Many people are under the assumption that only very wealthy people need a living trust or other estate planning documents. This myth is simply untrue. In fact, most of our clients have total estates between $1,000.00 - $800,000.00.
It is our advice that any person who desires to give property to a specific individual, has a spouse, a minor child, a disabled child or adult, significant assets for tax avoidance, wants their heirs to avoid probate or owns a business needs some type of estate plan.
Our firm offers several plans depending on your needs and costs. Here are examples of just three of our plans:
- Plan 1. Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, Medical Powers of Attorney (Living Wills), and protection of privacy documents for a husband and wife cost would be about $500.00.
- Plan 2. Living Trust, Durable Powers of Attorney, Medical Powers of Attorney (Living Wills), and protection of privacy documents for husband and wife with minor children cost would be about $1,500.00-$2,000.00.
- Plan 3. Living Trust, Business Succession planning, Durable Powers of Attorney, and Medical Powers of Attorney costs approximately $3,000.00-$5,000.00 depending on the type of business.
All plans include in the cost, legal advice, drafting of documents included in that specific plan, notarizing services, witnesses, telephone calls, two or three appointments, correspondences, and copies for all the necessary individuals.
The cost of a living trust does vary from client to client because every client’s assets and needs are different and costs is based upon the needs of the client and the size of their estate.
A will is also an estate planning document in which an individual directs to whom certain property is left to upon the individual’s death.
A will does require probate, but in certain circumstances a will can serve to meet a client’s objective at present minimal cost.
Wills in general tend to be an initially cheaper estate planning tool because the cost of probating the will is where the cost lies. We charge a flat fee of $350.00 for an individual will and $500.00 for married couples. The package also includes all your durable power of attorney and your living will documents.
Powers of Attorney documents are documents that direct certain nominated individuals to serve as a person’s financial decision maker (Durable Power of Attorney, and medical decision maker (commonly known as a “living will” or “medical power of attorney, or medical directive).
A trust is a very interesting tool in the sense that it is an instructional document outlining how you would like all of your property to be handled while alive, incapacitated, and upon death.
It is basically a written contract that exists outside of the court process or probate.
We highly recommend trusts for families with children and those who want to avoid probate.
Probate is a process where the property owned by the decedent is divided by law.
Probate is not as bad as some people may think so long as the personal representative either knows how to navigate through the probate courts or hires a probate attorney to administer the estate.
In some cases, it may be presently more economical for you to have a will drafted instead of a trust.
We take you every step of the way, no step is too small and we pride ourselves on not letting our clients leave our office unless they at least understand what they invested in and how they can use it.
Call us at 248-474-0670 to find out what plan is the best for you and your situation.
