My practice includes estate planning and probate work. I do simple wills, wills with trusts for minor children and revocable trusts with pour-over wills. If, after consultation I think you need a more intricate will containing complicated tax planning, I will suggest that you hire a tax attorney specializing in those matters.
1. Power of Attorney: This document allows your designated agent to manage your personal affairs. This comes in handy if you are incapacitated in any way.
2. Medical Power of Attorney: This document allows your designated agent to make decisions on your behalf regarding your health care in the event that you cannot make them yourself.
3. Advance Directive: This document tells physicians and hospitals what action to take if you are suffering from a “terminal” or “irreversible” condition and are unable to communicate or make your own decisions.
4. Declaration of Guardian: This document allows you to designate a guardian for yourself in the event a guardianship is instituted for you. In this document, you may also designate persons who you do NOT want to serve as your guardian under any circumstances.
Separate Documents:
I charge $200 for an individual’s will and $300 for a married couple’s wills (each spouse has a separate will) and $30 for each additional document. Additional documents are those discussed above, including powers of attorneys, medical powers of attorneys, advance directives and designation of guardians.
The Whole Package: The Whole Package. If an individual would like a will and all four additional documents, the fee is $300 (5 documents total). If a couple would like a will and each person would like all four additional documents, the fee is $500 (10 documents total.)
Revocable Living Trusts: I also do revocable living trusts for those who want to set them up (after consultation I can give you some insight as to whether this might be a good idea for you or not). If you decide to set up a trust, there will be additional fees (including fees for drafting deeds to transfer your property into the trust) that I can explain if you decide to go that route.
Probate and Probate Alternatives. I can help you with probate administration. Most probate cases are handled as independent administrations, however, sometimes a dependent administration is necessary. Sometimes a will can be probated as a muniment of title. And sometimes there are the options of determination of heirship proceedings, community property administrations or small estate procedures. I can help you navigate the probate process. My fees for probate procedures vary--depending on the alternative that is available under the circumstances.
Miscellaneous: I also have a background in real estate law and am also able to draft Texas warranty deeds, special warranty deeds and quit claims. My fee is $100 per deed or quit claim.
I find that most people have put off doing their wills long enough. Because I work at home, my hours are flexible and I am able to help you get this process done quickly so that you may soon rest easy that your family is taken care of.
If you would like me to prepare your will, I will ask you to fill out a simple questionnaire which helps me get to know your family’s needs and helps you think about important issues such as who you’d like to take care of your children if you should die. Once you’ve filled out the questionnaire, we will set up a phone consultation so that I can go over the information and discuss your wishes and so that you may ask any questions that you have. After that, I’ll draft your documents and then we’ll meet in person to execute them in a will-signing ceremony. Generally we will do this at my office, which is in my home, and we can meet in the evenings or on weekends.
