I spoke to an estate planning attorney who says my wife and I need

wills
living wills
powers of attorney
guardianship documents (in case we are both incapacitated)
401(k) trust
life insurance trust (we each have big cash-value policies)

Our assets excluding the life insurance are in the mid 6 figures and
would be a few million upon death. We have two young boys.

What is a reasonable amount to pay for these documents? The attorney
said about $2000. He seems knowledgable, and his recommendations make
sense to me. I think the cost is worth it, considering the amount that
can be lost to Federal and state estate taxes and possibly
irresponsible children (by default they get the money at 18). My wife
thinks the work can be done for considerably less. This is probably
true, but I would not want to use a lawyer who is either the cheapest
or the most expensive for the type of work he does.
-------------------
It's always hard to estimate fees, especially someone else's fees. The
fees for the same work can vary quite a bit depending upon the lawyer
and his/her firm (small firm or large firm, level of expertise, small
city or large city), and upon the client (some people need more time to
make decisions). You didn't tell us anything about the lawyer or the
law firm

You might want to consider whether you need or want the insurance
trusts. If you live to retirement, your insurance policies will be
more in the nature of financial assets; and if one of you dies early,
the survivor may need to use some of the insurance proceeds (and will
no longer have the earnings of the deceased spouse), so that the
survivor's estate may not grow as much as it would if you both live to
life expectancy.

The 401(k) trust (I assume by this you mean that upon the surviving
spouse's death, you intend to leave your retirement benefits to your
children in trust rather than outright) could be included as part of
your Wills.

But even if you are only doing Wills and the disability forms, $2,000
seems very reasonable. Even if the fees were more than that (as I
would have expected), it's a modest cost in relation to the several
million dollars that would be involved if you were both to die at this
point.

Bruce Steiner, attorney
NYC
also admitted in NJ and FL

beliav -

The $2,000 is not a big sum compared to, say 15% tax on $1,000,000.
Your wife - typical of many women who seem to be able to think decades
ahead of us guys - may consider it unlikely either of you will join the
ranks of the dearly departed anytime soon. Just a note - A good estate
plan should be regularly reviewed, especially with major changes in the
law. These reviews and updates should cost less, but may save
significant money and anguish.

Again this is when where you are makes a difference.

As states (37 so far) decouple from the Federal Estate tax rules and
reinstate their own, for example the threshold in MA is 850k with an
eventual topping out at 1 million and there is an extensive probate process,
having this planning in place is prudent.


"HW "Skip" Weldon" <skip5700removethis[at]hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:u895i11uvgectglaj7laap65bgv78ogik1[at]4ax.com...
- quote -

On Fri, 9 Sep 2005 10:10:17 CST, beliavsky[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

Absent greater specificity, we have to keep this general.

I doubt anyone has problems with doing the Will and Powers. Around
here those should run around $500-600.

With regard to trusts and other documents, I would keep in mind the
volatile nature of estate tax rules/rates - meaning changes every few
years. There's nobody alive who can tell us what the rules will be in
five years. And there are lots of folks out there who, several years
back, paid serious money to take care of the estate tax burden above
$650,000. <grin
That leads me, as a general matter, to be wary of extensive trust
work except for older folks (+75) or with families with significant
family money involved.

On the other hand, for well-heeled younger couples where a few
thousand of legal work is not a big deal, have fun. $2,000 is about
right.



-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

I don't want your wife to feel too bad, but she is being penny wise & pound foolish.
In the words of a famous comedian, "pay the $2.00"
Cal


<beliavsky[at]aol.com> wrote in message news:1126278570.086611.109090[at]g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

I spoke to an estate planning attorney who says my wife and I need

wills
living wills
powers of attorney
guardianship documents (in case we are both incapacitated)
401(k) trust
life insurance trust (we each have big cash-value policies)

Our assets excluding the life insurance are in the mid 6 figures and
would be a few million upon death. We have two young boys.

What is a reasonable amount to pay for these documents? The attorney
said about $2000. He seems knowledgable, and his recommendations make
sense to me. I think the cost is worth it, considering the amount that
can be lost to Federal and state estate taxes and possibly
irresponsible children (by default they get the money at 18). My wife
thinks the work can be done for considerably less. This is probably
true, but I would not want to use a lawyer who is either the cheapest
or the most expensive for the type of work he does.

That is pretty much the going rate.

In Massachusetts every $1 in planning save $10 in probate costs alone.

<beliavsky[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:1126278570.086611.109090[at]g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
- quote -