What are our fees?

Estate planning

We generally bill based on our hourly rates. Currently, the attorney’s charge $280.00 an hour, and our assistants charge $70.00 an hour. We do not offer free consultations, but rather will charge our hourly rate for the time we spend consulting with you, whether in person, by phone, or by email.

Leslie A. Arnal offers a flat fee for some estate plans. She will discuss this with you during the first meeting.

We find that most estate plans run between $1,500.00 (for simpler plans) and $3,000.00 (for more complicated plans). Your plan may be more or less than this.

If your distribution provisions are particularly lengthy or complicated, then your estate plan will be more expensive to prepare. In addition, the more time you spend in consultation with the attorney, the more expensive the plan will be. Also, if a considerable portion of your estate is contained within retirement plans, this adds to the cost.

Trust administration or estate administration without probate

It is very difficult to provide a range for trust administrations. For some, we consult with the trustee on one occasion and charge for that time. For others, we advise the trustee and prepare a few documents such as the real estate documents. On such occasions, the trustee may spend $1,500.00 or so for our services. Other trust administrations can be very lengthy and complicated, leading to fees of $5,000.00 or more. At our first meeting, we will discuss the division of labor between the attorney and the trustee and the issues that may arise in the case, at which point we will be better able to provide you with an estimate.

Probate administration

The attorney and the personal representative (executor or administrator) are paid the same amount for ordinary services. The compensation is set by statute. Ordinary services for the attorney generally includes but is not limited to meeting with the client to discuss the probate administration process, preparing the petition for probate, preparing the estate inventory, preparing and sending out required notices, and preparing the petition for distribution. Preparing the final accounting is considered part of the representative’s duties; therefore, if the representative hires an accountant or the attorney to prepare the accounting, the accountant or attorney will be paid from the representative’s ordinary compensation.

The attorney and the personal representative are paid for ordinary services based on the value of the estate accounted for by the personal representative, using the following statutory schedule:

Four percent of the first one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
Three percent of the next one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
Two percent of the next eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,000).
One percent of the next nine million dollars ($9,000,000).
One-half of 1 percent of the next fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000).
For all amounts above twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), a reasonable amount to be determined by the court.

The value of the estate accounted for by the personal representative is the total amount of the appraisal of property in the inventory, plus gains over the appraisal value on sales, plus receipts, less losses, without reference to encumbrances or other obligations on estate property.

The attorney and personal representative may also be entitled to compensation for extra-ordinary services. Extra-ordinary services may include services relating to the sale of property, litigation, or an unusual number of creditor claims. We will petition the court for extra-ordinary compensation based on our hourly rate. However, the amount we are paid is subject to court approval.

Conservatorships

We are compensated based on our hourly rates. If fees are paid from the conservatorship estate, our fees must be court approved in advance of payment.

Costs

Costs include but are not limited court filing fees, publishing fees, probate referee fees, recording fees, copying other than nominal copying, postage and delivery. We will ask that you either provide us in advance the money necessary to pay the costs, or that you reimburse us the costs if we pay them for you.