How much for a Will?

How much do you charge for a will?” is not the right question to be asking because you should not be paying for some paper.  Internet services that charge just for paper way overcharge because you should not be charged for paper. When you hire a lawyer for estate planning you should be hiring guidance throughout your lifetime and for someone to be there for your loved ones when you can’t be. When you hire me for estate planning, you aren't paying for paper and you aren't renting my time, but my brain and my heart. You are hiring an ally who will help you get your affairs in order, and keep them there across time and changes in the law, tax policies and your life. The goal is for you to feel heard and cared about at the same time you are informed and educated in a meeting that is both effective and satisfying. The aim is that you be empowered to make the best decisions for the people and things that matter most in your life. If, after we spend that time together, it turns out you need a Will (or any other type of legal planning), it will be because we came to that conclusion together.  Then, I will offer you planning packages that will cover the different options for taking care of things the way you want.  But whatever you do and no matter what help you enlist (even DIY) make sure that in addition to your will, you consider The Five Essential Advance Directives: (1) Nomination for Guardianship of Children (2) Health Care Power of Attorney (3) Living Will  (4) Financial Power of Attorney and (5) any Funeral  instructions or preferences.

Non-traditional families need planning to protect children’s rights

More children are currently being raised in nontraditional families than ever before. The term non-traditional family refers to any non-married couple raising children as a family including lesbian or gay parents. Although children in non-traditional families may have two parental figures, sometimes the law only recognizes one as having parental rights. If so, the child may have:

·        No right to inherit or receive Social Security benefits from the non-recognized parent;

·        No right to be added to the health insurance benefits of that parent and no right to have the non-recognized parent consent to emergency medical treatment or visit the child in hospital.

Estate planning questions for non-traditional families with children include:

·        How to provide for children if only one parent is legally recognized;

·        How to protect the parenting rights of the non-recognized parent;

·        How to name the surviving partner as the children’s guardian if there is no adoption;

·        How to provide for the children if the state does not recognize them as a family.

Lawyers schooled in the rights of parents and children of traditional nuclear families need also to be sensitive to the rights of couples and children living in non-traditional families.