Hellobee Boards

Yes, we used a lawyer. It was around $2k if I remember correctly.

We did a trust that included a will. We also used a lawyer who specializes in this, and it was around $2k. Priceless for peace of mind.

We did a will, trust and guardianship. We went through a lawyer that my SIL works with so we received a nice discount so it was around $1k or so.

Yes, we did it last summer. We used a law firm my husband's company recommends. It was a lot, around $6k. (I'm in NYC so not sure if it was more because of location).

We did a will with guardianship, no trust. We didn't use a lawyer, but my friend's wife IS a lawyer and he sent me their wills (which were pretty generic) so I could just do slight modifications to work for our family. Then down to the city clerk to get them signed.

Not yet. We really need to get the ball rolling on all of that. Saturday we have an appointment with a life insurance agent, that's the first step for us.

I had no idea it costs this much!!!

@autumnleaves: bank is a good idea! Thanks
@Adira: the exwife of a good friend is a family planning lawyer. Maybe I'll approach her.

@regberadaisy: Yeah, I'm so thankful that our friends helped us out. If I had to find a lawyer on my own to do this, it never would've gotten done!

@Adira: hahaha....which is where we are at. But we seriously need to get this done so bad. But first, life insurance.

We used a local lawyer who does a lot of wills and such. Ours was only $100 for a will, living will & power of attorney. I knew it was cheap but didn't realize how expensive it could be!

@regberadaisy

will = document that provides specific gifts to people at your death vs. trust = creating a legal vehicle where someone requests that property is held for the benefit of another. Prime example? Think trust fund kids. There's a big pot of money sitting there for them that they can't touch until a certain time period. The money is held in a trust.

People will often create a trust so that if something happens to them before their children are of age,their property can be held for them and someone (the trustee) can oversee that property until the child can hold the property for themselves.

I'm sure there is an HB trusts and estates attorney who can do a better job than me at explaining.

ETA: Yes, we have a will, a trust, proxies, etc. but I am a former practicing attorney, so I feel pretty strongly about this stuff. We actually need to change it already.

We dont have one but we have determined that now with DD2's impending arrival we will be having a will drafted and trusts established for the girls.

We just have to decide who we want to be the guardian...which is a complex issue!

ETA: DH is an attorney so he will do most of it himself and have an "expert" attorney at his firm review it. I suspect we will simply give the attorney a nice gift (gc to a restaurant or bottle of wine) as a thank you.

@lawbee11: would love some tips as to where you found forms, etc. did you still have a lawyer review it and/or sign it? Or do you just need it notarized?

We did a will, trust, and guardianship (actually we haven't finished yet, this reminds me that we still have to get the papers notarized!). It was somewhere between 2-3k. We went with a lawyer who was recommended through a local mom's Facebook group that I belong to. We had a previous quote from another lawyer that was over 7k, so definitely talk to a few lawyers before deciding.