How much does it cost to do a will?

Myra: My mom, she wants to do a will, but she was told that doing a will is very expensive. We just want to have an idea like how much it will cost to make a will.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Yes, Myra, when we do a will for people, we do typically a package of four documents. We do the will itself. We do a living will declaration, where you asked that you not be kept alive by machines. We do a healthcare surrogate, where you appoint somebody to make medical decisions for you if you're not able to. We do a financial power of attorney, where you appoint somebody to pay your bills and manage your financial affairs for you if you're not able to.

Of course, all these documents would be for your mom, Myra. Myra, I don't normally quote fees on the air, but I'm going to tell you to do those four documents is a total of $550, which we think is a very reasonable fee.

Myra: It's a very good price in definitely. We were told it was thousands of dollars to do a will, but that's a very good price.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chris, you and I have an opportunity on occasion to look at other attorneys' estate planning documents and find out what they charge for their services. We feel like we're very reasonable fees. Yes, you can go out-- Myra, you could go pay a lot more for a will somewhere within Orlando with an attorney, but we're kind of like a Costco. We're operating on a bulk basis here. We do a lot of wills for people all day, every day, and that means we can afford to do them on a reasonable basis. If you're in an attorney out there and you're doing a couple of wills a week, you might charge a lot more, because you got to make it where you can.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Everybody shares with us, Tom, that they feel our prices are extremely fair.

Attorney Tom Olsen: When people are doing these four documents that we just talked about with Myra, not only are we doing that, but we are talking to them about how to avoid probate. We're talking about their IRAs and retirement accounts and life insurance, making sure they got the proper beneficiaries, or telling them, "Hey, if you have a safe deposit box, that goes through probate. Add one of your children as a co-owner."

In addition to the four documents, we're giving them the big picture of what they need to be concerned about. That's why people, when they leave our office, they go, "Tom, I'm so glad we did this."

Attorney Chris Merrill: Absolutely.