Flat-Fee Estate Planningin Central Florida
You know the exact cost before you hire us, and it does not change. A complete plan, your will, trust, powers of attorney and health care directives, takes about two weeks and is handled start to finish by the same attorney.
What is in the folder when you leave
Six documents cover almost everyone who walks in. The difference between a plan that works and a folder that does nothing is usually the last one on this list.
Last will and testament
Names who receives what, and who is in charge of carrying it out. Without one, the statute below decides both.
Revocable living trust
Holds title to your property so it passes to your family privately, without a probate case and without a judge's calendar.
Durable power of attorney
Lets someone you choose handle money and property if you cannot. Without it your family petitions a court for guardianship.
Designation of health care surrogate
Names the person who talks to your doctors. Hospitals ask for this first, usually at the worst possible moment.
Living will
States what you want done if you are on life support, so nobody in your family has to guess or argue about it.
Deed and trust funding
Moves the house and the accounts into the trust. A trust that was never funded does nothing, and this is where most DIY plans fail.
If you died tomorrow without a will
Florida already has a statute that decides who receives your property. Most people guess it wrong, usually in the same direction. Answer three questions and see the actual result.
This covers probate assets only. Property held jointly, retirement accounts, and life insurance pass by title or beneficiary designation and are not governed by this. It is a general illustration of Florida law, not legal advice about your situation.
What each plan costs, and what it leaves out
Printed here so you can compare us against the firm down the street without calling either of us first.
| Included | Will Plan 1,200 One person. The core documents, signed and witnessed in our office. | Trust Plan 3,400 One person, with a funded revocable trust so the estate skips probate. | Family Plan 4,800 A married couple, both sets of documents, both trusts, deeds included. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last will and testament | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Durable power of attorney | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Health care surrogate designation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Living will | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Guardian named for minor children | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Revocable living trust | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deed preparation and recording | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Help retitling bank and brokerage | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Covers both spouses | – | – | ✓ |
| Estate avoids probate | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annual review, no charge | – | ✓ | ✓ |
These are flat fees, quoted in writing before you hire us, and they do not change because a matter took longer than expected. We do not bill in six minute increments for phone calls. If your situation genuinely falls outside these packages, and a few do, we say so at the consultation and quote it separately.
From the first call to the recorded deed
The first appointment runs about forty five minutes and costs nothing. Bring a rough list of what you own and some idea of who you would trust to be in charge, and you will leave with a written quote whether or not you hire me. Drafts go out roughly a week later with plain language notes in the margin explaining what each paragraph does, because a document you do not understand is a document you will never maintain. Then we sign in the office, with my witnesses and my notary. Florida is unusually strict about execution formalities and this is the step where kitchen table plans quietly fail. If your plan includes a trust there is one more piece, and it is the one people skip: I prepare and record the new deed myself and sit with you while you retitle the accounts. A trust nobody funded is an expensive folder. Most matters are finished inside two weeks.
I have practiced in Lake County since 2009, and almost all of my work is for families who are not wealthy and are not trying to be clever about taxes. They want the house to pass to the right people without a court case, they want somebody named to make decisions if they cannot, and they want to know the price before they start. Every matter here is handled by me. There is no associate you have never met drafting your documents at nine at night.
What people say afterward
We put this off for eleven years because we assumed it would be thousands of dollars and weeks of meetings. It was one appointment, one signing, and the number she quoted at the start was the number on the invoice.
My mother died without a trust and probate took fourteen months. When my wife and I finally did our own plan we went straight here. She explained what my mother's estate would have avoided and I understood it in about five minutes.
She talked us out of the more expensive package. Said our situation did not need a trust yet and to come back if we bought the second property. I have never had a lawyer do that.
Asked at nearly every consultation
Is the consultation really free?
Yes, and you are not signing anything at it. Forty five minutes, in the office or over the phone, and you leave with a written quote. Plenty of people take that quote and think about it for a year, which is fine.
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
Most people with a house in Florida and straightforward family circumstances are served well by a will plus the homestead protections already in the constitution. A trust earns its cost when you own property in more than one state, when you want to keep the estate out of the public record, or when someone inheriting needs their money managed rather than handed over. We will tell you which one you are.
How long does probate actually take here?
A simple formal administration in Lake County typically runs six to nine months even when nobody is fighting. Contested matters run years. Avoiding it is the main reason people choose a trust.
What happens if I move out of Florida?
Your documents remain valid, but the powers of attorney and health care forms are the ones most likely to give a new state's institutions trouble. Have them reviewed wherever you land. We will send your file anywhere at no charge.
Can you help if someone has already died?
Yes. Probate and trust administration are about half of the practice. Call the office before you pay any of the deceased person's bills out of your own pocket, because the order in which an estate pays creditors is set by statute and getting it wrong can make you personally liable.
Do you charge by the hour for questions later?
Not for the small ones. Clients call about beneficiary forms and account retitling for years afterward and we do not open a file for a five minute answer.
Book the consultation
Forty five minutes, no charge, and no obligation to hire us at the end of it. Tell us roughly what you own and who is in the picture, and we will tell you which plan fits and what it costs.
This website is for general information about Hartwell Estate Law and its services. Nothing here is legal advice, and sending this form does not create an attorney client relationship. Do not send confidential details until we have agreed in writing to represent you. Hiring a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising.