Articles of Interest: Featured Articles
How Much Is this Going To Cost Me
How much is this going to cost me? There are a number of reasons why lawyers cannot or will not answer that question before they meet with the client and assess the client’s situation.
Most of the work that I perform, I perform on a flat-fee basis, meaning I quote a fee to the client and the fee does not go up (or down). If a client called on the phone and my assistant said, "John will charge you $400 for that" before I ever met with the client, I very well may be committing to a significant amount of work without knowing it.
Another reason lawyers, or at least this lawyer, do not like to post fees is that it makes the practice of law a commodity. John charges $175 for a power of attorney but this other lawyer charges $50. And I can get a power of attorney in a super store for $10.
Quoting prices ahead of time encourages price shopping and clients making decisions based solely on price. When it comes to legal services and price shopping, I would analogize that line of thinking to the following: If you were diagnosed with cancer, would you call up ten doctors and ask them how much they would charge for the surgery and radiation, then choose the doctor who charged the least amount of money simply because he charged the least?
If you answered "yes" to that question, please stop reading my website, as you and I do not think alike anyway.
There are differences in lawyers’ services. The fact of the matter is, a lawyer who concentrates in one area of the law is more likely to practice that area of the law with greater efficiency and with greater skill. The client of such a lawyer can expect to pay an enhanced fee for that superior quality of work and knowledge.
On the other hand, prospective clients should have some idea as to what fees a lawyer may charge for work. When lawyers fail to provide prospective clients with any idea as to the fee, clients assume that the fee is going to be astronomical.
A basic estate plan includes a Will, power of attorney, and living will. These three core documents are documents that almost every person should have. When I meet with prospective clients, I frequently recommend all three documents to the client and quote a package price for all three documents.
Assuming that I am not performing estate tax planning for the client, the price range for this package of documents is $450 to $550 for a single person and $650 to $750 for a married couple. The price may be higher if the client’s Will is complex, meaning that the client is leaving varying percentages of his estate to different people or charities, or if the client wishes to leave a portion of her estate to a relative in trust. But for the vast majority of clients, that is the range.
When engaged in estate tax planning, clients who are seeking to reduce or eliminate New Jersey or federal estate tax, the range is between $950 and $1,500. These clients may have assets that need to be re-titled and they may own real estate in another state necessitating the use of a revocable living trust.
For an uncontested guardianship action, meaning a guardianship action in which no one contests my client’s right to be the guardian or the ward’s need for a guardian, I typically charge $1,800 plus costs of about $250; however, the court appoints a lawyer for the ward, so that lawyer will charge a fee. I also have to hire two doctors, and those doctors will charge fees. The good news with guardianship actions is, all of these fees are typically paid from the ward’s estate, not my client’s, unless the ward has no money.
For Medicaid planning, the fee can vary. I will say that the fee is typically around the cost of one-half of one month of nursing home care. When you look at it that way, it’s a bargain at twice the price.
