Estate planning documents are not really a commodity, and so it is extremely difficult to price a document as if it were. The difference between a tailor made suit and one off the rack may be an apt analogy, except that a suit off the rack is more likely to fit a person than is an estate plan that is not tailored. If your estate planning desires are conventional, with no special dispositive provisions, the following fee schedule may give you a rough estimate of what to expect. I have been repeatedly advised by my colleagues not to show you this document, because lawyers are supposed to be different from the rest of the economic world. I doubt that we are all that different myself.
Prices vary for lawyer s services, just as they do for new cars and houses.
What a lawyer does and can charge and still stay in business depends on the lawyer s abilities, experience and reputation and the quality of the work done. I have been planning estates since 1976 and am Board Certified in Estate Planning by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. A considerable amount of my practice is devoted to estate planning alone. These facts are reflected in my fees. In short, I try to do better than average work and to charge a commensurately higher than average price for what I do.