How Much Will You Charge Me to Update My Estate Plan?

By Patricia Louise Nelson

I am often asked “I have a trust from years ago. It’s pretty outdated, but I don’t think it needs a lot of changes. What is involved in updating it?”  I believe this is a code question for what may be the real question: “How much will you charge me to update my estate plan?”  Of course, the answer is nearly always “It depends.” 

If I prepared your current documents, it will be less expensive for me to make minor revisions to them. If the documents were originally prepared by someone else, it often takes more time to make minor changes than it would for us to start over with fresh documents.  When an attorney makes a change, even what seems like a minor change to documents prepared by someone else, we assume responsibility (and liability) for any mistakes that are hidden in the original documents. When making changes to documents with which I am not familiar, I must invest a great deal of time to be sure that I am aware of all of the ramifications of each change. That means thoroughly and carefully reading the entire document while paying attention to the interplay between different provisions. This is not as necessary when I know the documents because I prepared them.

So, often the least expensive way to make changes to a document like a revocable living trust is to start over. By start over, I do not mean revoke the old trust and create a new one. I mean that we can prepare a “restatement” of the trust. It replaces all of the terms of the existing trust without revoking it. The benefit is that the trust is updated AND all of the assets that were in the trust when we started are still in the trust after the restatement in completed.

Two Spruce Law offers free phone consultations, and I will give you a flat fee quote during that meeting. Schedule yours today to find out the best way (and cost) to update your estate plan.