View Single Post
 
Old 09-25-2023, 02:53 PM
FFlank FFlank is offline
Member
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 58
Thanks: 22
Thanked 34 Times in 26 Posts
Default

It would be malpractice for any attorney to give you advice in a public forum such as this. The answer to the OP's question is a simple one: Seek the advice of a lawyer.

I spent over 40 years in the business and still paid a colleague to put together my estate plan. I didn't question the need for one, and didn't question the bill when it came in. Did he charge me too much? Yep. Absolutely. Remember, though, that you are not paying for his/her time as much as you are paying for their expertise. It's easy to look at the situation and say, "they only needed to spend ten minutes on this and fill out some computerized form." The key to this, however, is that they knew instinctively which form to fill out and where to find it on the computer. They didn't confuse it with the other ten similar forms that they could have mistakenly filled out. It's the same as going to a doctor and being told after a brief, five minute appointment that you needed to get two or three tests. You get the doctor bill and are shocked, but you are paying for the doctor's knowledge and not just the five minutes.

I'm not yet in TV, but when I make the move I will definitely find a Florida based attorney and have them review my estate plan. My law license is older than most of the attorneys that have appeared in front of me, but an estate plan is not something to leave to chance. If I DIY my estate plan and die first, my wife will be most annoyed when she finds out belatedly that I wanted to save a few hundred bucks, and in the words of that infamous Indiana Jones character, "did not choose wisely." Besides, as the jokes goes...you (or your estate) can always sue a lawyer if they mess up your estate plan, but you can't sue yourself if you screw it up...