaper. Also recc checking out nolo’s willmaker

I guess so. It’s always more expensive than you think. In 2011 I was quoted $3K for a will only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit high. We paid a little over$3k for all the bells and whistles wills and a trust and they also transferred our house into the trust. They also charged based on size of the estate so you might get charged more if you have a large one.

OP here. My estate is about $2.5M but that includes life insurance and a modest home in MoCo. Could you share the name of your attorney? I just want a will, living trust, and power of attorney.

Sorry OP I totally misremembered. We only paid about $1800 in 2017 but our NW back then was less than $1m (much higher now thank goodness). We and other family have used the Collins firm.

Our situation is simple (we are young and don't have a high NW) but Mr. Todd was NOT anywhere close to 5K. https://columbiaestateplanning.com/

Anonymous wrote:Seems a bit high. We paid a little over$3k for all the bells and whistles wills and a trust and they also transferred our house into the trust. They also charged based on size of the estate so you might get charged more if you have a large one.

OP here. My estate is about $2.5M but that includes life insurance and a modest home in MoCo. Could you share the name of your attorney? I just want a will, living trust, and power of attorney.

We are paying $750 in Montgomery Cty. Solo practitioner.

Seems a bit high. We paid a little over$3k for all the bells and whistles wills and a trust and they also transferred our house into the trust. They also charged based on size of the estate so you might get charged more if you have a large one.

It depends on how high net worth you are and how complicated your estate is.

My family is high net worth and we pay our estate lawyer 620 an hour. He is extremely good. Simply setting up a SLAT was almost ten thou.

However, I’m sure it could be done for cheaper. We have a lot of complications.