Regarding your editorial on living trusts, you stated that estate planning is a complicated process and that an attorney can establish a living trust for about $500. While I agree that an attorney can provide someone with a living trust for about $500, he/she may not be able to create a proper estate plan for that sum.
In order for me to prepare an estate plan for a client, I may spend anywhere from 10 to 20 hours of my time in addition to my staff’s time. I have to fully analyze a client’s financial situation by reviewing their financial records and meeting with their financial advisers. I then have an initial two- to three-hour meeting with the client to find out what their estate planning goals are. My estate planning software gives me thousands of possible choices and then I have to draft provisions that are suitable for the client, which can take hours. Furthermore, I go over the plan with the clients and explain it, and then go through the rigorous and long process of enacting the plan.
My clients are not paying for a document called a living trust but for comprehensive estate planning services that work. Your editorial does a disservice to retired clients who never had a need to use an attorney’s service and who may now believe that an attorney can provide a comprehensive estate planning service, which includes sophisticated tax planning, for $500. A client gets what he pays for, and I believe that your editorial should have stated that $500 is only a beginning point depending on the complexity of plan and level of service.
JEFFREY BOCK
Fort Lauderdale
