Legal fees for wills?-Update!
 

We need to update our wills. We prefer to use someone local (High River or Okotoks...) and I am wondering if anyone has had this done lately and how much did it cost? I assume there is a break if a married couple has both drawn up at once...:)

Usually free or low cost. Lawyers make their money on the probate side of things.

Free??!! The cheapest I've seen so far is $750.00!

Stuff that is free is usually worth about what you paid for it.

$750 sounds a tad high, though.

I think we got ours for free, as he did it at the same time as when we sold a house, it was covered off in those fees. But when we updated the will with our child, it cost about $200, that was in 2011 I believe.

I think ours were around $800. I think there's at least two lawyers on AO; their names however escape me (I'm not throwing out my guesses in case of error)

Make sure to cover things such as custody of your kids (if any), power of attorney, a living will, do not resuscitate preferences, in addition to whom you wanna leave your Royal Doulton china to. Also pick a person to act as executor in the event of both your demise; think of someone with the best management talents and trustworthiness you know, and ask if they'd be interested instead of dropping a surprise burden upon them.

Cost me $250 to update mine. Can't remember what it cost me initially. You don't anything for free from a lawyer.

$500 to do ours, both wife and I. Not sure what cost to update is at as it is current and haven't had to change it yet. I wouldn't expect it to cost more than a couple hundred to make some ammendments though, as the original work has been done.

My wife and I paid about $400 total.

Look up holographic (sp.?) will. In AB is perfectly legal and costs you the price of a piece of paper, a pen and your time.

My office charges $850.00 plus GST and Disbursements for the couple. This is NOT just for a Will, but the Enduring Power of Attorney and the Advance Directive. Death is the easy part. People rarely die quickly. I am more concerned about the spouse who has little knowledge or authority on financial matters having to do banking and business for a elderly or comatose, or worse senile, spouse who lingers for 6 months or more. That is what the Enduring Power of Attorney (sometimes called "Springing Power of Attorney") is for. the Advance Directive (sometimes called a "living will")lets someone make the "Do Not Resuscitate" decision when a spouse is dying. Otherwise, a "slow code" is mandated, sometimes lengthening the suffering by days or weeks.

I am cheap at $250 an hour. Given the issues to be discussed, you can see how I lose money on every one of these.

Drewski

Just leave it all to, minus debt, and ill pay all the fees lol

On a more serious not, I think my grandma paid $350 but that's in nfld, not ab. I'm sure its higher here

There is a time when that used to be accurate. Lawyers used to prepare wills as a loss leader and keep the executed document in their offices. When someone passed, the family would usually come back to the office for the probate. This is no longer the case as most people take their Wills with them for their own safekeeping and families are spread apart. Many lawyers prefer not to hold onto the will.

It is not uncommon to pay between $350 and $500 for a will for a single person at a small, general practice firm. If there is a spouse and the wills are "mirror" wills then the cost may be a couple of hundred more. Many lawyers don't like doing codicils to the will (amendments to original) as it invites room for error. They will encourage you to create a new will instead of trying to update an old one.

If your lawyer has your best iterest in mind s/he should be trying to minimize or eliminate the need for probate. This is all par for the course in proper estate planning. As has been mentioned already, the EPA and health care directive should be of much greater personal concern to the client.

750
 

For everything that Drewsky mentions above at the legal firm in Onoway. I'm military and both the lawyers there used to be so I trust them and they get all my business and referals.

Mine as Drewski outlined was 275 in 2010 but was done by my lawyer after he did my divorce plus mine was pretty straight forward.

This is all good and accurate advice from someone in the know. My office in Lethbridge charges slightly less at $800 plus disburesments and gst for these same documents including a "SIMPLE" will for each spouse. Occasionally a lawyer can make his/her hourly rate preparing Wills, EPAs and PDs, but usually these documents are a loss leader. There is often much to be discussed and explained in making the decisions related to preparing these documents.

Be prepared to pay more if your situation is not a fairly straightforward one. There is good reason for this. Proper planning takes time.

Here is a link to a blog article I wrote recently on this topic: http://www.stringam.ca/blog/2012/06/...state-planning

It might be worth a moment to read.

Holographic Wills are legal, though they are also easily screwed up. People who die with a holographic will may watch from heaven as their Will and apparent wishes are litigated by unhappy family members, eating up a portion of what could have otherwise been divided.

Will kits are another area which provides opportunity of great errors. I have never reviewed a full,kit, but I have reviewed some of the resulting Wills. It made for a good laugh for me, but could have led to great disappointment by others if I had not pointed out the errors and created accurate Wills which set forth the proper wishes of the Testator.

The cost of Will, EPA and PD is cheap insurance compared to the cost of litigating over an estate later. I recommend seeking proper advice for your situation. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. It doesn't look like anyone has used lawyers near me, so I guess I will email a couple. I did our wills several years ago, before we got married, blending together our previous wills which had been drawn up by lawyers. The result was quite good, and they were not complicated. However, we thought a "real" will may offer better protection against any possible challenge by the hublet's children. I never bothered having any of those critters, so I'm good!:sHa_sarcasticlol:

Just a note on wills. They are not the end of it. One actually needs three documents to be covered adequately to make life easier for your survivors.

Will - what happens to what you got and who gets it - after you die.

Enduring Power of Attorney - Before you die - if you are incapable of making sound financial decisions (based on your doctor's say so) - who can do so on your behalf.

Personal Directive - Before you die - if you are incapable of making sound decisions (based on your doctor's say so) on your care (housing/medical) - who can do so on your behalf.

Don't play down these last two. They cannot be done "after the fact". You must be of sound mind to sign them. If you are not, and the documents do not exist, the ONLY option is going to court and getting a ruling based on the opinion of several doctors. Not cheap, and not fast. This plays out for most of us in trying to care for our parents.

Also, be careful about appointing several people at once (say, two sons). That means they both have to agree and sign off before anything can be done. I think it is better to put people in order...First Tom, if he can't/won't do it then Sally.

Just my 2 cents.

Vic

so are the computer program wills any good that you can buy from the place where you get you drivers license any good. My neighbor came over and had me witness a will he had bought somewhere. I know my grandfather never had a will and the government took alot of the funds to work out the mess.

Yes, we have had those in all of our previous wills. In fact, when I created our "blended" wills, the documents used for these were the same in all the lawyers' wills I was using as models. I guess they all use pretty much the same stuff.
If someone dies in Alberta with a proper will(whether done by a lawyer or not), can anyone who feels they were left out challenge it? I know if there is any question of the testator being unduly influenced or mentally incompetent at the time the will was drafted, there sure can be trouble, but if that is not the case then I would hope a will really does protect the estate for the named beneficiaries.

Will
 

I am a lawyer in Lethbridge. Most offices are competitive in pricing but some are much more expensive. If you are interested our office is competitive in the area. Feel free to message me if you want more specifics.

I definitely think as lawyers we add value to a will but then again, I am biased.

Good hunting this fall everyone and be safe.

Ryan D. Anderson J.D. (Partner)
Huckvale Wilde Harvie MacLennan

Don't. They will cause nothing but grief for your heirs, and the lawyers will eat up your estate while it goes through probate. Do you really want to cheap out on who gets everything you worked a lifetime for? Get it done right.

I just wanted to let you know that Ryan (aka Anderson Ski Team) did a great job for the Hublet and I with regard to our wills. Accommodating and very reasonably priced, and since we were heading back from Waterton we only had to make a detour through Lethbridge to sign them. Everything is now in good order.
Thanks again, Ryan!:)

How do you know???? You havent died yet...... Lol




Just kidding. Glad Ryan could help. Nice work

If lawyers were foolproof, they'd be out of work. :lol:

Lol.