Estate Planning docs

[viewer0]

I am being quoted a price of $995 for creating the following docs :

Revocable Living Trust
Durable Power of Attorney
Healthcare Surrogates
Living Will
Wills ( pour over wills)
Correcting Titling Real Estate
Assistance on Funding my Trust
Free calls to my Attorney
Assistance in Estate Settlement

Are all these needed ? Worth it ?
Can most of these be done without any outside help ?
TIA

[ruralavalon]

In my opinion probably needed, probably worth it, should not be done without professional help. I don't know about "all". It depends on your personal circumstances, and the law in your state.

We own our home jointly, have wills, durable powers of attorney for property, and durable powers of attorney for healthcare.

[rob]

Seems very reasonable to me....

[tibbitts]

The price seems very reasonable. Obviously yes you can do all these things yourself, but the fact that you're creating the trust suggests that maybe some complications are involved that would make professional help a good idea. Just having another person look over the documents and make sure they are correctly executed is worth something, and realistically a professional may charge as much for that as for creating the documents in the first place. If you have a lot at stake (kids, for example), it becomes more important to make sure the documents are correct.

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (estate planning).

[RudyS]

Sounds like a good low price.

However, the last items, free phone calls (except those needed in setting up the documents mentioned), and help with estate settlement, seem too good to be true.

[HomeStretch]

You may also want to include:
1) review of beneficiary designations on all accounts
2) notarization of your financial institutions’ POA forms. Sometimes it’s easier to use the financial institution’s form or, for a Fidelity for example, there is a form to be completed and notarized that accompanies your lawyer-drafted POA as long as it’s dated in the last 6-12 months.

[viewer0]

When is it advisable to create a trust ? I have two kids, living in MA so far. I understand vaguely that they is a tax benefit when you pass on the assets to your kins ?

The last item " Assistance in Estate Settlement" is kind of vague - may be there is additional fee involved.

[simplesimon]

When is it advisable to create a trust ? I have two kids, living in MA so far. I understand vaguely that they is a tax benefit when you pass on the assets to your kins ?

I live in MA as well and haven't pulled the trigger on this yet (have one kid). MA taxes estates valued at over $1 million. Even if you don't have that right now, if you have a life insurance policy that would put the estate over this threshold there would be a tax benefit to having a trust.

That price sounds very reasonable...I've heard $2,500 is the average around here. One lawyer who is part of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel quoted me $4,000...I don't know if that's worth it or not.

[bsteiner]

When is it advisable to create a trust ? I have two kids, living in MA so far. I understand vaguely that they is a tax benefit when you pass on the assets to your kins ?
...

The principal reason would be if your estate is large enough to pay estate tax and you want to give away assets now to reduce the size of your estate.

[Marmot]

Like everything Boglehead, its about having a plan It is a very interesting process to go through to say the least.

[gretah]

Seems very reasonable to me....

I agree

[Katietsu]

I am not a fan of what I view as the overuse of revocable living trusts. I am far from an expert, but I do not see them as saving on taxes. (They can have other purposes for select situations and in particular jurisdictions.) There are different types of trust such as one created by your will or an irrevocable trust where you are giving up your assets that can save on taxes.

[tibbitts]

When is it advisable to create a trust ? I have two kids, living in MA so far. I understand vaguely that they is a tax benefit when you pass on the assets to your kins ?

The last item " Assistance in Estate Settlement" is kind of vague - may be there is additional fee involved.

This is a complicated and state-specific question, but in general having been the beneficiary of a living trust i can say there were no tax benefits in my case to that specific type of trust. In fact taxes were somewhat more complicated, although not unmanageable. I was told the trust was originally created to manage some complications of multi-state real estate holdings, but those didn't exist at the time I became involved with the trust.

[fittan]

Is the $995 price with a local/in-person attorney or online based?

Legalzoom bundle for trust, 2 wills plus legal advice costs $379. For local/in-person attorney it usually cost $2k to $3k. If it is the former, then it is too expensive, if latter too cheap.

[viewer0]

Anyone had experience with Lionsgate Advisors ?

[celia]

I think the price is too low. Is the attorney "new"/just starting out/looking for new clients or giving cookie-cutter documents to everyone?

Correcting Titling Real Estate

Did you already know the titling wasn't correct for you? If not, this alone may save you more than the quoted fee in the long run.

[johnnyc321]

I am being quoted a price of $995 for creating the following docs :

Revocable Living Trust
Durable Power of Attorney
Healthcare Surrogates
Living Will
Wills ( pour over wills)
Correcting Titling Real Estate
Assistance on Funding my Trust
Free calls to my Attorney
Assistance in Estate Settlement

Are all these needed ? Worth it ?
Can most of these be done without any outside help ?
TIA

That's so cheap I question the quality of the work product.

[tibbitts]

I am being quoted a price of $995 for creating the following docs :

Revocable Living Trust
Durable Power of Attorney
Healthcare Surrogates
Living Will
Wills ( pour over wills)
Correcting Titling Real Estate
Assistance on Funding my Trust
Free calls to my Attorney
Assistance in Estate Settlement

Are all these needed ? Worth it ?
Can most of these be done without any outside help ?
TIA

That's so cheap I question the quality of the work product.

How would you evaluate the quality?

[megabad]

That is the going rate for the “will mill” attorneys in my area. I live in a MCOL city. Other views may be for HCOL though not sure. I assume anything with the word “assistance” in front of it means nothing in lawyer speak.

[viewer0]

I think the price is too low. Is the attorney "new"/just starting out/looking for new clients or giving cookie-cutter documents to everyone?

Correcting Titling Real Estate

Did you already know the titling wasn't correct for you? If not, this alone may save you more than the quoted fee in the long run.

I believe this is part of the menu; if anything you dont need, that's fine. I dont think I have title issue.

[supalong52]

I think you need the entire menu with the possible exception of assistance to fund your trust. I agree the quoted price is too low -- you're probably going to get Legal Zoom quality work (e.g., a bunch of templates to fill in). We paid a premium (~$7k) to have an ACTEC fellow and her firm prepare our estate planning documents. As an attorney myself I know there is a huge range in competency and sophistication of practitioners in many areas of the law with T&E being one of them.

[viewer0]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have a phone consultation tomorrow. Can you guys tell me what to ask in order to judge the quality of work ?

[solargod007]

In my opinion probably needed, probably worth it, should not be done without professional help. I don't know about "all". It depends on your personal circumstances, and the law in your state.

We own our home jointly, have wills, durable powers of attorney for property, and durable powers of attorney for healthcare.

Just created our Wills, Financial, Health care power of attorney documents today with a local attorney. Cost me 60$ (5$/month of a legal benefit plan through employer). Not sure how much they paid to the attorneys. They all look very standard documents.
Also, recommend to review the beneficiary designations of other accounts.
Most of our financial/bank accounts are jointly owned and dont own any real estate.. so, didn't see a need for Revocable living trust.