We saw a lawyer today regarding my mother's will and estate.
We left with the clear assumption that a) lawyers don't cough without it showing up as a fee somewhere, and b) having my mother fill out a will did us no favors, and will end up costing us money.
Argh.
6 comments:
NOt sure why this is costing you much if anything. Maybe you need a new lawyer?
Fees for his time. Fees to get a "short certificate" so that I can legally dispose of her assets (which was part of the reason I had my name put on her bank accounts; it gave me the right to withdraw, but not, apparently, the right to close the accounts). Fees to place 'probate notices' in the local papers (I thought having a will precluded that; apparently not). And fees based on requirements from the local government.
Argh.
Estate planning with the use of living trusts is usually best for small estates. Wills are often more trouble than they are worth.
Are there statutory fees in your state? Nolo press has some good info on estates.
Yes, there are. And I agree with you about the usefulness of the will. We've got wills, too. Our estate is substantially larger than hers, though in twenty or thirty years, perhaps the differential won't be as large.
Of course, then the fee problem will be my daughter's !
You might want to see if there IS a requirement for probate. You don't HAVE to probate. It just makes govunmmint and bankers happy, and makes the lawyers freakin' ectatic. So clear the accounts and let them go dormant. See what they say to that!It will take you a year with or without the lawyer, the most important task being the final tax form.
I never probated my dad's estate. He had no real property, that is to say, no real-estate, so I just told the probate lawyer to go hang, and went with the will.
Maybe like Tabor says, you need a new lawyer.
People that make money off of death are scavengers. I have little time for them. Heck, I even was prepared to bury the old guy myself. What do you think we did before we had funeral homes?
(actually, I was talked out it by my relatives who wanted time to fly in from out west. I fear I scandalized them by shopping around for funeral services. I guess that is just "not done" in our modern culture.)
In your time of grief, there are plenty of people who will help, for a price. Doing as much of it yourself will give you more closure than cutting any cheque.
That's for damn sure.
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