Services & Pricing
Straightforward pricing. No surprises.
Estate planning is already an emotional process. The last thing you want to do is wonder what your bill will look like at the end.
I work on a flat fee basis for all estate planning services. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying before we begin. Everything listed below includes my full attention from intake through signing.
Core Estate Planning
SOLO
Solo Essential Estate Plan
$900
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Last Will and Testament
- General and specific bequests
- Executor appointments
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Health Care Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
COUPLES
Couples Essential Estate Plan
$1,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Last Will and Testament for each spouse
- General and specific bequests
- Executor appointments
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney for each spouse
- Advance Health Care Directive for each spouse
- HIPAA Authorization for each spouse
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
SOLO
Solo Trust-Based Estate Plan
$2,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Revocable Living Trust
- Certificate of trust
- Detailed trust funding instructions
- Pour-over will
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Health Care Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
COUPLES
Couples Trust-Based Estate Plan
$3,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Joint Revocable Living Trust (for separate trusts add $900)
- Certificate of trust
- Detailed funding instructions
- Pour-over wills for each spouse
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney for each spouse
- Advance Health Care Directive for each spouse
- HIPAA Authorization for each spouse
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
Core Estate Planning
SOLO
Solo Essential Estate Plan
$900
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Last Will and Testament
- General and specific bequests
- Executor appointments
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Health Care Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
COUPLES
Couples Essential Estate Plan
$1,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Last Will and Testament for each spouse
- General and specific bequests
- Executor appointments
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney for each spouse
- Advance Health Care Directive for each spouse
- HIPAA Authorization for each spouse
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
SOLO
Solo Trust-Based Estate Plan
$2,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Revocable Living Trust
- Certificate of trust
- Detailed trust funding instructions
- Pour-over will
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Health Care Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
COUPLES
Couples Trust-Based Estate Plan
$3,500
- Initial consultation and planning analysis
- NJ inheritance tax consultation and analysis
- Asset inventory review
- Beneficiary designation review and guidance
- Joint Revocable Living Trust (for separate trusts add $900)
- Certificate of trust
- Detailed funding instructions
- Pour-over wills for each spouse
- Guardianship designations
- Funeral instructions
- Testamentary trust provisions
- Financial Power of Attorney for each spouse
- Advance Health Care Directive for each spouse
- HIPAA Authorization for each spouse
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Pet trust provisions, where applicable
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
Specialized Planning
STANDALONE OR ADD-ON
Special Needs Trust
$2,500
- Initial consultation and SNT-specific planning analysis
- Third-party special needs trust drafted to preserve government benefits eligibility
- ABLE account guidance
- Trustee selection guidance
- Digital asset provisions
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
Special Needs families often benefit from combining this with a full trust package. Ask about bundled pricing.
COURT PROCEEDING
Uncontested Guardianship
$1,750
- Initial consultation and planning analysis, including consultation with the individual subject to guardianship
- Asset inventory review where applicable
- Guidance on required documentation
- Preparation of required NJ court filings and filing with the appropriate court
- Guidance through the court process from start to finish
- Contested or complex matters may be billed hourly
Filing fees and costs are billed separately.
MOST COMPREHENSIVE OFFERING
Special Needs Family Plan
$5,500
- Everything in the Couples Trust-Based Estate Plan
- Special Needs Trust, coordinated with the RLT as a single integrated plan
- ABLE account guidance
- SNT-specific trustee selection guidance
- Beneficiary designation review across all documents
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Complementary plan check-up consultation one year after signing
Specialized Planning
STANDALONE OR ADD-ON
Special Needs Trust
$2,500
- Initial consultation and SNT-specific planning analysis
- Third-party special needs trust drafted to preserve government benefits eligibility
- ABLE account guidance
- Trustee selection guidance
- Digital asset provisions
- Final executed documents in an organized binder
Special Needs families often benefit from combining this with a full trust package. Ask about bundled pricing.
COURT PROCEEDING
Uncontested Guardianship
$1,750
- Initial consultation and planning analysis, including consultation with the individual subject to guardianship
- Asset inventory review where applicable
- Guidance on required documentation
- Preparation of required NJ court filings and filing with the appropriate court
- Guidance through the court process from start to finish
- Contested or complex matters may be billed hourly
Filing fees and costs are billed separately.
MOST COMPREHENSIVE OFFERING
Special Needs Family Plan
$5,500
- Everything in the Couples Trust-Based Estate Plan
- Special Needs Trust, coordinated with the RLT as a single integrated plan
- ABLE account guidance
- SNT-specific trustee selection guidance
- Beneficiary designation review across all documents
- Digital asset planning and document language
- Complementary plan check-up consultation one year after signing
Frequently Asked Questions
A will is a document that expresses your wishes and goes into effect when you die. It goes through probate (a court process) before your assets are distributed to your beneficiaries. It’s an essential document for almost everyone, and for many families in New Jersey it’s all they need.
A trust is a legal arrangement that holds your assets during your life and passes them to your beneficiaries without going through probate. Trusts can offer more control and more privacy. Trusts also allow you to plan for incapacity. If you are incapacitated and your assets are in a trust, the person you name as successor trustee can continue managing your assets typically without the need for court involvement.
Every family’s situation is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether a will or a trust is better. Schedule a free consultation and I will be happy to help you decide.
Online services can produce documents, but they cannot understand your family.
A generic will template doesn’t know that your daughter has special needs, or that your brother-in-law is the wrong choice for executor even though he seems like the obvious choice. Online services don’t review your assets and beneficiary designations to ensure they are coordinated with your overall estate plan.
Worse, online services may give a false sense of security. If a will is not executed (i.e., signed) properly, it is not valid. You may think you are protected, only for your family to find out the hard truth after you’re gone and face court and attorney fees to sort everything out.
Estate planning done wrong isn’t just a missed opportunity, it can cause real harm to the people you’re trying to protect. The cost of doing it right is truly modest compared to the cost of doing it wrong.
The “lawyer” answer is that no one truly dies without an estate plan. The catch is, if you don’t make one yourself, you’re stuck with the one the State of New Jersey designed for you. The state’s intestacy laws dictate where your assets will go if you die without a will. They are based on formulas and rules that know nothing about your family’s actual situation.
If you have minor children and no will, a court appoints a guardian for them. That may or may not be the person you would have chosen. If you have a child with special needs and no trust, an inheritance they receive could disqualify them from Medicaid and SSI.
For estate planning, it all starts with our initial consultation. We will discuss your situation and your needs and I will give you my recommendation on your best options.
When you decide to move forward, we will have a design meeting where we will go into the full details of your estate plan – what assets go to who, assigning roles such as executor and guardian, and plotting out different scenarios to make sure your wishes are honored.
After the design meeting, I draft your documents and send you copies for review. We work together to make any necessary changes, and once you approve the documents we will meet in person with two witnesses to execute the documents in accordance with New Jersey’s legal requirements.
At the end of the process, I will present you with your fully executed documents in an organized binder, in both hard-copy and PDF formats for ease of storage and sharing.
A Special Needs Trust, also known as a supplemental needs trust, is a legal structure that allows you to leave assets for a loved one with a disability without affecting their eligibility for government benefits like Medicaid and SSI.
Those benefits often have strict asset limits. If your child inherits money directly, through a will, a joint account, or a beneficiary designation on life insurance or a retirement account, it can push them over those limits and cut off benefits they may depend on for housing, healthcare, and daily support.
A SNT holds and manages those assets separately, allowing the trustee to use them to supplement your loved one’s quality of life without jeopardizing their benefits.
There are many more details to Special Needs Trusts, and different types depending on the particular situation. Schedule a free consultation to talk through your options with me.
A properly drafted third-party Special Needs Trust will not affect your child’s eligibility for Medicaid, SSI, or other means-tested government benefits. That’s the entire point of the structure.
The key phrase is “properly drafted.” An SNT that isn’t structured correctly can do more harm than good.
A guardian for a minor child is a person appointed by the court to fill in the parental role after the parents’ deaths. The guardian does everything that a parent typically does. You can nominate guardians in your will, basically telling the court who you would want to serve this important role rather than letting the court decide blind.
Note that you can nominate different people to be the guardian of the person and the guardian of the property of minor children. You may have people in your life that you trust to get your kids ready for school in the morning and keep them safe, but that might not be the best with money. We can help you plug the right people into the right roles.
A trustee, on the other hand, is the person responsible for managing assets held in a trust, whether that is a revocable living trust, a special needs trust, or any other type of trust. They are responsible for money and property. They need to keep good records and are required to act in the beneficiaries’ best interests financially.
For will-based plans, most clients have their completed, executed documents within four weeks of our initial consultation (provided we have the information we need from you). Trust-based plans are more involved and typically take a little longer.
The timeline is largely in your hands. The faster you can gather information and respond to questions during the drafting process, the faster your plan will be finished.
Clients often want to make a will ahead of planned international travel. As long as we have a reasonable amount of time before your flight and you get me all the information I need, I can help you out.
No, you usually do not. I pride myself in making the process as convenient as possible for my clients. All of our meetings, with the exception of the signing ceremony, can and typically are held virtually.
When an in-person meeting is needed, such as to sign documents, I am happy to come to your home as long as you are within about a 45-minute drive of East Brunswick.
Of course, if you prefer, you are welcome to meet me at my office.
I accept cash, check, and credit card. Cash and check are preferred because of fees, but I do not pass the credite card fee along to my clients.
Payment is due before you receive your completed, executed documents. I typically do not require payment up front. The main exception is for matters such as guardianship or probate which involve filing fees; I do require a deposit into my attorney trust account to cover those fees prior to incurring them. Any excess funds will be returned to you after the conclusion of the matter.
Payment and other client responsibilities are covered in detail in the engagement letter that I provide once you hire my office.
Yes, and you should. Estate plans are not meant to be set-and-forget documents. Life changes: you have another child, you move, your financial situation shifts, a beneficiary passes away, or your relationships change.
Wills and revocable living trusts can be amended or updated at any time while you’re alive. I recommend reviewing your plan any time you experience a major life event, and at a minimum every few years just to make sure it still reflects your wishes.
If you worked with me on your original plan, updates are straightforward to handle.
Ready to protect your family?
Book a free, no-obligation discovery call. Evening and weekend hours are available to fit your schedule.