Who knew these attorneys would cost so much! They or the one we have charges $350.00 an hour PLUS a fee for each item Will, DPOA for finances, POA for medical decisions and Living Will. PLUS $100 an hour for whatever the legal assistant does. It might not be too bad if we didn't need 2 of everything! By the time it's all done we'll have a bundle in attorney fees. I hope those of you who are working with an Elder Attorney ask them if they charge a fee for each item over and above their hourly fee. I know one of the items is $1,800.00 and however many hours are involved. It looks like I am going to dip into our savings to pay her when it is all over and done.
We paid $2500 for the whole package - wills, POA's, Health care proxies, deeds changed to my name, and I don't even know what else - I haven't looked at it since we got it, except to give the necessary papers to each doctor we go to. We have a 3-ring binder about 4 inches thick with all the papers in it. And we don't have any money - if you have money, I'm sure it's more complicated and more expensive.
Jean, ditto, $2500 is what we were charged for the whole package. These documents are pretty much boilerplate -- you're the one who has to do the work.
Here in Maryland, we paid a little over $2,000 for two Health Care Directives, two wills (establishing a trust when I die), changing the deed on the house into my name only and directions regarding changing the beneficiaries on my insurance policies. I thought it was alittle steep, but I guess not.
Part of our problem is not having any children or close relatives to be secondary on DPOA and Health POA. My closest relative lives in Scotland and of course DH"s sister is in Ohio with much advanced AD. My will is more complicated than DH's because there will be provisions for him if I should die before he does, plus we have to have a trustee/fiduciary to take care of finances if he should go into a nursing home after I have passed.
I don't want to start over with another lawyer because we have already paid quite a bit to this one and I just don't feel like going over everything again and filling out a bunch of questions. I think the questionare I filled out was 14 pages. I will just be happy when it is over and done with but I wanted to give a heads up to anyone who needs a ELA.
Our doctor gave us forms for health care POA's and directives. We just signed in front of two witnesses who are not related. Office supply places have forms for DPOA. Just fill out and sign in front of a notary. This works because that's what my Dad did. Other things like trusts, wills, and estate planning would definitely need a lawyer although my Dad wrote out his will himself and after his death, the lawyer said it was legal and binding.
I know lawyers have to make a living but some of their fees are outrageous. If we can do part of it ourselves it may cut down on the fees.
For those that cannot afford an attorney, I think the DPOA and the Living Will (for health problems) are just basic forms and most any of us would be willing to provide a copy for others to use and copy, then you could have a notary witness your signature. There is nothing "special" about either one of the forms that I have had done for myself and my DH. They look very routine. Or these forms can be purchased off the net at a very reasonable price.
you can try legalzoom.com and put in your state and will have the docs to use if its fairly simple, you can call them if you have questions.. it is very handy, and quite efficient. my son just did his paperwork for starting new practice and it saved him thousands. they have wills /DPOA forms everything. divvi
divvi, those forms are great for routine stuff. The Advance Healthcare Directive, in particular, doesn't require anything special.
If you're trying to set up wills or trusts to protect an ADLO, however, I'd go with a really good attorney who specializes in this area. If they're set up wrong, your ADLO may not be able to access all the Government programs that are out there. (Ask Jane!)
yes i agreed sunshyne, more complicated legal issues will need more scrutiny. this is just basic stuff its alot cheaper than paying attys. i did my health care proxy and DH and had it notorized etc. didnt cost hardly anything. my will i need to redo too, i wrote a handwritten codicil which is ok but i 'd rather redo the whole thing at some point . yes, medicare/medicaide preparation require more thought -divvi
We did "Reciprocal Durable POA's, Medical POA's, Living Will/Trust." The house titles were researched as part of the estate, but we made no changes in the titles on them. Our insurance beneficiaries were already the way they needed to be. We paid $2,550. From what I have heard, here at least, that was very reasonable.
I even began all the papers on a free legal forms site intending to minimize what parts of estate planning I'd need an atty for. But in the end I'm very glad we had an atty do the whole kit and kaboodle. He asked MANY QUESTIONS, and presented many scenarios, and I know it is far more thorough than I would have done on my own. His suggestions and questions did show me where I may have done a few things wrong had I done these forms on my own.
Have you heard of Suze Orman suzeorman.com, she offers everything needed from Living Wills, DPOA, Advanced Directives for Healthcare,Financial Power of Attorney Living Revocable Trust, Revocable Trust, Wills, etc. with incapacity clauses. You can download and it is real simple and easy to understand the password is peoplefirst. Once filling it out go to a notary and 2 witnesses.
FTD, different states have different requirements for these documents. If they're not tailored for the regulations and laws of a specific state, you can get into trouble. I found this out the hard way with the POA. You need to use an attorney licensed and experienced in the state in which you live.
Sunshyne, That is what I was thinking, what goes in one state may not in the next one to it. If my DH had not gotten AD we wouldn't have even had to have a will because everything we have is joint owners with Right of Survivorship. We go to the lawer again on August 26th and I sincerely hope this will be the last trip and the last check to pay.LOL
We had our wills, DPOA and all that good stuff done in 1995. At this point in time, I figured something else might be needed. I did contact an attorney certified in Elder Care. I explained that DH has AD and would he be able to do anything for us. We received the first 1/2 hour free. Then he redid the POA and included our daughter and oldest son. Redid the living wills and health driectives for $250. That is two hundred and fifty dollars. He said it wouldn't be necessary for us to see him and that our daughter or son should call him when the second one of us passed away.
Mawzy, If the $2,000.00 question was for me I can only say I WISH! So far we have paid $4.050.00 and there will be more when we get all the paperwork. I'm thinking we got the best ELA in the whole country...maybe the whole world! We had a lawyer a few years ago for a completely different situation and he charged $300.00 an hour. Maybe SC is lawyer heaven.LOL BTW we got the drafts of everything in the mail today and my will is pages long because of the provisions if I die before my husband.
Sunshyne you'd better believe it. I hope there are no lawyers here but I agree with Shakespeare "First let's kill al the lawyers". Smirk!
I already had the wills and medical POA as you did Mawzy. All I had to do was the DPOA, it cost 150. The house has always been in my name only. We don't need anything else done. WHEW!
Has anyone has difficulty with banks? Every bank wants their OWN POA document. What a pain this is! I have the one we had made thru our former attorney..no sweat, I thought , I have it already done. Wrong..each of our banks want their own version. #*#$&+
I guess I've been really lucky. Sometimes all I have to say is that I do have POA ant that's it. My bank knows me and has been great. For a long time husband's docs would rather deal with me as would everyone else. Only time I has a problem was with a utility company set up with my husband's ss#
Ever since DH's diagnosis 2 years ago, I've been gradually changing as much as I can into my name. I've let our financial advisor know and I'm having our daughter added to the safe deposit box so she can get into it as well. As I mentioned on another posting, we're having someone here from Neptune society (and I'll check into another organization as well to do some price comparison). Then that part will all be taken care of. Can anyone think of anything else I need to do?
Also, I've been in touch with our pastor and I will write our own obituaries and plan our memorial services. There won't be any funerals because we are having cremation. That won't take too long to put together. DH and I have already discussed the hymns we'd like to have. I suggested he have the Battle Hymn of the Republic and I thought he'd wet his pants he laughed so hard. Actually, it's not a bad idea. Any thoughts on that??
about the banks and DPOA-i dont know how this would work if Spouse is unable to know whats being signed and not able to write. thats the whole purpose of a DPOA getting it done before that happens. my bank did say they needed to look over the DPOA at some point if DH can sign any more, havent taken it to them yet, but i will be PO to the extreme they say it wont fly. i would have them call the atty who did it. it would be illegal for them to have a NEW one signed. i dont get it. divvi
There is always some banker that has an issue. Our bank has offices in every state in the Union. We are in Washington State. Our daughter is in Oregon. I wanted a card to mail to her, have it notarized and sent it back so when the time comes she can get into the box. Nothing doing! She has to come into our bank and sign it. I don't know when she'll be up here. Maybe another 6 months. In the meantime, the attorney told us to not put the original copy of the wills in the safe box without her signature because if something happened to us, she wouldn't be able to get into the box without her signature on the @#$ card.
dang, mawsy, my bank did let me have a card to send to my mom and son to sign then i took it back. and no notary! i wouldnt say shes out of state. if its notorized thats really getting picky. divvi
My husband would never discuss our funerals. I wanted to do pre-planning and finally went in myself and did it last year. I have already wrote our Obits and they are on the Computer for finalizing. He wouldn't tell me any songs, special singing or anything. Doesn't want to talk about it and never has so I am just doing it myself. My Mom would not discuss her arrangements either. So, I finally made her tell me family members names and I made the decision by myself. (I said to her, Mom it would be good if I knew who you wanted to do your Funeral, etc. One day she said "I have a letter in my drawer for you after I die" I said that would be kind of late so she gave it to me one day and she had roughed out an obit.