Estate planning isn't just a delicate process, but it's an expensive one too. However, the amount of money you spend on estate planning depends on several aspects: your geographic location, attorney's experience level and the complexity of your needs. Luckily, you can work out some ways to make the process affordable and avoid some unnecessary costs during estate planning. Here is what you can do to slash down your estate planning costs:
Clarify Your Needs
If you start the estate planning process without first understanding your needs, you might spend more money than you should. Sit down and identify why you need to plan your estate, what steps you need to take and what the costs attached to every step are. If you can't still fully understand the estate process even after reading some estate planning manuals, consult an experienced financial advisor for help. They would help you spot the loopholes that most people fail to identify when planning their estates and assets. Get to know what writing a will would entail and what the power of attorney involves to avoid spending money where you shouldn't.
Know the Flat Fees You Should Expect
Most people prefer flat fees when planning their estates because they offer certainty. Sit down with your estate planning attorney to help you categorise all the costs involved in the process. You should seek to know not only the costs involved in the process but also what shouldn't be included. Flat fees mainly apply when you complete your estate plan within the specified period — probably six months, although it depends on your country or state laws. If you reduce meetings and avoid changing your documents often, you won't pay a lot of flat fees. How much you pay as flat fees would also depend on the type of the estate planning documents you have and how many they are — if they are few, you pay less, but if they are many, you pay more.
Work With an Attorney
Although you should consider rapport and experience when choosing an estate planning lawyer, you should also choose one who understands your needs. An estate planning lawyer will help you know what you should pay for, what you shouldn't pay for and what the less expensive alternatives are to try to achieve your estate planning goals.
If you aren't careful with how you approach and handle estate planning, you could spend money your beneficiaries should have inherited. Every process in any area has a cheaper alternative. With an estate planning lawyer by your side, you also get to see what you should do to avoid unnecessary probate costs.
Share6 May 2020
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