When you create an estate plan to document your wishes, you may worry about the potential cost of estate planning. Although estate planning can involve upfront costs, a tailored, comprehensive estate plan can save you and your family considerably more money.
Factors That Affect the Costs of Estate Planning
Some of the factors that may affect the cost of developing an estate plan include:
- Complexity of the estate: The size of an individual’s or family’s estate and the complexity of their assets can affect the cost of estate planning. For example, estate planning may involve higher costs to address high-value or complex assets like commercial real estate, substantial stock portfolios, artwork/heirloom collections, or business ownership interests.
- Type of estate planning tools: The cost of estate planning will depend on the legal strategies incorporated into a plan, such as wills, living trusts, irrevocable trusts, powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives.
- Legal fees: An individual’s decision to seek legal services to help them develop or update an estate plan can also affect the total cost of estate planning.
- Ancillary services: Depending on the complexity of an estate and the chosen estate planning strategies, individuals or families may require additional professional services during estate planning, such as accountants, expert appraisers, tax professionals, and financial advisors.
- Additional costs: Finally, the type of estate planning tools incorporated into a plan can determine whether an individual or family will incur additional costs, such as notary services, printing costs, or filing fees.
What Expenses Might You Incur in Estate Planning?
Typical expenses incurred during estate planning include:
- Legal fees, including an estate planning attorney’s flat fee or hourly fees
- Professional fees, including accountants, appraisers, or financial planners
- Title search costs
- Filing fees, including court or deed registry filings
- Copying/printing costs to obtain copies of financial statements, medical records, or other documents
Should You Do a DIY Estate Plan?
Today, multiple online services offer “do-it-yourself” estate planning packages, purporting to allow individuals to create an estate plan without the assistance of an attorney. However, DIY estate plans can have numerous drawbacks. First, DIY services usually limit their offerings to standard estate planning tools, such as wills and advanced healthcare directives. These services may not offer tools to enable users to create more complex estate planning tools, such as trusts. Furthermore, because DIY services may not provide legal advice, users may have to decide which estate planning tools they need. DIY services may not have estate planning templates tailored to the specific rules or requirements under your state’s laws. Templates may also contain errors that could invalidate portions of your estate plan.
Working with an estate planning attorney can help you develop an enforceable estate plan tailored to your needs and goals.
Ways to Save on Estate Planning Costs
Individuals and families can minimize their estate planning costs even when working with an attorney by following tips such as:
- Bundling estate planning services: Legal assistance for estate planning may cost less when clients have an attorney create a comprehensive estate plan rather than having the attorney develop a plan in a piecemeal fashion
- Gathering documents for your attorney: Clients can help reduce legal costs during estate planning by collecting the documents their attorney needs to create their estate plan
- Periodically reviewing the estate plan to avoid the need for costly revisions or litigation down the road
Contact an Estate Planning Attorney Today
A comprehensive estate plan can help you document your wishes and plan to care for yourself and your loved ones. Working with a knowledgeable estate planning lawyer can help you avoid mistakes or pitfalls that can cost you significantly more money down the road. Contact Carroll Law Group, PLLC today for an initial consultation with an estate planning attorney to learn more about the costs of estate planning in Texas.