Areas of Practice
Will and Estate Planning
At J. Todd Moore & Associates, P.C. we believe that it is important for all persons to consider and implement a plan for your estate. An estate plan does not have to be complex and may only consist of a "simple will" and a review of how your assets are titled. If so, you may want to consider our Will Preparation Service described below. However, we oftentimes find that our clients want a more detailed plan including a living trust with pour-over wills or provisions for a testamentary trust for minor children. An estate plan may help to minimize the expenses of probate and inheritance and estate taxes, but most importantly, the estate plan will accomplish the client's wishes for the distribution of their estate.
Our firm can assist with the following services:
- Wills
- Living Wills
- Durable Powers of Attorneys
- Medical or Health Care Powers of Attorneys
- Living Trusts
- Revocable Trusts
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
- Trusts for Minors
- Charitable Remainder Trusts
- Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
- Life Estate and Survivorship Deeds
Tennessee Will and Trust Preparation Service
One of the most common questions we receive is "How much do you charge for a simple will?" You may not want or need a "simple will", but we have tried to make this process as simple as possible for those people that do just want a basic will prepared by an Attorney. We will prepare the following estate planning documents for Tennessee residents:
- Last Will and Testament
- Living Will
- Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
- Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Affairs.
Total legal fees for the above documents are $300 for an unmarried person and $400 for reciprocal wills for a married couple. These fees include email, phone or office consultations with our attorneys for answers to your estate planning questions. These fees may also include a testamentary trust for minor children if needed, but do not include additional estate tax planning that may be recommended depending on your specific situation. To being the estate planning process, print and complete the Estate Planning Questionnaire and e-mail, fax or mail it to us, or call our office to schedule a phone or office consultation.
Once we receive the completed estate planning questionnaire from you and a payment of one-half (1/2) of the applicable legal fees we will prepare and e-mail (or mail) drafts of all documents to you to review. Once we have answered any questions or made any requested changes we will mail you the completed documents to you along with detailed instructions on how to sign and notarize each document. It is your responsibility to arrange to sign the documents, witnessed and acknowledged by a notary public.
Of course if you choose, we are always happy to meet with our clients in person and prepare a more detailed estate plan and complete the signing and notarizing of your estate plan documents in my office at 217 2nd Avenue South, Franklin, Tennessee, or we will even come to your home or office in Williamson County and surrounding counties to meet with you, obtain signatures and notarize the documents. The above service is only intended for those persons who want the most convenient process possible.
Living Trust Costs
Living trusts are often recommended as an alternative to wills and as a method of avoiding the costs of probate. We do not recommend Living Trusts for all of our clients; however, their usefulness has increased with the rising cost of administering an estate through probate. Our fees for preparing a basic living trust, including a pour-over wills are $600 for an unmarried person and $800 for married couple (including the Living Will and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care and Financial Affairs). These prices do not include assistance in transferring assets to the trust. We will give you a detailed letter of instructions on how to transfer your assets to your trust, but it will be your responsibility to take the action necessary to actually transfer your assets. We can assist you in transferring assets to your trust or provide other services as needed.
Again, these documents will be provided to you via mail or e-mail and it is your responsibility to arrange for their property execution unless other arrangements are made with our office.
How Do I Start My Estate Plan?
If you are a Tennessee resident and would like us to prepare your estate plan on the basis set forth above, the first step is to complete the Estate Planning Questionnaire. When completed, the Questionnaire will contain the information we need to prepare your estate plan documents. After completing the Questionnaire, sign and date it and mail, fax or e-mail it to us at the address set forth on the top of the Questionnaire with a check payable to J. Todd Moore for the amount of the legal services you select.