Estate Planning

End of the Year Gifts.

By Jennifer Sawday

One of the best gifts to give your family is a well executed estate plan. This means having the right documents in place for your situation. Transferring your assets to your trust if you set one up and then making all the documents available to your loved ones should they need to be used.

But estate planning is known for being expensive. And attorneys are known for arguing that the price of an well executed estate plan is priceless.

One thing to consider when working with your estate planning attorney is to get a good gauge of the fees that will be charged. Fees for drafting your estate planning documents can either be a flat fee or charged hourly based on the attorney's hourly rate.

For many families, a flat fee to prepare and execute your estate plan is appropriate. For families with more assets than most, who need extensive tax planning or need a plan that caters to very specific disposition provisions (such as a life estate, blended family situation or another situation requiring extensive research and drafting), an hourly approach may be more appropriate.

As to flat fees, while the flat fee quoted to each client is different, there are some general guidelines that attorneys may follow in their own practice when quoting flat fees. One guideline that some attorneys follow is to estimate the amount of time it will take to draft the estate plan, meet with the clients to review the plan and otherwise execute the estate plan. Take this time estimate and multiply it by the attorney's hourly rate to determine the flat fee. Another guideline would be to prepare packages and price different levels of packages into different fee structures. This second approach tends to inflate the price of an estate plan.

In general, a flat fee approach is nice. It lets the client know what the fee will be so that there are no surprises. That being said, an hourly approach may be more suitable and if it is, your attorney will explain why.

To illustrate a flat fee approach, take the attorney's hourly rate and multiply it by the estimated number of hours to prepare and execute an estate plan. Here, at TLD, our hourly rate for our attorneys vary based on years of practice and is between $225 to $425 an hour as stated on our fee schedule and the number of hours, while it varies, is typically between 5 to 10 hours.

When you consult with your attorney, be sure to get the fee quote in writing in an engagement letter or retainer agreement. In California, any fee in excess of $1,000 must be in writing between the attorney and the client.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Full post as published by Estate Planning Practice Blog on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).