estate lawyers?!

[Anonymous]

maybe the wrong forum to ask but im in the interesting predicament of researching estate planning. our family has a business and a couple properties. we just want things to be structured correctly. in my line of work, i have seen first hand what happens when people do not plan for the future and they are left broke and overwhelmed with reality.

i live in philadelphia. i opened the yellow book and found some attorneys in the downtown center city area who charge hourly in the 300-350 ballpark. im guessing thats denny krane status?! obviously i do not want to shop the service but i do not want to get rapped either..

do you think expensive lawyer translates into quality and experience?! im not talking about traffic citations...im talking about planning an estate, inheritance tax issues, wills, trust, passing business down from one generation to the next, reducing tax liability in the event of a death, protection of assets

maybe the forum is a little young to worry about estate planning, however, if anybody has retained legal services for planning a family estate, what are the possible final costs i am looking at...2500? 5k?

[llecs]

I live in suburban DC and $300-$350 doesn't sound unreasonable. We've had our attorney for 12 years now and he was very pricey at $250/hr back then. Now he charges about $325. Others in the area are $350+.

Estate planning is very important. Questions need to be answered like who are the benficiaries? How will your assets be distributed? What happens if you become incapacitated? Who will make medical decisions for you if you cannot? Who has access to your accounts or safety deposit boxes? If you have kids, who will get them? All of these things will be decided by a probate judge absent a will. IMO, you don't want to leave it to chance and you'd do your family a disservice by leaving it in their laps, especially if there's disagreement on who handles what. If there's a large amount of assets to discuss ($1M in 2011, but who knows how it'll play out 10-30-50+ yrs down the road), then you'd really want to talk with a financial planner to cover asset protection and taking steps to put you on the right path for retirement.

We have 4 kiddos and 3 businesses and setting up the wills, medical directives, and trusts cost us about $2000-$2500 IIRC (note to self: we need to update the wills). I think I got a discount being that we knew our attorney for so long, but even if the price is higher, it would be worth it.

[Imhotrodcrazy]

I live in So Cal and the attorneys I have contacted in my area all seem to start at $350 per hour.   In my book its legalized loan sharking, ( thinking out loud here ).   Good luck on your search for a "good" attorney.

[daisyduke]

Hi 330xi -

I also live just outside of Philadelphia - I think the hourly rate you mention is pretty reasonable - you always get what you pay for, IMHO...We have tons of lawyers in Philadelphia!!

I can PM you some of the firms that we have worked with and that  I know are repubtable and worth every penny. Just let me know.

Good luck.